To shoulder
wife Meghan and son Archie. Harry is understood to have ordered a rapid Covid test on Friday so he could travel “as soon as possible”.
He was close to his grandfather and their bond was captured perfectly in a picture of them together, alongside William, at the Rugby World Cup Final at Twickenham in 2015.
But Harry is not thought to have seen the Duke in person since autumn 2019.
When Philip was in hospital last month, recovering from an infection and heart surgery, Harry had a private jet on standby and had chosen to isolate at home in case the worst happened.
On doctors’ advice, Meghan will stay at the couple’s £11million home in Montecito, California. She has invited her mother Doria to keep her company. The former actress is due to have a baby girl in the early summer.
Since quitting royal roles the couple have signed deals worth £130million to make programmes for Netflix and podcasts for Spotify under the banner of their company Archewell Audio.
Harry has two other roles. The first is as “chief impact officer” at a Silicon Valley firm – coaching people on mental health – and the second is as a “commissioner” for a US study into fake news.
Mourners coming from outside England are currently required to selfisolate for the first full 10 days on arrival. But Harry would be entitled to leave his place of self-isolation on compassionate grounds to attend the funeral.
He could also be released from quarantine with a negative result on day five under the Test to Release scheme.
Together with Meghan, Harry paid tribute to Prince Philip on Friday by replacing the home page of their Archewell charitable foundation with a simple message reading: “In loving memory of His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh. 1921 - 2021.
“Thank you for your service. You will be greatly missed.”