Prince Harry chokes up during charity speech
Prince Harry is comforted by the event's host, Gaby Roslin. Photo: Getty
Prince Harry has had an emotional moment while speaking about being a new dad at a charity event in London.
The Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan Markle, were at the annual WellChild Awards on Tuesday night (London time).
The charity supports seriously ill children, and the couple attended the same awards in 2018 – when Meghan was newly pregnant, but the news had not been made public.
Prince Harry said the charity’s annual awards – which he had attended for more than a decade – “never fail to inspire me”. But this year, following the birth of the couple’s son, Archie, in May the event was especially poignant.
“Last year when my wife and I attended we knew we were expecting our first child – no one else did at the time, but we did,” Prince Harry said.
At that point, the Prince choked up and looked at the floor for a moment. He was quickly comforted by host Gaby Roslin.
“I remember squeezing Meghan’s hand so tightly during the awards, both of us thinking what it would be like to be parents one day, and more so, what it would be like to do everything we could to protect and help our child should they be born with immediate challenges or become unwell over time,” he went on.
“Now, as parents, being here and speaking to all of you pulls at my heart strings in a way I could have never understood until I had a child of my own.”
It was the Sussexes’ first public appearance since they and Archie returned from their tour of South Africa. There was a rare public glimpse of their son when he went with Harry and Meghan to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu in Cape Town.
The couple have also launched legal action against some of Britain’s tabloid newspapers over alleged phone hacking and the release of a letter from the Duchess to her father Thomas Markle.
For the WellChild event, Meghan recycled the dress she first wore for her engagement interview with the prince, along with the coat she wore to her first Christmas church service at Sandringham.
Meanwhile, Prince William and his wife Kate continued their five-day tour of Pakistan. On Tuesday night (local time), the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived in style to a special reception in Islamabad, opting to travel in a rickshaw.
The Cambridges took the colourful cart to the historic Pakistan Monument in Islamabad on Tuesday night for an event hosted by Thomas Drew, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan.
Kate wore a glittering emerald dress by Jenny Packham, while William wore a similar-coloured traditional sherwani buttoned coat by Karachi designer Naushemian.
The Cambridges arrive at the Islamabad reception on Tuesday night. Photo: AAP
The event was to showcase Pakistani music and culture, and the couple were to meet individuals from business, the creative arts, music and the film industry and members of government.
Earlier, the royal couple meet Prime Minister Imran Khan and visited education programs.
Security is extremely tight for the five-day tour, with little advance warning of the couple’s daily schedule.
-with AAP