Prince Harry and Meghan would not be present at the Royal Family's festive dinner

All members of the Firm get together at the annual dinner held at Sandringham. However, this Christmas there is no invitation for Prince Harry and Meghan. This year, the monarch has extended invitation to the banished Sarah Ferguson. She has not been allowed to attend since 1992. The late Prince Philip banned her following the release of some photographs. By his action, King Charles has taken a bold step. He is "showing us all what Christmas is all about - family and forgiveness." That is how royal author Robert Jobson sums it up. He said the King's main concern this year would be the "missing" Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Charles tried to forgive them — he would love to be able to end the friction — but contact with them has been limited. It seems the monarch offered them an olive branch just before the Queen's death but they arrived late to the meeting. Robert Jobson goes on to add that Charles "has been pushed to his very limit with the Sussexes." However, their Netflix series and Harry’s new memoir "are still hanging over the Royal Family." King Charles's 'major problem' this Christmas will be Harry and Meghan's sad absence. Royal author Robert Jobson says - "It took three decades for Fergie to make it back to the Christmas table — for Harry and Meghan, it might be an even harder road back."

It seems Prince Harry will not be with the Royals for Christmas. Sources reveal that the relations were “near rock bottom” and the Duke of Sussex will snub an invite from King Charles ahead of the book’s global release on January 10. Harry’s elder brother Prince William and his wife Kate have reached Boston, US, ahead of the Earthshot Awards. However, they reportedly do not have any plans to catch up with Harry and Meghan. Harry lives with his family in California. It is about 200 miles from Boston. They have another program and travel to New York City to accept an honor at the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Awards. William will give the Earthshot Awards while Harry will receive Hope Awards.

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Prince Harry announced the return of Invictus Games to Canada in 2025 for the first-ever winter sports edition

Just prior to the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games 2022 in the Hague, Prince Harry announced that the Games would return to Canada in 2025 for the first-ever winter sports edition of the competition. Whistler and Vancouver, Canada, would be the venue of the games 2025. This place holds a special meaning to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The reason is simple. It was here in 2019, the royal couple and baby Archie spend their vacation before they announced their decision to step down as senior working royals. During a visit to Canada House in London in early 2020, Meghan recalled - "Just to be able to take in the warmth that we experienced from the people but also just to walk around and just see the beauty of Canada.” incidentally, it was in Canada where the two started secretly dating. Meghan had spent years in Toronto, Canada during the filming of Suits. Subsequently, the two debuted their relationship at the 2017 Invictus Games in Toronto. Prince Harry Announces the Invictus Games Are Returning to Canada.

The venue for the next Invictus Games will be in Dusseldorf, Germany, next year. Subsequently, the first-ever Winter Hybrid Games will be in Canada in 2025. Prince Harry indicated this in the website of the Invictus Games Foundation. The statement said - "As Invictus continues to adapt and evolve, I am extremely excited to announce that the Invictus Games Foundation has selected Canada to host the first-ever Winter Hybrid Games in 2025.” These Games will offer a global platform to expand the range and profile of winter adaptive sports. Canada will hold the Games in partnership with the First Nations, in the spirit of truth and reconciliation with indigenous communities.

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Life of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after the era of Queen Elizabeth II

Mourning period of Queen Elizabeth II is over and Prince Charles is the heir apparent to the throne. Accordingly, the website of the Royal Family has been restructured. Prince William is now The Prince of Wales and will become the next king after King Charles. Hence, his picture appears just after The King and Queen Consort Camilla. The picture of Kate Middleton, The Princess of Wales, is below that of Prince William. As far as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are concerned, they still have a place in the British Royal Family’s website but right down the list. Even now, they continue to be working members of the family but their images are below everyone else. Prince Harry, Meghan Markle get ‘lowest place’ in Royal family.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had resigned from their positions in January 2020. They were forced to take the seat directly behind Princess Anne. However, with King Charles III taking the throne, Harry and Meghan are now directly seated on top of Prince Andrew. They have hardly ever been seen in Britain since the infamous "Megxit." The two of them now live in California and returned to the UK after the demise of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8. It seems a book lists a number of fresh scandals involving the couple. The book goes on to say that once his nephew Prince George attains the age of 18, Harry could fade into obscurity. Moreover, the book makes a mention of Harry's long-held worry about being an "also-ran." Incidentally, soon after Charles became The King, his message to the couple via television was - “Today, I also want to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas.” He does have a soft corner for them but Prince William was furious at their decision to quit from Royal responsibilities.

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Remembering Princess Diana on her 20th death anniversary

Prince William and Prince Harry will mark the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana's death by commissioning a statue of their mother. When Diana passed away, killed in a car crash in Paris on 31 August 1997, Prince William was 15 years old and Prince Harry just 12.
The Princes plan to install a permanent statue in Kensington Palace of their mother.
In a joint statement they have said: "It has been 20 years since our mother's death and the time is right to recognise her positive impact in the UK and around the world with a permanent statue.... Our mother touched so many lives. We hope the statue will help all those who visit Kensington Palace to reflect on her life and her legacy."
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 29 January 2017.

It is planned to put the statue of the Princess in a public part of Kensington Palace gardens, Diana's former home. The Princes want a small committee to help them come up with a design and choose a sculptor. The committee would have Diana's sister, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Julia Samuel, a godparent of Prince George who was a close friend of the Princess, and the team will be chaired by Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, their former principal private secretary.
The statue is likely to be unveiled later this year.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Headdress of feathers for Prince Harry in Guyana

Prince Harry was crowned with a headdress of feathers as he met villagers from a remote indigenous community while touring Guyana's tropical forests. When his plane touched down in Surama, he was following in the footsteps of his father who had visited the area in 2000. And, in keeping with tradition, Prince Harry was presented with the colourful gift as had been his father, the Prince of Wales.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 4 December 2016.

After the headdress was put on his head, Prince Harry watched men and women perform a welcome dance. Then he was taken to an open-air community hall where he was welcomed by elders and received gifts. Villagers from a remote indigenous community honored their him with a colorful Macaw feather gift.
Thereafter Prince Harry, the fourth in line to the throne, made a speech praising the villagers. He is nearing the end of a 15-day tour of the Caribbean and will travel to a children's centre in the capital Georgetown and also meet first lady Sandra Granger at State House on Sunday.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Prince Harry in Africa to save 500 elephants and relocate them

Prince Harry has returned to Africa with his '500 Elephants' project in order to continue his conservation crusade and take a leading role save the continent’s biggest beasts from extinction. Prince Harry is an experienced pilot with warzone experience. He would round up family groups of elephants and get them relocated them 200 miles by air to sanctuary across Malawi.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 27 July 2016.

The pilot in the ‘500Elephants’ project is required to drive out elephants from wooded areas onto the plains so that they can be tranquilized more easily by the on board vet. Prince Harry can perform such a task with ease because of his experience in handling helicopters. He would also monitor the sedated animals after their immobilization.
This is his second successive summer in Africa and, this time, he is working with the NGO African Parks. The 31-year-old Prince Harry brings with him valuable field experience gained from last year’s three months embedded with bush vets and an anti-poaching teams. He has gained hands-on skills with the animals known as Africa’s Big Five.
Harry’s latest venture is the £1million move of around 500 elephants to a wildlife reserve in central Malawi from two parks in the south of the country. The reason for the relocation is gradual scarcity of food and space for the animals. African Parks hopes that the elephants in Malawi can eventually serve as a ‘reservoir’ to restore other African elephant populations. As per estimated, Africa has fewer than 500 000 elephants - it used to be several million a century ago.


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Prince Harry joins Coldplay on the stage in Kensington Palace in aid of charity

Prince Harry, the fifth in line to the throne, joined Coldplay on stage during the band's finale at their Kensington Palace gig which was held in aid of his charity Sentebale. Accompanying him was a choir of young children from Lesotho - Harry wanted to thank them for their time.
He waved his hands in time to the tune and shouted to the audience: 'Thank you for standing out in the rain, thank you to the choir that has come all the way from Lesotho. Please drive home safely and carry the work of Sentebale. And thank you to Coldplay - thank you so much, you've rocked the palace, you've rocked the palace!'
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 28 June 2016.

Harry stood behind the choir and swayed as he sung the lyrics to the hit song Up&Up. However, he did not take the microphone himself as the band's lead singer, Chris Martin, joined him. It was the first ever pop concert to be held on the historic palace's East Lawn and the purpose was to help raise funds and awareness of the challenges faced by young people affected by HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa.
Prince Harry had, earlier, introduced the British band for their 10-song set after a heartfelt speech to the crowd of 3,000 people. The money collected from the event will support Sentebale's work in helping vulnerable children in Lesotho. It works at the Mamohato Children's Centre which offers psychosocial support to children living with HIV. The charity is of the opinion that if children with the virus are educated, then they can in turn educate their peers and start to end the AIDS epidemic.
HIV is the number one cause of death in 10 to 19 year olds in Africa and every third child in Lesotho is an orphan - the country has the world's second highest rate of HIV.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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Prince Harry goes to Nepal on a five-day tour - welcomed by five virgins

Prince Harry has come to Nepal on a five-day tour and was given a traditional welcome that featured five virgins - it was a ceremony signifying luck and purity. The young women greeted Prince Harry, their special guest, with gifts of flowers and placed a garland around the prince's neck. The welcome by the Panchakanya - five virgins in Sanskrit - was held at Kathmandu's famous Durbar Square in the heart of the Kathmandu's old town.
This has been reported in sky.news.com dated 20 March 2016.

The Prince accepted their gifts with a smile and headed off for a tour of the area which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. He was the special guest at a reception held by the Nepalese government to mark 200 years since a treaty was signed between the UK and Nepal recognizing the close relationship between the two independent countries.
While addressing the audience, he mentioned about the first anniversary of the earthquakes that took nearly 9000 lives and talked about drawing attention to the help that Nepal still needs to recover after last year's devastating earthquakes. Many people are still languishing in temporary camps.
Incidentally, Prince Harry's trip will also focus on Nepal's tourist trade, particularly conservation and trekking and he will pay tribute to the efforts of Gurkha soldiers, who have fought alongside British troops, including Prince Harry during his tenure in Afghanistan.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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From recent revelations, it appears that a romance is budding between Prince Harry and Pippa Middleton - the 31-year-old Prince Harry and 32-year-old Pippa Middleton were thrown together at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2011. At the wedding, Pippa acted as maid of honor and Prince Harry was his brother's best man.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 10 December 2015.

Now, four years later, that romance appears to be gelling into something more concrete because Kate Middleton, now Duchess of Cambridge, discovered her sister Pippa and brother-in-law Harry kissing when she had gone to the bathroom to adjust her makeup at a royal wedding.
After their first meeting, Harry and Pippa had gone their ways. While Miss Middleton went out with financier Nico Jackson for three years, they split in October. Prince Harry, on his part, alternated for years between the model Cressida Bonas and Zimbabwean socialite Chelsy Davy.
When Pippa and Nico Jackson broke up, Pippa came one evening on the Prince's doorstep and the Prince entertained her with candles, pasta carbonara and music by Adele.
Prince William, apparently, is aware of this and does not approve but, the ending is unpredictable.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Michelle Obama and her daughters on a whistle-stop tour of London

#LetGirlsLearn #MichelleObama #PrinceHarry U S First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters Sasha and Malia had a whistle-stop of London where they met Prince Harry and had tea with him at Kensington Palace and later had a brief meeting with the Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha on the steps of 10 Downing Street.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 17 June 2015.

The family had spent two days in London – the reason for their coming was to highlight her campaign Let Girls Learn to bring girls in the world's most impoverished communities into education. The First Lady had discussed her ongoing effort to improve education for girls across the third world.
She explained that she had grown up in a working class neighborhood where people work hard to make ends meet and where families are tight-knit with strong values. She had her grandparents, aunts, and cousins living nearby, just blocks away from her apartment.
Moreover, her home was often busy with family coming and going and, since the apartment was small, there was not much privacy. At times, it was difficult to concentrate on the homework because someone was always talking or watching TV right next to me.
Among her engagements was a visit to Mulberry School in Tower Hamlets, East London, whose female pupils she said 'inspired her'.
From London, the family left for Milan on completion of their two day tour.
(Images wikimediacommons.org)

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Prince Harry begins four-week Army training in Australia

#PrinceHarry #AustralianDefenceForce #Norforce #SydneyInternationalAirport Dressed in army fatigue, Prince Harry landed in Sydney International Airport on a Qantas flight from London – he is on a four-week army training with the Australian Army. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 6 April 2015.
Prince Harry or Captain Wales, as he is known in the Army, will spend time with troops in Sydney, Darwin and Perth. He is also expected to participate in exercises with the country's Special Forces and Aboriginal soldiers as part of a long-running exchange program between UK and Australian forces.

He began his four-week placement with the Australian Defense Force (ADF) by laying a wreath at the country's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Canberra and by placing a poppy at the Roll of Honor. He then toured the First World War and Afghanistan Galleries at the Australian War Memorial and also interacted with members of the public. Later, he reported for duty to the Chief of the Defense Force and met senior army personnel.
The activities that he would connect with would be to work on helicopter simulators, train with the Special Air Service, and work with members of Norforce – this is mostly indigenous unit that patrols northern Australia.
On completion of his tenure with the Australian army, Prince Harry would return to royal duties with an official tour of New Zealand in May. It had been announced last month that he would be leaving the armed forces in June.
Incidentally, in the course of his 10-year military career, he has completed two tours of duty to Afghanistan and qualified as an Apache Aircraft Commander.

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#PrinceHarry #Apachepilot #InvictusGames #WalkingWithTheWounded Prince Harry had been an Apache pilot in Afghanistan and he had, at one time, described his role as an Apache pilot fighting the Taliban as ‘the best experience ever’ but, it seems, he does not want to fly again as a combat helicopter again. This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 21 February 2015.
For al practical purposes, Prince Harry, who spent five months in the cockpit of a gunship in Afghanistan, has now decided to hang up his flying goggles in spite of the fact that there is a shortage of pilots in the Army.
The 30-year-old Prince Harry or Captain Wales as he is called in the Forces, was expected to return to the skies with the Army Air Corps after arranging the Invictus Games. This is an Olympic-style event for wounded service personnel that was held in London last year. However, it now appears that he has informed the top brass in the military that he wants to continue working with injured troops. Subsequently, he would return next year to his parent regiment, the Blues and Royals.
It is understood that this summer he would join a team of injured soldiers in their walk across Britain in aid of the charity Walking With The Wounded.