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Prince Harry faced inevitable questions about claims made in his uncle Earl Spencer’s new book as he attended the WellChild charity event on Monday evening, as ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship reports
Prince Harry fought back tears as he gave a speech on stage at a children’s charity which is very close to his heart.
The Duke of Sussex was completing the final event in the first batch of engagements since he and his family returned to living in the UK.
Harry was attending the annual awards night for the WellChild charity, which cares for children with complex medical conditions.
He has attended this event every year, even during the period when he was living in the United States.
Harry had just presented one of the awards to the winners when he gave a speech congratulating “all the mums and dads” and said that “most of us will never truly know the emotional ups and downs of your day”.
The Duke of Sussex with Gaby Roslin on stage during the WellChild Awards 2026 Credit: PA
At this point, he sounded choked up and turned to the awards’ host, Gaby Roslin, and said, laughing: “It’s happening again.”
She moved closer to Harry, held his arm and told him, “I am always, here.”
Harry told her, in front of the audience at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London: “That doesn’t help – it makes it worse!”
He pressed on with the speech, telling the parents: “I sincerely hope that you take strength from nights like this.”
The Duke of Sussex with the Inspirational Child 4-6 award winner, Margot Jones-Billington Credit: PA
Earlier, when he arrived, Prince Harry avoided responding to questions about his family and his uncle’s book that has created many days of headlines.
He was asked if his family was settling into the UK, and if he’d spoken to his uncle, Charles Spencer, the younger brother of Princess Diana, who has made a number of damaging claims about King Charles in the memoir.
Harry ignored the questions as he made his way into the hotel.
Earl Spencer alleged the then Prince Charles had been “giddily elated” at the time of Diana’s death, as if he had “won the lottery.”
The palace issued a stinging rebuke accusing him of misremembering the events of 1997, as his judgement had been “clouded” by grief.
Harry spent more than an hour with the award winners, chatting to each of them ahead of the ceremony on Monday.
One of the children, 10-year-old Will Messer, asked Harry to sign a Funko Pop of himself, a vinyl figure with an oversized head.
Will’s father, Gary, told ITV News he kept the box facing forwards as other members of Harry’s family were pictured on the reverse, including a “Prince Charles”, a “Prince William” and a “Kate, Duchess of Cambridge”.
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Gary Messer said he was concerned it would have been a little “contentious”.
The WellChild charity is very close to Prince Harry’s heart, and his tearful words on stage suggest the last few weeks have taken their toll on him emotionally.
As he continues to press the Home Office to give him and his family public-funded security, it was notable that Harry arrived and left in a single car at the hotel, and with no police escort and no uniformed police officer in sight.
This is the Talking Royals – our weekly podcast about the royal family, with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Producer Lizzie Robinson…