Prince Harry has said his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II is “looking down on all of us” during a charity awards ceremony the eve of the anniversary of her death. The Duke of Sussex, who landed in London this afternoon without his wife Meghan, was seen sharing jokes and playing with balloons at the WellChild event with the award’s recipients Taking to the stage, he said: “As you know, I was unable to attend the awards last year as my grandmother passed away.“As you also probably know, she would have been the first person to insist that I still come to be with you all instead of going to her, and that’s precisely why I know exactly one year on that she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we’re together, continuing to spotlight such an incredible community.” Upon arriving, he was seen chatting and posing for pictures with other attendees ahead of his speech for the charity, which supports seriously-ill children.
In one set of photos, he can be seen laughing with seven-year-old Poppy and her father, from Runcorn, as she danced to music by Ed Sheeran and spoke to him about her love of Disney. The duke then played around with a giraffe balloon and showed Poppy its rotating head, prompting her to play with it. Noticing that each winner’s balloon represented a different animal, Harry asked: “Is the theme Madagascar?” Over the course of the hour-long ceremony, he spoke to each young award winner before chatting to adult winners at the reception. During one greeting, he fist-bumped two of the boys receiving Inspirational Young Person awards – George Hall, 11, from Skipton, and Blake McCaughey, 15, from Country Armagh. He was then gifted a green Belfast Giants ice hockey shirt from Blake and his family, with his name personalised on the back. Harry has been a patron of the charity for 15 years and will still be in the capital for the first anniversary of the Queen’s death tomorrow. However, he is unlikely to meet up with his father, King Charles III, or brother, Prince William – with relations between the trio still believed to be frosty after the publication of Harry’s bombshell memoir Spare in January this year. In his book, Harry claimed William physically attacked him during an altercation that stemmed from an argument about Meghan.
A royal source told MailOnline that Charles “had no time in his diary” to meet his son. The monarch is currently in Balmoral, Scotland with Queen Camilla. Meanwhile, Prince William was given an unexpected kiss on the cheek by former England and Spurs star Paul Gascoigne during a visit to the Pret A Manger in Bournemouth. The purpose of his visit was to discuss the coffee chain’s plans to expand The Pret Foundation’s programme to help 500 people experiencing homelessness get jobs at Pret shops around the country. After the event, Harry will jet off again and make the short flight over to Dusseldorf, Germany for the opening ceremony of his Invictus Games on 9 September. However, Meghan is set to stay in California with their two children. She will reportedly fly out later in the week for the closing ceremony, where both she and Harry will give speeches.
The Invictus Games was set up by Harry in 2014 for injured and sick military personnel and veterans. A documentary, Heart of Invictus, was launched last week as part of the Sussexes’ multimillion-pound deal with Netflix. It follows a group of service members on their road to the Paralympic-style sporting competition. The couple’s other main output for the channel prior to that was last year’s Harry & Meghan documentary. The six-part series followed the early courtship of the couple and Meghan’s struggle to adapt to the media glare that comes from being in the royal family.
There were also a number of controversial moments, including Harry’s claim that William “screamed” at him over plans to leave the royal family, and claims that the Palace leaked the couple’s exit strategy. The trip to Europe comes a day after embattled former US president Donald Trump said he felt Meghan and Harry were “disrespectful” to the Queen when the couple stepped down as working royals in 2020.
