The only person Prince Harry feels he can ‘truly be honest with’ since royal split

Prince Harry has “grown even closer” to his uncle, Charles Spencer, following his decision to walk away from the Royal Family and step down from duties in 2020. Harry’s uncle, and brother of his late mother, Princess Diana, has always been close to his nephew and even attended recent celebrations to mark the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games in London to show his support.

Prince Harry flew from the United States for a brief visit to the UK to give a reading at St Paul’s Cathedral on May 8 and the aristocrat was one of the few family members there, as his dad, King Charles, hosted Buckingham Palace’s first garden party of the year, just a few miles away.

Speaking to new magazine, a source said: “Harry has always been very close to his Uncle Charles and they have grown even closer since he walked away from royal life. Charles – who also walked alongside him at Diana’s funeral – backed him completely and he is the one person Harry feels he can truly be honest with about how hard it is being a royal, as he knows his uncle’s views on them.” The 60-year-old Earl recently announced that he and his third wife, Karen Gordon, are planning to divorce after 13 years of marriage.

Earl Spencer has seven children from his three marriages: Lady Kitty, Lady Eliza, Lady Amelia and Louis from his first marriage to Victoria Lockwood, Edmund and Lady Lara from his union with Caroline Freud and Lady Charlotte with Ms Gordon. The Earl and Ms Gordon, a philanthropist from Canada, were set up on a blind date in 2010 and wed in June 2011, welcoming their daughter a little over a year later. The 60-year-old shared a statement with the Mail on Sunday: “It is immensely sad. I just want to devote myself to all my children, and to my grandchildren and I wish Karen every happiness in the future.”

It is understood Earl Spencer is to have employed the services of renowned divorce lawyer Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia, after announcing the end of his third marriage. She previously represented King Charles, then the Prince of Wales, when he divorced Spencer’s sister Princess Diana back in 1996. Prince Harry and Earl Spencer’s close bond was evident at Princess Diana’s funeral in September 1997 when Charles walked alongside his young nephews behind his sister’s coffin.

He raised concerns at the time about the then-young royals walking in the funeral procession, and later went on to describe it as the “most horrifying half hour of my life”. While Earl Spencer isn’t often seen in public with his nephews, he’s been there to support them during several events – mostly involving those to commemorate his late sister.

In 2021, they were all seen together in public with Prince William as they unveiled a new statue of the Princess in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on what would have been her 60th birthday.