REBECCA ENGLISH: On the anniversary of the Queen’s death, her warring grandsons are still 100 miles apart
- Princes William and Harry were less than 100 miles from each other yesterday
- The pair have no plans to meet before Harry heads to Germany tomorrow
Princes William and Harry are spending the first anniversary of their grandmother’s death in the same country – but still couldn’t be farther apart.
Yesterday the brothers were less than 100 miles from each other, undertaking public engagements, but have no plans to meet before Harry heads to Germany tomorrow.
Amid the poignancy of the occasion, their continuing rift is a sad reminder of the pain Harry’s actions caused Queen Elizabeth in the latter years of her life. Her death is being marked with an unprecedented tribute from King Charles to the family’s much-loved matriarch, who passed away at Balmoral exactly a year ago at the age of 96 after 70 impeccable years of public service.
Harry, 38, made the whirlwind trip to the UK minus his wife and children and without seeing any of his immediate family, including his father who is in Scotland. He attended an awards ceremony on behalf of WellChild, a charity supporting terminally ill youngsters and their families.
It is one of the few organisations in the UK he retained links with after acrimoniously quitting as a working royal in 2020. In a speech at the ceremony the duke reflected on the events of 12 months ago when he was forced to miss the awards as he rushed to Balmoral but arrived too late to say his goodbyes.
Harry said: ‘I know, exactly one year on, she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we’re together continuing to spotlight such an incredible community.’
He will fly on to Dusseldorf to attend the Invictus Games for injured service personnel, which he helped to found, and where he will be joined by wife Meghan next week.
Although, following a visit to Bournemouth, William was back at Windsor by the evening it is understood he has no plans to see his estranged brother on his whistlestop visit to the UK.
The prince has other plans in the diary for today – he and his wife Kate will be at St David’s Cathedral in Wales to mark the passing of the Queen – and relations are as strained as ever, with the two men not having spoken for many months. It is not clear where in the UK Harry was staying.
William is known to feel deeply betrayed by Harry’s repeated attacks on the family, his tell-all memoir and his Netflix series and angry at the strain it caused their grandmother.
But if he was feeling unsettled by his estranged brother being in the same country again, William wasn’t showing it yesterday. He was out and about highlighting his new campaign to end the scourge of homelessness – with an unexpectedly hilarious cameo from another familiar headline-grabber thrown in for good measure.
Visiting a Pret A Manger branch in Bournemouth, the prince encountered former England football star Paul Gascoigne, who couldn’t resist planting a cheeky kiss on his cheek.
The meeting was completely unplanned – and not a little bizarre.
Gateshead-born Gazza, 56, now lives on the Dorset coast and spotted a huge crowd gathering outside the sandwich shop waiting to catch a glimpse of the royal. So the former international decided to wander in and see what the fuss was all about.
William, 41, looked surprised as he walked out of the shop’s kitchen – where he had been helping to prepare a batch of snacks – but warmly greeted ‘Gazza’, who he has met several times before. And he asked how he was after his well-documented battles with alcohol and mental health issues, both of which have featured heavily in the royal’s work.
‘Yeah, a lot better. I’m getting there,’ Gascoigne replied, looking touched and in better health than he has done in many years. ‘You all right?’ he added as he shook the prince’s hand.
As William placed his arm on the football legend’s shoulder encouragingly, Gascoigne then suddenly bent forwards and placed a kiss on the royal’s cheek.
The former Spurs and Rangers footballer explained afterward: ‘I’ve met him a couple of times and met him at Wembley (Euro 2020 semi finals), he loves his football, I climbed over a few chairs to talk to him and gave him a peck on the cheek.
‘I came past Pret and someone said William was there so I saw him and gave another peck on the cheek.
‘He said he has been watching us from afar. I help the homeless here in Bournemouth.’
William was making a visit to the sandwich shop as part of Homewards, his five-year project to end homelessness in six key locations around the UK including Bournemouth.
It was a low-key arrival – jumping on a South Western Railway train to the seaside town at nondescript Woking station in Surrey with a tiny entourage.
Pret is one of a number of companies to have committed to supporting William’s initiative, announcing it will find work for 750 people living rough or under threat of homelessness over the same five-year period.
Accompanied by Dragons’ Den star Steven Bartlett, who is a Homewards ambassador, William helped in the kitchen, placing stickers on freshly-made sandwiches and baguettes.
Word got round that the royal was in town, however, and when he emerged from the preparation area he was mobbed by hundreds of people who had packed into the shop.
The prince also tried his hand at being a barista at the shop’s coffee machine – amusingly wearing a personalised badge with his name on it.
But by now the store had become so swamped with well-wishers trying to get selfies or shake his hand that William was eventually ushered out of the door, and through another large crowd all jostling to grab a picture of him.
Harry laughed, joked and comforted seriously ill children yesterday in a bitter-sweet reminder of the Harry of old.
The Duke of Sussex was at his personable best in London as he met winners of the WellChild Awards – a charity he has been patron of for 15 years and stayed with after his acrimonious departure from the Royal Family.
Harry flew in for the engagement from his home in California, making his first appearance in the UK since June.
But despite the long flight, the duke cut a relaxed figure as he sat with the youngsters and their families during a pre-ceremony reception at The Hurlingham Club in south-west London.
It was as Harry prepared for the awards this time last year that news began filtering through that his grandmother was seriously ill before passing away hours later. The duke took a flight to Scotland but landed too late to see the Queen before she took her last breath.
‘As you know, I was unable to attend the awards last year as my grandmother passed away,’ he told the audience.
‘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, she is looking down on all of us tonight, happy we’re together continuing to spotlight such an incredible community.’
He chatted with award winners about their interests and hobbies, joking around with helium-filled balloons and watching with delight as a little girl, Poppy Higham, danced for him excitedly in a full-length blue dress.
The seven-year-old from Runcorn, Cheshire, danced to music by Ed Sheeran as the royal applauded warmly.
The father of two then played around with a giraffe balloon and showed Poppy its rotating head, prompting the youngster to pick it up and play with it.
Poppy, who cares for her 17-year-old sister Paige, said she enjoyed speaking to Harry about ‘my dancing, Disney and the awards’.
Her father, Daniel Higham, said: ‘We’re so proud of it [the award] – it’s amazing. She just makes our life a lot easier sometimes when it’s not going right, she just gets on with it. I think she just takes it in her stride.’
The prince also fist-bumped two of the boys receiving Inspirational Young Person awards – George Hall, 11, from Skipton, North Yorkshire, and Blake McCaughey, 15, from Tandragee in County Armagh.
Blake and his family gave Harry a green Belfast Giants ice hockey shirt, personalised with the duke’s name on the back.
Later, while presenting the award, he told the audience that more work needs to be done for children with complex medical needs to ensure they spend less time in hospital.
Addressing the award winners, Harry said: ‘As a father of two – and three dogs, so basically five – I’m acutely aware of the many joys and challenges that come with parenting. And that’s with kids who aren’t facing health challenges. So, to the parent carers in the room, you have my sincerest admiration and respect.
‘You are proof that not all superheroes wear capes!’
WellChild supports children and their families with challenging medical issues across the UK and hosts an annual awards ceremony to recognise their incredible bravery. It was one of the first patronages the prince took on as a working royal.
In 2019 he publicly broke down and had to compose himself on stage as he recalled how much his own life had changed since becoming a father and how the stories of the children touched him in a way he couldn’t begin to understand until having a child of his own.
The Duchess of Sussex did not accompany Harry on his trip to the UK but is expected to join him next week at the Invictus Games, the duke’s tournament for injured veterans, being held in Germany.
The King and Queen Camilla are not expected to attend any public engagements this week as they remember the life of Queen Elizabeth II.
The pair will instead mark the anniversary privately their Scottish retreat, where they are spending their traditional summer break.
It is thought that William has not had any contact with his younger brother since Harry released his autobiography Spare in January, in which he accused his older brother of pushing him to the ground, causing Harry to fall on a dog bowl.
Harry has handed back the keys to his Frogmore Cottage home in Windsor and it is unclear whether his family would offer him any other accommodation during his stay.
Harry also appeared to again criticise his family last month in his new Netflix series about the Invictus Games.
In an interview as part of the Heart of Invictus series, the Duke said that he had ‘no support structure’ to help him cope with his mental health issues stemming from his time in Afghanistan and the death of his mother Princess Diana.
Then on Monday night, Meghan was photographed at a Beyoncé concert in Los Angeles with actress Kerry Washington and singer Kelly Rowland as her relaunch continues.
On Sunday, Harry had been seen sitting in a box at the Los Angeles FC stadium next to the couple’s Hollywood venture capitalist friend Adam Lilling who is thought to be helping the Sussexes with their big rebrand.
Meanwhile Meghan is reportedly getting ready to ‘re-launch’ herself on Instagram and experts predict she could make $1million per post.
Harry will give a welcome speech in Dusseldorf this Saturday at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games, the paralympic-style competition for injured military personnel and veterans that he founded.
Meghan is expected to join him at the eight-day event later in the week.
Last year, Meghan took to the stage to pay tribute to the competitors and their families, before introducing her husband.
The Duchess later made a surprise solo visit to a charity supporting girls and non-binary children.
Harry’s arrival at Dusseldorf town hall on Saturday is set to coincide with a demonstration, confirmed by a police spokesman, by activists who claim the German military will use the competition to target students and recruit them to the armed forces.
In addition to attending this year’s Invictus Games, Harry is also set to take part in a German version of ‘Match of the Day’ to help promote the competition.
He will be a guest on a late-night TV show which usually discuss and analyses the afternoon’s football in Germany’s Bundesliga.
But rather than talking about the latest results involving Harry Kane’s new team Bayern Munich, he will be discussing the Invictus Games.
The Duke will be joined by the German defence minister Boris Pistorius for the live chat on Saturday night on the sport studio show. Three competitors from the games will also take part.
Harry is expected to fly by helicopter from to the ZDF studios in Mainz after the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games.
The transport will be provided by the German military who are the hosts for the week-long event involving teams from 21 different countries.
Harry will be launching the bi-annual games on his own in Germany as his wife Meghan remains home in California with their two young children.
She is expected to join him later in the week and take part in the closing ceremony at the Merkur-Spiel Arena. Singer Rita Ora will perform at the closing event where both Harry and Meghan will give speeches.
Additional reporting by Mark Duell and Natasha Anderson
