Prince Harry (38) appeared to be in a good mood during his flying visit to London. At the WellChild Awards ceremony at the Hurlingham Club on Thursday evening (September 7th), he posed laughing for the photographers and chatted animatedly with the young award winners. But he also didn’t leave his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022) unmentioned – after all, it was the eve of the first anniversary of her death. Prince Harry loudly told those present “Hello!”, saying that they “look down on all of us” and are “happy that we are together.”
It’s Harry’s first visit to his native Britain in three months. For 15 years he has been a patron of the WellChild charity, which works to help seriously ill children. He takes part in the awards ceremonies every year – except for 2022. Yesterday he recalled on stage: “As you know, I couldn’t take part in the awards ceremony last year because my grandmother passed away. As you probably also know, she would be the first who would have insisted that I come to you anyway instead of going to her.” He continues, “And that’s exactly why I know that tonight, exactly one year later, she’s looking down on all of us and happy that together we continue to shine a spotlight on such an incredible community.”
As the Daily Mail reported, the highest level of secrecy was in place because of Harry in London. For security reasons, the location of the award ceremony was not announced in advance. None of this tension was felt during the event, though: Harry sat with seriously ill children and their families during a pre-ceremony reception, talking to them about their interests and hobbies and making fun of balloons. The Duke of Sussex took his time with each award winner. His wife Meghan (42) was not there this time. She regretted that, Harry said.
He last appeared publicly in the UK in June when he testified before the Supreme Court in the Mirror Group Newspapers trial. As on previous occasions, he is keeping his stay in his home country short: He only arrived yesterday morning – and he is expected in Germany tomorrow, Saturday. The Invictus Games begin in Düsseldorf. In the evening he will be a guest on the ZDF program “Aktuelles Sportstudio”.
