The Royal Family are “fully focused” on this week’s VE Day events and celebrating the “selfless devotion, duty and service” of the wartime generation, despite Prince Harry’s shock interview.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s events in central London, a palace aide said: “The King, Queen and other members of The Royal Family are much looking forward to all the week’s VE Day events, when they will unite with the rest of the nation and those across the Commonwealth and wider world in celebrating, commemorating and giving thanks to the wartime generation whose selfless devotion duty and service should stand as an enduring example to us all – and must never be forgotten.”
It’s understood that the family are keen that out of respect for the surviving veterans, nothing will “detract or distract” from celebrating the precious victory and the brave souls who contributed to it.
On Monday, the King and Queen will be joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales and other members of the family for a parade and fly past centred around Buckingham Palace.
They will also join Sir Keir Starmer and Second World War veterans on a platform on the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of the palace.
Read more:
What are the four-day celebrations to mark VE Day?
What VE Day was really like – 80 years on
In a shock interview on Friday, Prince Harry opened up about still being estranged from his family, saying his father will not speak to him but that he still has hopes for reconciliation.
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The duke told BBC News: “Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff. It would be nice to reconcile.”
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Ailsa Anderson, a former press secretary to the late Queen, told Sky News on Friday that Buckingham Palace would be “raising their eyes heavenwards” in reaction to the interview.
“Prince Harry is saying ‘I don’t know how long my father has’ – that’s going to cause real concern and more speculation in the media and the wider public about what his diagnosis is, which is incredibly unhelpful going forward,” she told Sky’s Sophy Ridge.
