Most of the royal-related headlines this month have been dominated by the explosive first-look trailers of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's upcoming Netflix docu-series, Kate Middleton and Prince William's trip to Boston, and the Palace's racism row. The former, however, has certainly firmly moved the spotlight back onto William and Harry's strained relationship.
Despite this, the brothers have put on a rare display of unity this week, ahead of Harry & Meghan airing, in honour of a joint friend of theirs, Henry van Straubenzee – who tragically passed away in a car crash 20 years ago.
Following his heartbreaking and early death, Henry's family created The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund 'to try and keep his memory alive' – and this coming Thursday (the same date that the first episodes of Harry & Meghan are set to air) there will be a carol concert performed at St Luke's Church in Chelsea, which the princes have praised in a new joint statement.
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In a statement seen by the press, Prince William and Prince Harry wrote: 'We believe everyone here tonight will agree that what Claire and Alex have achieved since 2009 with The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund, is nothing short of extraordinary.
'As you gather together under this roof tonight, the charity is supporting 51 nursery, primary and secondary schools in rural Uganda, where 1700 projects have been completed and over 35,000 children, each year, are benefitting by receiving education they wouldn't have otherwise. It is with a mixture of great pride and sadness therefore, that tonight we share with you Claire and Alex's plan to embark on a gradual winding down of the charity.'
The statement continued on to discuss Henry's legacy and 'mischievous' personality, too. 'Henry's legacy will live on through the incredible achievements of his mum and dad have accomplished over the years. For those of us who knew Henners, we will always miss his mischievous charm and hilarious sense of humour.'
Both William and Harry, patrons of the memorial fund, are known to be close to the van Straubenzee family as a whole, with Thomas van Straubenzee being Princess Charlotte's godfather and Prince Harry serving as best man at Charlie van Straubenzee's wedding to Daisy Jenks in August 2018.
The two brothers were last seen in public together for the funeral of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
