Prince Harry's bond with Princess Diana's family after reunion at uncle's funeral
The Duke of Sussex has always maintained a close relationship with his late mother Diana, Princess of Wales's family.
Diana grew up with three siblings – her older sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, as well as her younger brother Charles, 9th Earl Spencer, who is custodian of her childhood home, the Althorp estate in Northampton.
Prince Harry discreetly flew in from the US to the UK to attend his uncle Lord Robert Fellowes' funeral on 28 August in Snettisham, Norfolk, where he was also joined by his brother, Prince William.
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Lord Fellowes, who was a former equerry to the late equerry, was married to Diana's sister, Lady Jane.
According to PEOPLE magazine, Harry reportedly stayed with his uncle Charles at Althorp during his visit, which is also the location of his mother Diana's resting place.
Lord Fellowes' funeral fell just three days before the 27th anniversary of Diana's death on 31 August.
The Princess died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 and was later laid to rest on a tree-lined island at the centre of Althorp's Oval Lake.
William and Harry's uncle Charles was among the relatives to support his young nephews as they walked in their mother's funeral cortège, with the Earl delivering a moving eulogy at the service. The Spencer family have long supported William and Harry throughout their lives.
While no senior royals were present at the service to mark Harry's Invictus Games tenth anniversary in May, his uncle Charles, aunt Lady Jane and his cousins, George McCorquodale, Ned Spencer and Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp, were all in attendance.
The Duke'swarm relationship with his aunts and uncles was also evident when he and William unveiled a statue of Diana in the gardens at Kensington Palace in July 2021, to mark what would have been their mother's 60th birthday.
The Spencers were also among the guests at Harry and Meghan's royal wedding in 2018, with Lady Jane chosen to give a reading during the ceremony.
Harry's aunts Lady Sarah and Lady Jane also attended Prince Archie's christening in Windsor in July 2019, and appeared in an official portrait to mark the occasion.
The Duke has even taken his wife, Meghan, to visit Charles at Althorp. In the epilogue of his memoir, Spare, released in January 2023, Harry recalled the poignant moment he took Meghan to pay her respects at his mother's grave.
Describing the moment he and Meghan got into a boat to row across to the private island on the estate, Harry wrote: "Uncle Charles came down to the water's edge, gave us a little shove. We waved to him, and to my two aunts. Bye. See you in a bit. Gliding across the pond, I gazed around at Althorp's rolling fields and ancient trees, the thousands of green acres where my mother grew up, and where, though things weren’t perfect, she'd known some peace."
