Prince Harry intends to travel to London for the July 1 unveiling of a statue of his mother, despite palace insiders wondering how he can ‘face his family’, it has been claimed.
The 36-year-old will ‘absolutely’ be there besides Prince William, on what would have been Princess Diana’s 60th birthday.
Yet Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey devastated his family, and his podcast appearance last week – at which he accused Prince Charles of being a bad father – only served to pour salt in the wounds.
‘No one is going to tell Harry not to come, but how does he face his family?’ a palace source told The New York Post.
‘Harry’s still coming, we’re told, but how will it all go down?
‘Will he just turn up on the day without having seen them beforehand?’
Prince Harry, pictured on May 8, is said to be ‘absolutely’ planning on being in London on July 1
He is intending to attend the unveiling of a statue of his mother, pictured in 1993
William and Harry last saw each other at their grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral in April.
The pair were reported to have spoken, but William, 38, is said to be deeply hurt by his younger brother’s public shaming of their family.
The brothers commissioned the statue, which will sit in the gardens of Kensington Palace, in 2017 to mark the 20th anniversary of their mother’s death and to ‘recognize her positive impact’.
Kensington Palace said installation of the sculpture had been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, but it would be unveiled in the Sunken Garden in July.
It has been created by artist Ian Rank-Broadley, whose portrait of the Queen appears on all British coins.
Harry and William, pictured in April 2018, began preparations for the statue in 2017
The boys wanted the statue, at Kensington Palace, to ‘reflect on her life and legacy’
Prince Harry is pictured with Dax Shepard (left) and his co-host Monica Padman (center)
When they announced the commission, the princes said they hoped the permanent sculpture would help all those who visited Kensington Palace to ‘reflect on her life and her legacy’.
‘Our mother touched so many lives,’ they said.
Diana died on August 31,1997, when William was 15 and Harry aged 12.
Several London memorials have been created in tribute to Diana, including the Diana Memorial Playground at Kensington Palace, the Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park, and the Diana Memorial Walk at St James’s Palace.
Harry’s abrupt relocation to the United States created a rift with his family, but his attendance at the unveiling had never been in doubt until the recent series of interviews.
Another source familiar with the royal family told The Post: ‘Things between Harry and William have been terrible since Megxit, then Harry and Meghan gave that nuclear Oprah interview, and now Harry has spoken out again.
‘It’s just one thing after the other.’
Harry has left senior Royals baffled by his ‘woeful lack of compassion’ in the expletive-filled 90-minute interview last week with actor and podcaster Dax Shepard.
In particular, there is fury that he spoke out just a month after his grandfather’s funeral.
Oprah Winfrey interviews Prince Harry and Meghan Markle for the March 7 show
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex wave to the crowds after their wedding at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle
Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry, Prince Charles and Prince William attending a requiem mass for Hugh van Cutsem at Brentwood Cathedral in 2013
The 36-year-old says he and Meghan, who are expecting their second child, moved to the millionaires’ enclave of Montecito in California to break the cycle of ‘genetic pain’.
‘He’s treated me the way that he was treated,’ he said of his father. ‘There’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway. Isn’t life about breaking the cycle? There’s no blame.
‘But certainly when it comes to parenting, if I have experienced some kind of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that, perhaps, my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so I don’t pass it on.’
Referring to his father’s ‘unhappy’ time at Gordonstoun school in Scotland – which Charles described as ‘Colditz in kilts’ – Harry added: ‘Suddenly I started to piece it all together and go, OK, so this is where he went to school.
‘This is what happened. I know this bit about his life. I also know that’s connected to his parents. So that means that he’s treated me the way that he was treated, which means how can I change that for my own kids?’
He compared life in The Firm to ‘a mixture between The Truman Show and being in a zoo’ – a reference to the 1998 Jim Carrey film about a man who is oblivious to the fact that his entire life is a TV show.
‘I’ve seen behind the curtain,’ he added. ‘I’ve seen the business model. I know how this operation runs.
‘I don’t want to be part of this.’