Prince Harry and Meghan will not be attending Diana's celebration at Kensington Palace. Photo / Getty Images
Prince Harry and Meghan will not be attending Diana's celebration at Kensington Palace. Photo / Getty Images
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not be flying into Britain to attend a party to honour Diana, Princess of Wales, The Sunday Telegraph can confirm.
The royal couple and their children Archie, 2, and Lili, 4 months, will not be at the celebration, which will see 100 guests gather at Kensington Palace.
The late Princess's friends including Sir Elton John are said to be attending the event with the Duke of Cambridge.
Princess Diana at the Serpentine Gallery, 1994. Photo / Getty Images
It is intended to thank generous donors who helped fund the statue of Diana unveiled in the summer on what would have been the Princess's 60th birthday. The guest list is expected to include the Princess's friends, former staff and her relatives on the Spencer side of the family.
It had to be scaled down drastically because of the pandemic, with the party postponed and the statue unveiling instead taking place on July 1 in front of a small number of her closest circle.
Then, Prince William and Prince Harry made a brief appearance together in front of the cameras in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, joined by the Princess's siblings Earl Spencer, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes.
Next Tuesday, the original party will go ahead, to thank donors who helped to fund the 60th birthday memorial. Donors include Sir Elton and David Furnish. The Sun had reported that palace aides are "braced for Prince Harry to make a surprise return to the UK with Meghan" for the celebration, noting that virus restrictions have now been lifted on travel from the United States.
Prince Harry and Meghan will not be attending Diana's celebration at Kensington Palace. Photo / Getty Images
But a spokesman for the Sussexes yesterday confirmed that the Duke will not be in attendance. It is not known whether the Duke and Duchess will travel back to Britain at all this year, as the couple focus on building their Archewell Foundation, Spotify podcast and Netflix documentaries in the US.
He will almost certainly not return for Remembrance Day, as the Duke is scheduled to spend November 10 in New York, presenting the inaugural "Intrepid Valour Awards" to veterans and military families "living with the invisible wounds of war".
The Duchess of Sussex was last in Britain in March 2020, at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.
It was the conclusion to the couple's week-long "farewell tour" after they announced they would be stepping down as working royals to pursue financial freedom overseas.
Diana with her sons Prince William and Prince Harry, 1995 in London. Photo / Getty Images
The Duke has returned for the funeral of Prince Philip and the unveiling of his mother's statue in July, also making an appearance at the Wellchild Awards.
The statue, by artist Ian Rank-Broadley, shows the late Princess surrounded by children, representing "a period of her life as she gained confidence in her role as an ambassador for humanitarian causes".
