Prince Harry will not be traveling home for his uncle Robert Fellowes’ funeral, Us Weekly can confirm.
Fellowes was the brother-in-law of the late Princess Diana, making him an uncle to Prince William and Harry, 39. He was also Queen Elizabeth II’s private secretary from 1990 to 1999.
News of Fellowes’ death broke on July 31, with the U.K.’s The Times revealing that he died at age 82 two days prior, following “undisclosed causes.” Fellowes was married to Diana’s older sister Lady Jane Fellowes, and together they shared three children: Laura Jane Fellowes, 44, Alexander Robert Fellowes, 41, and Eleanor Ruth Fellowes, 38.
While Harry will not be traveling back to the U.K. for his uncle’s memorial service, the Duke of Sussex did speak to the Spencer family following Fellowes’ death. Us Weekly learned late last month that Harry was in contact with his aunt and cousins along with his uncle Charles Spencer, who is the younger brother of his late mother, Diana.
Harry’s decision to skip Fellowes’ funeral comes as he and wife Meghan Markle are set to travel to Colombia for a trip that centers around online safety for kids, which is also a new initiative their Archewell Foundation has taken on.
“Their visit comes at a particularly significant time, as it precedes the first Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, to be held in Colombia this November,” Colombia Vice President Francia Márquez shared in a statement earlier this month. “The forthcoming conference will unveil a comprehensive framework for creating safer physical and digital spaces, tackling issues such as cyberbullying, online exploitation and the mental health impacts of these threats.”
Harry and Meghan, 43, are set to “engage in several activities related to this important topic” during their trip.
The couple discussed online bullying and their Archewell initiative, titled The Parents Network, at length during a recent sit-down interview on CBS Sunday Morning.
“All you want to do as parents is protect them. And so as we can see what’s happening in the online space, we know that there’s a lot of work to be done there,” Meghan told Jane Pauley on August 4. “We’re just happy to be able to be a part of a change for good.”
The parents of two — Harry and Meghan share son Archie, 5 and daughter Lilibet, 3 — spoke specifically to the connection between social media and teens who die by suicide.
“There is a through line, I think. When you’ve been through any level of pain or trauma, I believe part of our healing journey, certainly part of mine, is being able to be really open about it,” Meghan said, referring to her past mental health struggles. “I haven’t really scraped the surface on my experience, but I do think I would never want someone else to feel that way and I would never want someone else to be making those sort of plans.”
