Prince Harry arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday evening for a flight to London to attend the unveiling of a statue of Princess Diana, his first voyage back home since Prince Philip’s funeral.
Harry is returning to London to unveil a statue of Princess Diana on what would have been her 60th birthday. He will join his brother, Prince William, in what will be their first time seeing each other since the April funeral of their grandfather, Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth.
A news outlet reported that the princes have drastically scaled back next week’s unveiling of the statue of Princess Diana.
The brothers were due to put aside their bitter rift to host an extravagant ceremony on July 1 at Kensington Palace, her former home, on what would have been their mother’s 60th birthday.
Instead, they will preside over a significantly reduced gathering highlighting just a handful of guests, the estranged princes themselves and Spencer relatives.
Up until this week, the princes had been preparing to welcome more than 100 of their mother’s friends, former staff and supporters, but COVID rules have driven them into a rethink.
Guests have been told that next Thursday’s grand ceremony has been abandoned and that a new date will be set for September.
It’s a bitter setback for many in Diana’s circle who’d hoped their appearance would help bring about a reconciliation between William and his brother.
They’ve hardly been on speaking terms since Harry and Meghan quit royal life for California, and whether this makes a rapprochement that much easier remains to be seen.
The pair has confidentially told friends that they will do their utmost to ensure their differences don’t deflect from what they believe will be a poignant ceremony to remember their mother’s positive influence.
Ever since they announced proposals for the statue it has been beset by problems. Originally it was hoped to be unveiled in 2017, and there were delays over the design and, according to insiders, differences of opinion over what period in Diana’s life the statue should represent.
Such divisions led the committee set up after her demise in 1997 to find a fitting way to honour her life to conclude that a statue would be wrong.
At the time, her family expressed reservations that no sculptor had ever properly caught Diana, and there were also real concerns that a statue would become a shrine.
Reports say that during the family gathering, Kate Middleton is set to help Prince William and Prince Harry put on a united front when they meet at the unveiling.
Prince Harry has been in the media quite a lot recently and has said several things that people don’t want to hear because people tend to put the monarchy on a pedal stool, but what Harry has done is single-handedly made a case for calling monarchies out for what they are, complete farces.
Sadly, Diana would have been really sad that her boys weren’t getting along, but the public will just ogle and ridicule because that’s what critical people we are, and we should just be happy to let him get on with his life without seeking out articles about him to make undesirable comments.
And at least Harry’s upfront about what he says, instead of royal sources leaking tidbits to tabloids to surface above it all, and however the royals treat him, it will be convoluted in the next public criticism, and there really isn’t anything to look forward to here.
Very nice Angela! Take care and thank you for following.
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