Earl Spencer attends ceremony for Prince Harry’s Invictus Games

Princess Diana‘s younger brother Charles Spencer and Prince Harry‘s lawyer have joined the crowds gathering for Prince Harry’s speech at the Invictus Games 10th Anniversary Service at St Paul’s.

Rishi Sunak‘s wife Akshata Murty also joined the group, dressed in a military-style green coat with gold buttons, where she was joined by Minister of State for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer. 

Harry joined a congregation of around a thousand inside the London landmark where he is due to give a bible reading.

Among the guests were Diana, Princess of Wales‘s siblings Lady Jane Fellowes and Earl Spencer, and former Army officer Mark Dyer, who acted as the duke’s mentor, playing the role of a supportive big brother figure for Harry after Diana’s death.

Other stars within the crowd included former Olympic champion triple jumper Jonathan Edwards. 

The Duke was warmly greeted by the Dean of St Paul’s, the Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett, before being escorted to his seat under the cathedral’s great dome.

Crowds had gathered around crash barriers to see the duke’s car pull up, and there was a large number of journalists, photographers and cameramen covering his every move.

It comes as the Prince and his father King Charles are just miles apart geographically in London – but will not see each other as each carries out their separate duties in the capital.

The Duke of Sussex, who remains estranged from many family members after a string of attacks on the Royal Family in recent years, said yesterday that he had been told his father did not have time to see him this week while he is staying in the UK.

Charles has not been able to find time to see his son Prince Harry this afternoon as he attends the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the summer season.

The King, who also had meetings this morning, will later attend his weekly audience with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this evening followed by a Privy Council meeting. 

The Duke of Sussex has flown into London for the Invictus engagements and there were hopes that he would see the King. But a spokesman for Harry said yesterday that the monarch’s ‘full programme’ meant the get-together would not happen.

During the service at St Paul’s today, Harry will give a reading and actor Damian Lewis will recite the Invictus poem.

Harry spent yesterday in the capital attending a summit that reflected on the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games, which stages sporting events for wounded, sick or injured veterans or serving military to aid their recovery.

He told delegates at the event, held at the Honourable Artillery Company’s headquarters on the edge of the City of London: ‘Sometimes you… look back and go ‘Look at what we’ve done’.

‘But also given the state of the world, there is so much more to do and I think a lot of uncertainty – but what we’ve created is a global community.’

The service began with the hymn Praise My Soul The King Of Heaven as a few miles away the King hosted the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the year.

Harry had taken a seat next to his mentor Mark Dyer and exchanged a few words with his uncle Earl Spencer.

The Dean of St Paul’s told the congregation: ‘We gather this evening to offer grateful thanksgiving to Almighty God for the work of the Invictus Games Foundation, and in this their 10th anniversary year, we celebrate the tremendous achievements of the numerous competitors across 23 nations.

‘We give thanks for the inspiring vision and compassion that formed the foundation and, chiefly, for the resultant decade of profound and transformational work.

‘We lament the pain, cost and indignity of war and terror, and pray for a world where justice shall reign and where the nations will find their longed for unity.

‘We recall, with admiration, the skill and determination of those who seek to repair, rehabilitate, and reclaim the lives of those living with serious illness or injury: changing and saving lives.’

Harry is also not expected to see his estranged brother Prince William who held an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle this morning. William continues to balance work with looking after his three children while his wife Kate undergoes preventative chemotherapy for cancer and recovers from serious abdominal surgery in January.

Tomorrow, William will fly to Cornwall for further official engagements – and the King will meet staff and families of the 3 Royal School of Military Engineering in Surrey.

Then on Monday there will be a rare joint visit for Charles and William, as the King officially hands over the role of Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to William at the Army Aviation Centre in Middle Wallop, where Harry previously learnt to fly.

Harry has travelled to the UK to commemorate the Invictus Games milestone with those who have been involved with the paralympic-style tournament and mark the decade-long support competitors have received. 

Charles and Harry last met soon after the King announced his cancer diagnosis in February and his son rushed from America to see his father.

That was the first time Harry had seen his father in person for 17 months, and they had a half-hour meeting before Charles left London to recuperate at Sandringham following treatment.

But this time, a spokesman for Harry said: ‘In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the UK this week, it unfortunately will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full programme.

‘The duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.’

Just hours after Harry’s statement, palace officials announced a new joint engagement for Charles and William.

It is one of dozens of official engagements being planned for the 75-year-old monarch in the coming months after his doctors gave him the all-clear to undertake more public work once again while continuing his cancer treatment.

Yesterday, Charles met the prime minister of the Republic of Fiji at Buckingham Palace, before retiring to Clarence House – three miles away from Harry’s event.

Harry now lives with his wife Meghan Markle and children Archie, who turned five on Monday, and Lilibet in a £12million mansion in Montecito, California.