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By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
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Prince Harry fought back tears during a speech at an awards ceremony for one of his charities as his U.K. comeback continues to compete for attention in the British media with his uncle Charles Spencer's bombshell book about King Charles' response to Princess Diana's death.
The WellChild Awards, in London on Monday night, offered a fresh opportunity to shift the focus to one of his longest-standing projects: a charity that helps seriously ill children and their families.
As Harry stepped out of a car outside the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London, a journalist shouted a question at him about whether he had spoken to Spencer recently, but the prince did not answer.
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The prince said the inspiring stories he had heard during the evening "remind us what is possible when we invest in families," in a speech for the audience. He became emotional after saying, "To all the mums and dads—most of us will never truly know the emotional ups and downs of your day."
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Why It Matters
The Duke of Sussex moved back to the United Kingdom with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, at the end of August and experienced a chaotic first few weeks.
First, there was a dispute with Buckingham Palace over a letter describing them as "private citizens," followed by a crisis over Uganda temporarily withdrawing from his Invictus Games tournament for veterans. Then, security concerns over traffic jams prompted the Sussexes to switch schools.
Last week, Harry looked set to begin a run of straightforward, positive news stories on Thursday and Friday, with visits to support Invictus in London and Birmingham. That all changed when his uncle Charles Spencer's new book, Swan Song, began serializing.
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Prince Harry's WellChild Appearance
Prince Harry's charity visits last week helped put his return to Britain back on track after a turbulent period. His two events appeared to go to plan, but royal commentators and news programs focused on Spencer's book and its claim that the king seemed "giddily elated" during a phone call after Diana's death.
WellChild gave him another chance to remind the British public of his contributions as a working member of the royal family.
He arrived at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London shortly after 4 p.m. U.K. time and shared small talk with dignitaries on the red carpet before meeting the parents of children helped by the charity.
During a speech at the event, Harry said: "The stories we have heard tonight, the work of WellChild, and the legacy of the WellChild Nurse program give me enormous confidence and hope.
"They remind us what is possible when we invest in families, when we support the dedicated professionals who care for them and when we work together to make sure that every child has the opportunity to be well cared for, well supported and well loved.
"To all the mums and dads—most of us will never truly know the emotional ups and downs of your day. But I sincerely hope that you take strength from nights like this"
Harry became a WellChild patron in 2007, and the organization is also celebrating 20 years of its WellChild nurses program. The annual event has given him the opportunity to show his emotional side and connect with young children and their parents.
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Harry described the awards in his book, Spare: "I’d attended many times through the years, having been a royal patron of the organization since 2007, and it was always gutting. The children were so brave, their parents so proud—and tortured."
In 2019, it triggered a major argument with Prince William after Harry broke down in tears in front of the cameras. Harry described the fallout in his book.
"We’d been filled with hope, and worry, like all expectant parents, and now we had a healthy little boy at home," he wrote. "But these parents and children hadn’t been so lucky. Gratitude and sympathy converged in my heart, and I choked up."
Harry said he later received a call from William, expressing concern. "He said I wasn’t well," he wrote. "He said again that I needed help. I reminded him that I was doing therapy. In fact, he’d recently told me he wanted to accompany me to a session because he suspected I was being 'brainwashed.'”
Prince Harry's Invictus Appearances
Prince Harry's first public charity visit in Britain since his return was Thursday night for the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, South London. The Invictus Games is a Paralympics-style tournament for the military community, bringing together armed forces personnel from countries around the world, including America.
In a speech, Harry said: "Invictus has never been about what happened to you. It is about what you choose to do next. And none of us does that alone.
"The need is not historical. Conflict is not historical. Neither are the injuries, visible and invisible, that people carry home from it. They are happening now, which means our responsibility is now."
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At the event, he met the Irish Guards, in full uniform, a regiment that counts the Princess of Wales as its honorary colonel.
On Friday, Harry visited Ninestiles Academy, in Birmingham, where he spoke to children as he launched Inspire, a program designed to use the inspiring stories of competitors in the games to teach children mental resilience. He also played pickleball with the children.
Charles Spencer's Book About Diana
Swan Song caused headlines last week with dramatic claims, including that Charles had said in the days after Diana's death that: “Rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough.”
Another passage read: "The phone rang constantly. Prince Charles caught me as I crossed the landing upstairs. Unlike my other callers, who were stunned, barely able to articulate their condolences and offers of help, he sounded giddily elated—like a lottery winner, I remember thinking at the time."
"I suspect the prince’s first reaction must have been to think more of how this event might free him to marry the woman he loved, rather than appreciating the loss of one he did not," Spencer wrote.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson last week told Newsweek: "While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and color memory in ways others do not recognize, even many years after such a loss."
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton, Emma Lee-Sang, Sam Wilson.
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