Princes' frosty relationship under spotlight at unveiling of Diana statue, royal biographer says

Record ID: 1623851

  • Title: Princes' frosty relationship under spotlight at unveiling of Diana statue, royal biographer says
  • Date: 28th June 2021
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (FILE - APRIL 29, 2011) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** HARRY AND WILLIAM WALKING INTO LONDON'S WESTMINSTER ABBEY AHEAD OF WILLIAM'S MARRIAGE TO KATE MIDDLETON LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (FILE - DECEMBER 12, 2017) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WILLIAM AND HARRY ARRIVING FOR PREMIERE OF 'STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI'
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2021 18:20
  • Keywords: Penny Junor Prince Charles Princess Diana prince William prince harry princes royal family
  • Location: VARIOUS
  • City: VARIOUS
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Royals
  • Reuters ID: LVA009EJBHD8T
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Britain's princes William and Harry will unite on Thursday (July 01) for the unveiling of a statue honouring their late mother Princess Diana on what would have been her 60th birthday, but it will be the state of their relationship that royal biographer Penny Junor says will be the main focus.
    For most of their lives, the royal brothers have been very close, united by the shared pain and trauma of losing their mother, who died aged 36 in a 1997 Paris car crash when William was 15 and Harry 12.
    But following Harry's star-studded 2018 wedding to his American actress wife Meghan, now Duchess of Sussex, relations between them have soured so much they are barely speaking, says Junor, with media reporting that the anger and animosity between them have just kept growing.
    An explosive interview that Harry, who is the same age as when his mother died, and Meghan gave to chat show host Oprah Winfrey in March, has only exacerbated problems. In that interview Harry criticised his father Charles and said William, 39, and the family were trapped and the couple accused one unnamed royal of making a racist remark,
    ''I think it's incredibly sad that this statue was a joint project to celebrate the life of their mother that they both adored and they both miss and…the eyes of the world will be looking at those two boys to see what the state of their relationship is,'' Junor told Reuters.
    ''Unless they have an opportunity to sit down with one another, and Harry at least acknowledges that what he has said about his family has been hurtful to them. Then I think it's going to be very awkward for these boys …they will put on a show because the cameras will be there, but actually neither of them is very good at hiding their emotions,'' she said.
    This week's unveiling of the statue at Kensington Palace in honour of Diana, which the princes commissioned four years ago to celebrate her life and legacy, will provide a rare opportunity for possible rapprochement, the first time Harry has returned from his new home in California since Philip's death.
    "Unless one of them is going to say sorry, and I think that probably has to be Harry, I can't see this relationship at the moment mending itself,'' Junor said.
    "My understanding is the boys are not speaking to one other, certainly not in the way brothers normally speak, or those brothers normally spoke to one another," she told Reuters.
    Harry himself told Winfrey their relationship was "space at the moment" but hopefully time would heal it.
    "I love William to bits, he's my brother, we've been through hell together and we have a shared experience. But we're on different paths," he said.
    Thursday's statue unveiling in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace where Diana lived and which is now home to William and his family, will be a small event with just the princes, Diana's close family and the sculptor Ian Rank-Broadley among the few attending.
    The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that William would take his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, and their three children, George, Charlotte and Louis, for a private viewing of the statue before its official unveiling as they will not be present on the day.
    ''I suspect that having Kate there would have made life a lot easier on the day because just because she's someone else to talk to,'' said Junor.
    ''I mean, who knows what will happen. But my hope is that they that this this unveiling, this coming together, the fact that there are no wives, the fact that it's just the two of them and...the spirit of their mother in a garden that she spent time in, I hope that …might… bring them together, might start the healing of this of this rift.''
    Almost a quarter of a century since her death, Diana continues to captivate.
    British newspapers regularly pore over her life and the circumstances surrounding her death, while the disclosure last month that a BBC journalist lied to secure a sensational 1995 interview in which she admitted to an affair and shared details of her failed marriage to Charles, made headlines.
    (Production: Sarah Mills, Ben Makori, Michael Holden)
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