Prince Harry will not be returning to the UK later this month to attend the high-profile memorial marking the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh, it was revealed today.
A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex today confirmed he would not be leaving his Montecito mansion to attend his grandfather’s Service of Thanksgiving, which is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on March 29.
The congregation will include family, friends, dignitaries and representatives of many charities and organisations with which the Duke of Edinburgh was associated.
But shunning the event, particularly one which will honour his beloved grandfather, is likely to add further tension to his already strained relationship with his family.
The spokesperson added the Duke – who briefly visited the UK at the unveiling of Princess Diana’s memorial last July – hopes ‘to visit the Queen as soon as possible’.
Harry’s spokesperson declined to comment on Friday as to the reason behind his decision.
Speculation had mounted that Harry would not be in attendance after the Prince started a High Court battle over his taxpayer-funded security arrangements in the UK.
The Duke launched legal proceedings after he claimed he did not ‘feel safe’ in Britain without the protection of Scotland Yard officers, who he believes offer superior protection to privately hired bodyguards.
A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex today confirmed he would not be physically attending Prince Philip’s Service of Thanksgiving , which is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on March 29
The congregation at Westminster Abbey (above) will include family, friends, dignitaries and representatives of many charities and organisations with which the Duke of Edinburgh was associated
Shunning the event, particularly one which will honour his beloved grandfather, is likely to add further tension to Prince Harry’s already strained relationship with his family
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle accept the President’s Award at the 53rd NAACP awards in LA last month and today have signed a letter calling for vaccine equity and slamming the UK and EU
Britain fell silent in memory of the Duke of Edinburgh as a funeral marking his life of service, devotion and duty took place at Windsor on April 17.
The guest list was trimmed from 800 to only 30 guests amid Covid restrictions, and the Queen sat alone in mourning for her husband of 73 years.
The Queen and her family gathered to say farewell to Philip, who died peacefully and was hailed as the ‘grandfather’ of the country by his son Andrew.
Cutting a solitary figure at the front of the quire, near the altar, the Queen sat apart from her children. There was a space left beside her where Philip would have sat.
Last year, Harry returned without his wife Meghan and children Lilibet, aged eight months, and Archie, two, to attend his grandfather’s funeral, which was restricted to close family and friends at Windsor due to Covid restrictions.
The service of thanksgiving for Philip in just over two weeks’ time is a chance for family, friends, dignitaries and representatives of the charities and organisations which Philip was associated with to gather together in tribute to him.
But a source close to the Royal Family had said: ‘They don’t think it’s likely he’ll come back because it would undermine his position that it’s too much of a threat.’ It is believed to be even more unlikely that Meghan and their children would return.
When the Queen recently announced that it was her ‘sincere wish’ that Camilla would become Queen when her husband Charles is King, Harry made no publicly supportive comment to his step-mother in response to the news.
And the Royal family is braced for further Harry bombshells when he publishes his memoirs, which are said to have been pushed back to the end of this year.
Pallbearers carry Prince Philip’s coffin for his funeral service at Windsor Castle on April 17
The Queen and Prince Philip in June 2014. The Duke of Edinburgh died on April 9 aged 99
Speculation had mounted that Harry would not be in attendance after the Prince started a High Court battle over his taxpayer-funded security arrangements in the UK. Pictured: Her Majesty and Prince Philip together in Windsor
Harry – one of the Queen and Philip’s eight grandchildren – last returned to the UK to unveil the statue of his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales on July 1 with the Duke of Cambridge. The brothers have faced a long-reported rift.
The day before on June 30, Harry met seriously ill children and young people at a WellChild garden party and afternoon tea in Kew Gardens, west London, after which he was said to have been chased by the paparazzi.
Harry quit as a senior working royal in 2020 and moved to the US with Meghan for a new life of personal and financial freedom.
The Sussexes’ controversial Oprah Winfrey television interview left the monarchy facing a crisis in March 2021 amid the lingering fallout from Megxit.
Harry and Meghan accused an unnamed royal of racism against their son Archie before he was born and the institution of failing to help Meghan when she was suicidal.
The Queen, 95, who contracted Covid just over two weeks ago, has also just pulled out of attending the Commonwealth Day service at the abbey on Monday.
MailOnline understands Her Majesty made the difficult decision not to attend the service because of the monarch’s lack of comfort getting to and from Westminster, it was reported.
Monday’s service at Westminster Abbey what was to have been the 95-year-old’s first in-person public engagement since being advised to rest by her doctors following a hospital stay in October and testing positive for Covid-19 on February 20 with ‘mild symptoms’.
She has spent the last two weeks carrying out only light duties including a handful of virtual audiences. But she returned to in-person engagements this week, meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle on Monday and later meeting the head of Britain’s armed forces.
Harry’s grandmother still hasn’t met the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ daughter, who was born last June in California and named Lilibet after the Queen’s childhood nickname.
Royal author Brian Hoey said he believes that a meeting between the Queen and the newest member of the Sussex family would heal the reported rift between Harry and the other senior royals.
He explained: ‘I have heard from people I know within the Royal Household, she really would desperately like to see the baby in this way.
‘I think she would love to, I wonder whether it is going to happen, I would love to think it could,’ he added.
Last year, Harry returned without his wife Meghan and children Lilibet, aged eight months, and Archie, two, to attend his grandfather’s funeral, which was restricted to close family and friends at Windsor due to Covid restrictions
The Duke of Sussex wants to bring his children to visit from across the Atlantic, but ‘does not feel safe’ when visiting under the current security arrangements, the court was previously told
The developments come on the same day that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle signed an open letter accusing the UK and ‘rich’ neighbours of pursuing ‘self-defeating nationalism’ to deny African and Asian countries the right to make their own Covid-19 vaccines.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are campaigning for Britain to work with pharmaceutical companies to waive intellectual property rights on the life-saving jabs in the latest flashpoint between Harry and his home country.
In an open letter published this afternoon, Meghan, Harry and other signatories warned ‘the pandemic is not over’, and blamed ‘self-defeating nationalism, pharmaceutical monopolies and inequality’ for the entire world not being vaccinated by now.
The UK has vowed to donate 100million coronavirus vaccine doses within the next year to low-income countries as part of at least 1billion doses due from the G7.
There have been a number of African countries, including Nigeria, where more than one million doses were destroyed last year because they expired after low uptake saw just two per cent of the population fully vaccinated in 2021.
In December experts said up to one third of Africa’s Covid vaccine deliveries remain in storage as rollouts are hindered by jab hesitancy and infrastructure problems.
The Sussexes have repeatedly called for global vaccine equity, comparing it to the HIV crisis in 1980s and 1990s, and today their Archewell Foundation joined The People’s Vaccine coalition, a group of 90 famous names and organisations demanding vaccines are ‘freely available to everyone, everywhere’.
The couple have today said that ‘world leaders’ and ‘rich nations’ now ‘have the responsibility to change the situation’ in a letter also signed by Charlize Theron and Ban Ki-Moon.
Their letter says: ‘The European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland continue to block the lifting of intellectual property rules which would enable the distribution and scale-up of Covid-19 vaccines, test and treatment facilities in the global south.
‘The transfer of largely publicly funded vaccine technology and know-how from pharmaceutical corporations would fast track production to a matter of months. Yet still today, a handful of these corporations retain the power to dictate vaccine supply, distribution and price – and the power to decide who lives and who dies’.
It comes as the Duke pursues a legal challenge against the Home Office after being told he would no longer be given the ‘same degree’ of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.
The High Court heard how Harry received ‘insufficient information’ over a decision to change his tax-payer funded police protection when he is in the UK.
The Duke hopes to bring his children to visit from across the Atlantic, but ‘does not feel safe’ when visiting under the current security arrangements, the court was previously told.
He is challenging the February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which has delegated powers from the Home Secretary.
Harry is arguing that his private protection team in the US does not have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to UK intelligence information which is needed to keep his family safe.
Harry (pictured with Meghan in the UK in 2019) is arguing that his private protection team in the US does not have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to UK intelligence information which is needed to keep his family safe
Queen will NOT be at Commonwealth Service: Her Majesty, 95, asks Prince Charles to stand in at Westminster Abbey on Monday – but Palace says she will hold in-person audiences next week
By Lauren Lewis for MailOnline
The Queen will not attend Monday’s Commonwealth Service, Buckingham Palace has said.
‘After discussing the arrangements with the Royal Household, The Queen has asked The Prince of Wales to represent Her Majesty at the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey on Monday,’ Buckingham Palace said in a statement.
The palace gave no reason for her cancellation but said she ‘will continue with other planned engagements, including in-person audiences, in the week ahead.’
The Queen’s decision not to attend the service is likely to be interpreted as a precautionary measure by royal commentators and a practical move, rather than a new health issue.
Monday’s service at Westminster Abbey what was to have been the 95-year-old’s first in-person public engagement since being advised to rest by her doctors following a hospital stay in October and testing positive for Covid-19 on February 20 with ‘mild symptoms’.
She has spent the last two weeks carrying out only light duties including a handful of virtual audiences. But she returned to in-person engagements this week, meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Windsor Castle on Monday and later meeting the head of Britain’s armed forces.
She now regularly uses a stick and recently commented about her mobility issues, telling two senior military officers during a Windsor Castle reception ‘Well, as you can see, I can’t move,’ when asked how she was.
The announcement came as Prince Harry pulled out of Duke of Edinburgh’s memorial service at the end of the month – but said he ‘hopes to visit the Queen as soon as possible’.
Queen Elizabeth (pictured, appearing on a videolink virtual audience on Tuesday, March 8) will not attend Monday’s Commonwealth Service, Buckingham Palace has said
Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, will stand in for his mother at the Commonwealth Service on Monday, Buckingham Palace has announced
Buckingham Palace said the 95-year-old monarch (pictured meeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, March 7) would resume in-person audiences next week
The Queen was set to be joined at the Commonwealth Service on Monday by some 1,500 guests celebrating Britain and the international grouping based around its former colonies.
She is the queen and head of state in Britain and 14 other Commonwealth nations or realms around the world, including Australia, New Zealand and Canada – a group which comprises about a quarter of the world’s population.
A royal source told MailOnline: ‘It’s not a great surprise that the Queen won’t be attending the Commonwealth Day service.
‘Anyone who reaches the age of 95 would find it difficult to stand for long periods of time. She has said herself that she has been finding it difficult to walk lately. She has also been recovering from Covid.
‘I don’t think anyone really expected her to attend under the circumstances. She has to take things steady. She will be disappointed but it is a sensible precaution.’
She is still expected to attend a service of thanksgiving for the life of Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years who died aged 99 last April, at London’s Westminster Abbey at the end of March.
Senior royals attending the Commonwealth Day service on Monday include Charles’ wife Camilla, and Prince William and his wife Catherine.
But Buckingham Palace revealed tonight that the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will ‘no longer attend, following the duke’s positive test for Covid.’
‘The Queen’s Commonwealth Day message will be distributed in the usual way,’ the spokesperson added.
Princess Alexandra, Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Commonwealth secretary-general Baroness Scotland, high commissioners, ambassadors, senior politicians and dignitaries from across the UK and Commonwealth, faith leaders and more than 600 schoolchildren and young people will attend the service.
It will feature the world premiere of the musical piece Beacon Of Brightest Light, inspired by the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, composed by Debbie Wiseman.
The event, organised by the Royal Commonwealth Sociey, will begin with a procession of Commonwealth flags and members of the royal family will meet people involved in the service at the end. It will also feature the Queen’s Commonwealth Day message.
The last Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey was held in March 2020, as coronavirus cases spiralled and just before Britain locked down for the first time.
It was also the last royal event attended by the queen’s grandson, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan, before their shock departure from the United States.
The Queen has made fewer appearances in public during the Covid-19 pandemic, with many of her engagements switching to virtual events.
The Queen last met a group of people in public on February 5, the eve of reaching her Platinum Jubilee, when she hosted a reception at her Sandringham home for local charity workers, volunteers and former staff from her Sandringham estate.
Concerns were raised about the Queen’s health when she spent a night in hospital last October, missed a string of events and was advised to undertake light duties by royal doctors.
In November, she pulled out of hosting world leaders at a UN climate change summit in Glasgow, and cancelled an appearance at the Remembrance Day parade due to a bad back.
She has been seen using a walking stick for the first time, and heard complaining about mobility issues, even before her Covid diagnosis.
She had only returned to something approaching normal working practices just before contracting Covid-19.
She had been expected to attend three engagements this month, including the Commonwealth Service.
Another one – a diplomatic reception at Windsor Castle – had already been postponed because the government felt the timing was inappropriate.
The monarch, who has rarely been seen wearing a mask, wore a face covering to attend the funeral of her husband Prince Philip in April 2021
Commemoration: The Queen wears a face mask as she inspects a bouquet of flowers to be placed at the grave of the Unknown Warrior by her Equerry, Lieutenant Colonel Nana Kofi Twumasi-Ankrah, in November 2020
Prince Harry will not be returning to the UK later this month to attend the high-profile memorial marking the passing of the Duke of Edinburgh.
A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex today confirmed he would not be physically attending his grandfather’s Service of Thanksgiving, which is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on March 29.
Speculation had mounted that Harry would not be in attendance after the Prince started a High Court battle over his taxpayer-funded security arrangements in the UK.
The Duke launched legal proceedings after he claimed he did not ‘feel safe’ in Britain without the protection of Scotland Yard officers, who he believes offer superior protection to privately hired bodyguards.
Harry’s grandmother still hasn’t met the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ daughter, who was born last June in California and named Lilibet after the Queen’s childhood nickname.
The developments come on the same day that Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle signed an open letter accusing the UK and ‘rich’ neighbours of pursuing ‘self-defeating nationalism’ to deny African and Asian countries the right to make their own Covid-19 vaccines.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are campaigning for Britain to work with pharmaceutical companies to waive intellectual property rights on the life-saving jabs in the latest flashpoint between Harry and his home country.
In an open letter published this afternoon, Meghan, Harry and other signatories warned ‘the pandemic is not over’, and blamed ‘self-defeating nationalism, pharmaceutical monopolies and inequality’ for the entire world not being vaccinated by now.
A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex today confirmed he would not be physically attending Prince Philip’s Service of Thanksgiving , which is due to be held at Westminster Abbey on March 29
The UK has vowed to donate 100million coronavirus vaccine doses within the next year to low-income countries as part of at least 1billion doses due from the G7.
There have been a number of African countries, including Nigeria, where more than one million doses were destroyed last year because they expired after low uptake saw just two per cent of the population fully vaccinated in 2021.
In December experts said up to one third of Africa’s Covid vaccine deliveries remain in storage as rollouts are hindered by jab hesitancy and infrastructure problems.
The Sussexes have repeatedly called for global vaccine equity, comparing it to the HIV crisis in 1980s and 1990s, and today their Archewell Foundation joined The People’s Vaccine coalition, a group of 90 famous names and organisations demanding vaccines are ‘freely available to everyone, everywhere’.
The couple have today said that ‘world leaders’ and ‘rich nations’ now ‘have the responsibility to change the situation’ in a letter also signed by Charlize Theron and Ban Ki-Moon.
Their letter says: ‘The European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland continue to block the lifting of intellectual property rules which would enable the distribution and scale-up of Covid-19 vaccines, test and treatment facilities in the global south.
‘The transfer of largely publicly funded vaccine technology and know-how from pharmaceutical corporations would fast track production to a matter of months. Yet still today, a handful of these corporations retain the power to dictate vaccine supply, distribution and price – and the power to decide who lives and who dies’.
It comes as the Duke pursues a legal challenge against the Home Office after being told he would no longer be given the ‘same degree’ of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.
The High Court heard how Harry received ‘insufficient information’ over a decision to change his tax-payer funded police protection when he is in the UK.
The Duke hopes to bring his children to visit from across the Atlantic, but ‘does not feel safe’ when visiting under the current security arrangements, the court was previously told.
He is challenging the February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which has delegated powers from the Home Secretary.
Harry is arguing that his private protection team in the US does not have adequate jurisdiction abroad or access to UK intelligence information which is needed to keep his family safe.
Credit: Source link
