Prince Harry was ‘cracking jokes’ instead of wishing King and Kate well in ‘deliberate snub’, royal experts claim

Prince Harry has been accused of showing disrespect to King Charles and Princess Kate by failing to mention them at a glitzy ceremony.

The glitzy Living Legends of Aviation event was Prince Harry’s first public appearance since Wednesday’s health news broke.

Prince Harry has been accused of showing disrespect to King Charles and Princess Kate by failing to mention the pair, who are unwell, during an awards speech.

The Duke of Sussex, 39, spoke for four minutes at the Hollywood event without referring to his dad, who faces a prostate operation, or his sister-in-law, who is recovering from surgery, The Sun reports.

The glitzy Living Legends of Aviation event — at which former Apache helicopter pilot Harry was presented with a medal — was his first public appearance since Wednesday’s health news broke.

Prince Harry with Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe.

A written version of his speech, seen by The Sun, included no word of the double royal health scare.

It is not known if Harry mentioned it privately but he was at the bash only a short time.

Royal biographer Angela Levin said: “He just needed to say one sentence. I actually think it’s horrible and disrespectful that he didn’t.

“It was a deliberate snub — to prove that he’s independent and doing very well,” she said.

She added: “Initially, I was in two minds. I thought it might have been too embarrassing for him to say anything or he might have been upset, but now I think the opposite.

“He was cracking jokes the whole time and it seemed phoney.

The glitzy Living Legends of Aviation event was Prince Harry’s first public appearance since Wednesday’s health news broke.

“It felt like it was ‘look at me’ and ‘it doesn’t affect me’. He could have been more serious and said he’s thinking of them.”

The £30,000-a-table ($57745AU) awards night, described by a top ex-Army officer as “celebrities massaging each other’s egos”, took place three days after Princess of Wales Kate was admitted to the London Clinic.

She will remain there under supervision until the end of the month.

Husband William has visited her every day.

Aides last night said work on causes close to her heart — such as her focus on children’s early development — would not stall.

One said: “Knowing her, I don’t envisage that will be the case. Her passion for the early years is clear.”

King Charles is also out of action as he prepares for surgery this week on his enlarged prostate.

Royal expert and commentator Phil Dampier said Harry’s failure to allude to them showed the royals are “further apart than ever”.

He said: “It’s possible that Harry and Meghan have sent good wishes in private but you would have thought Harry would have taken the public opportunity to wish both his father and sister-in-law well.

King Charles. Picture: AFP

Princess Kate. Picture: AFP

“He must know that people are wondering whether he’s been in touch and therefore you’d imagine he would take the chance to make it clear that he is supporting them.”

Harry entered the awards night at the Beverly Hilton Hotel through a rear loading bay.

Meghan had been expected to join him but stayed at home as one of their children — Archie, four, and Lilibet, two — was reportedly unwell.

The Prince appeared to be in good spirits when he collected his award for services to the British Army from event host John Travolta.

He hugged the Hollywood star, who famously danced with Harry’s mum Princess Diana at the White House in 1985, before taking to a podium for his acceptance speech.

“This is nice,” he said, smoothing down the ribbon of his medal.

“Thanks very much, Captain John. I was one year old when you danced with my mum.

“As you’ve told everybody here and continue to dine out on that probably every single night.

“But look at us now. It’s great. So if we’re not going to dance together, we’ll fly together.”

To audience laughter, the Duke appeared to hold his hand up to jokingly to dismiss Travolta, saying: “Thank you, that’s it, we’re done.”

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games last year.

Travolta, the Official Ambassador of Aviation, had recommended Harry be inducted as one of the “Living Legends” for his flying during military tours in 2007 and 2012.

The Duke described his time in the air in Afghanistan as “being up in God’s playground”. Grease and Saturday Night Fever star Travolta asked him: “What can you remember about your first flight?”

He joked in reply: “It’s classified.”

Harry, who previously sparked outrage by boasting of killing 25 Taliban fighters on his tours, said: “For me, flying has been a transcendent experience.

“A close encounter with magic, an invitation to both protect freedom . . . to feel free and, funnily enough, an opportunity to ground oneself, without actually being grounded. I find my flight training, which was over the course of three years, one of life’s greatest lessons.”

However, the award caused controversy among some military figures.

Royal experts have claimed that Harry’s failure to allude to his struggling relatives shows the royals are more ‘far apart than ever’.

Retired Colonel Richard Kemp, a former British Army officer, said the ceremony was about “celebrities massaging each other’s egos”.

He added: “I can think of many people who did pretty extraordinary things serving in the British and American Armed Forces who are much more deserving of an award like this.”

Colonel Kemp said Harry had been honoured “because of who he is — not what he did”.

He added: “An Apache is crewed by two people — a pilot and a gunner. Harry was a gunner. He was number two in the aircraft.

“If he’d done anything comparable to some of the people who did some incredible things, I’m sure we would’ve heard about it. This cheapens the award.”

Previous recipients of the honour — in its 21st year — include astronaut Neil Armstrong and actors Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford.

This story was published by The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Prince Harry was ‘cracking jokes’ instead of wishing King and Kate well in ‘deliberate snub’, royal experts claim