The Royalist can exclusively reveal that Prince William is not planning to attend this year’s Diana Awards, which are being held at a fancy London hotel next month, potentially leaving the path clear for Harry to anoint himself as the standard-bearer of his mother’s legacy.
As part of the charity established in 1999 in memory of Princess Diana to recognize young people making a positive impact in their communities, a flagship Legacy Award is presented every two years.
The date of this year’s awards falls right in the middle of a big week when Harry will be undertaking a raft of public engagements, especially around the WellChild Awards and Invictus. It would seem extraordinary if Harry did not attend, given that he has attended by video link in previous years. Indeed, in 2024, both brothers were so keen to be associated with the event that William delivered a speech in person at the Science Museum ceremony, while Harry participated via video link from Montecito after his brother had departed.
Don’t forget that the last time Harry and William were photographed together was at a Diana event: the unveiling of her statue. For all his faults, Harry is a natural star with the public and can put people at ease in a way that echoes his mother.
It is not necessarily the case that William’s absence is a reaction to Harry’s arrival. He simply wasn’t going to go, presumably because he has other plans. But there has been past criticism of the Prince and Princess of Wales for not doing enough; one thing you are certainly going to see moving forward is William and Kate being forced to be far more visible. The return of Harry could, paradoxically, be the making of William, forcing him to get out there and raise his profile again.
Harry intends to compete for the title of true inheritor of Diana’s legacy. And let’s face it, one of the things Diana seemed quite keen on doing was undermining the monarchy, a tradition Harry is certainly continuing. The decision to post photographs on Meghan’s social media of the children walking through Althorp to lay flowers at Diana’s grave now seems very loaded indeed, drawing an implicit contrast with the way Harry was made to parade behind his mother’s coffin as a boy. In Spare, he recalled that an alternative plan, under which fifteen-year-old William would walk alone, was sent up the chain, only for the answer to come back that it must be both princes, “to garner sympathy, presumably.” He later said that he didn’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances.
Then, in a couple of weeks, we get the new book by Earl Spencer, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister. Even if you believe the frankly extraordinary proposition that King Charles knew nothing about Harry and Meghan’s return to the U.K., it seems unlikely to me that their return wasn’t discussed with Spencer when they were staying with him last month, or that Harry and Meghan didn’t know about the forthcoming publication. They would obviously support him telling his truth in it, and it won’t harm Harry if the book, as we expect, is highly critical of the monarchy, following the pattern of Spencer’s eulogy at Diana’s funeral, in which he described his sister as the most hunted person of the modern age and pledged that her blood family would do all it could to ensure the boys were not stunted by their royal roles.
So, then, the Diana Awards highlight William’s problem if he continues to refuse to meet Harry. Harry can simply say, “I’m completely happy to reconcile with my brother,” show up there, or any other event, and put William in an impossible position. Because if William attends and Harry walks up, says, “Hello, brother,” and sticks his hand out, William is going to have to shake it, and he doesn’t want to do that. Personally, I think the time will come when, for purely strategic reasons, he will have to, because fostering public resentment hands Harry the power to dictate William’s movements. William’s life is going to be severely curtailed if Harry is roaming around the U.K. and he has to avoid him at all costs.
The best William can do is to stage the moment in a way he can control.
We don’t know how long Harry is coming back for. We don’t know if it’s three months, six months, a year or a decade. (It’s very possible that Harry and Meghan don’t know themselves). There’s a chance the whole thing could implode and they’re gone in three weeks, so William might want to wait a couple of months and see whether Harry really is going to settle here long-term.
But if Harry does settle, and William refuses to be in the same room as him, that hands Harry a great deal of power. Does William want to give Harry that power?
Maybe William now decides he does want to go to the Diana Awards after all, pulls rank, and tells them: I’ll come, but not if Harry’s there. Up the ante, and roll his tanks into action.
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