Prince Harry makes first public appearance since returning to Britain at Invictus event – as excerpts from his uncle’s searing memoir about Diana are published

Prince Harry has been seen in public for the first time since returning to Britain as he arrived for the inaugural Invictus Spirit Awards in London. 

His appearance comes just hours after the Daily Mail published the first extract from Earl Spencer’s bombshell new memoir, which claims King Charles told him: ‘We’ll forget her [Diana] soon enough.’

A source close to Harry said while he was ‘aware’ of his uncle’s memoir, he had not read it. 

The Duke of Sussex attended this evening’s event to celebrate the courage and commitment of people in the Invictus community.

Harry, dressed in black tie and wearing his military medals, posed for photographs and then for selfies, outside the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich where the ceremony is being held. 

The awards are for individuals and organisations who ’embody the resilience, service and unconquered spirit at the heart of the international Invictus Movement’. 

Five prizes will be handed out – including the Resilience, Champion, Community and Movement awards – with a total of 14 individuals and organisations nominated.

Harry is staging his tournament for injured, sick or wounded former and still-serving service personnel in Birmingham next July, and is said to want the King to attend.

The duke will also soon attend the launch of Invictus education programme Inspire, as well as taking part in one of his favourite annual occasions, the WellChild Awards.

Earl Spencer’s book, Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, describes a devastating row he had with Charles in the days after Diana died. 

In the first extract, which was published on DailyMail.com at 5pm today, he claims that Charles sounded ‘giddily elated – like a lottery winner’ after Diana’s death.

Describing a phone call with the then Prince of Wales following the car crash in 1997, the Earl spoke of how it ‘all sounded strangely matter-of-fact’. 

He said he suspected Charles’s 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.

One passage read: ‘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.

‘He let me know he had informed William and Harry of their mother’s death, first thing that morning, in their bedrooms at Balmoral.

‘It all sounded strangely matter-of-fact, given the enormity of the disaster.

‘Looking back now, 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.’

In other passages of the book, Earl Spencer spoke of how his sister drove ‘more than once’ to the cliffs at Beachy Head in East Sussex and was ‘contemplating ending it all’, adding that ‘her love for her sons stopped her from going further’.

The excerpt later goes on to claim that Diana told her brother ‘my husband is in love with his valet’ after telling him she was going to get divorced.

The book reads: ‘It is a sad fact that, in her later years, Diana drove herself more than once to Beachy Head, the highest chalk sea cliff in England, while contemplating ending it all.

‘Her love for her sons stopped her from going further.

‘One day Diana asked me at very short notice to join her for lunch at San Lorenzo, her favourite London restaurant.

‘She looked down at the table and said, ‘Carlos, I’m going to get divorced.’

‘I was silent for a moment. I had known things were bad, but not this bad.

‘Well, Duch,’ I carefully replied, ‘you of course have my full support… I know you’ll have thought this through.

‘But my main worry is the public. I fear they won’t forgive you. They’ve bought into a fairytale, and I reckon they may well – wrongly – blame you for destroying their fantasy.’

‘She looked up at me, nodded, and said quietly: ‘But, Carlos, my husband is in love with his valet.’

‘I gulped. ‘Well, I guess, in that case, you really don’t have a choice’.’

The palace hit back at claims in the memoir last night with a short statement, saying ‘the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason.’

Earlier in the day, Prince Harry visited Imperial College London in west London at a special event with Save The Children in support of youngsters injured in conflict. 

He participated in a discussion panel and was shown the latest prosthetics designed specifically for youngsters – including a specialised knee joint that can grow with the child.

Speaking at the event, Prince Harry said: ‘Children should not be exposed to conflict. They should not be losing limbs to blast. But whilst children continue to suffer, I will keep working to ensure they can live life to the full.’ 

Save The Children, Imperial College London and Archewell Philanthropies are working together to provide children with a holistic package of support, including prosthetics, physical rehabilitation and long-term mental health provision.

Harry and his wife Meghan Markle moved back to the UK last month, six years after stepping away from the working monarchy and setting up a home in California.

They enrolled their children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, into a UK school – but have already moved them to another one after talks with their security.

Senior royals were seen in public carrying out official engagements today after the palace took the rare step of responding to the allegations in the upcoming book.

Charles was at Dumfries House to address bosses from some of the world’s leading AI developers – Nvidia, Anthropic and OpenAI – about the future of the technology.

Prince William and his wife Kate made their first official visit to the Isle of Bute on a trip this afternoon which included visiting their namesake town of Rothesay.

The Duchess of Edinburgh’s visit to Zambia, to try to celebrate the relationship between Zambia and the UK, was among other royal engagements.

Meanwhile, the Princess Royal attended the opening of a new History Centre at the German Military Cemetery in Staffordshire.