Prince William, Harry Participate In Same Event But Avoid Crossing Paths

Prince William and Prince Harry both appeared at an event honoring their late mother, Princess Diana, Thursday, but it was not the reunion royal fans may have wanted.

The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex separately attended the Diana Legacy Award ceremony at the Science Museum in London Thursday night.

Prince William attended in person to give a speech and hand out the Legacy Awards to "outstanding young leaders, visionaries and role models from across the world, who have demonstrated their ability to inspire and mobilize new generations to service their communities, as the late Diana, Princess of Wales did herself," according to The Diana Award website.

Prince Harry, who lives in California with his wife Meghan Markle and their two young children, appeared virtually to speak to award recipients after Prince William finished giving his speech and left, ABC News reported.

In his speech, Prince William paid tribute to Princess Diana, sharing some of the life lessons he learned from his late mother.

"I know that she would have been honored to see a charity in her name doing such inspirational work to uplift young people from all corners of the globe," the Prince of Wales said, as seen in a video of his speech posted on X, formerly Twitter. "She taught me that everyone has the potential to give something back; that everyone in need deserves a supporting hand in life."

The royal also mentioned his wife, Kate Middleton, who was not present at the ceremony and whose absence from the spotlight has sparked a wave of speculation and conspiracy theories in recent weeks.

"That legacy is something both Catherine and I have sought to focus on through our work, as have the 50,000 young people who have received the Diana Award over the past 25 years," Prince William told attendees. "I am incredibly proud to see this manifested in the amazing young people receiving the Legacy Award tonight."

The event marked the 25th anniversary of The Diana Awards, which is the only charitable organization that carries the late royal's name.

This year's recipients of the Legacy Awards included young leaders from the U.S., Oman, Australia, the U.K., Bangladesh, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Romania, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and the UAE.

The Diana Award earlier confirmed to People that Prince Harry "will be a key part of our Legacy Awards celebration, which takes place over the course of this week. He is scheduled to speak with the award recipients virtually the same evening of the Awards to celebrate their accomplishments."

The estranged royal brothers also did not cross paths when they attended a Diana Award event honoring young changemakers last year.

At the time, they appeared in two separate videos, with Prince William helping open the ceremony and Prince Harry introducing a group of winners.

The Thursday event came over a month after Prince Harry flew to the U.K. to visit their father, King Charles III, following the announcement of his cancer diagnosis.

Following a brief meeting with his father on Feb. 6, the Duke of Sussex returned to California just a day after arriving in the U.K., without seeing Prince William and Princess Kate.

An unnamed royal source told People at the time that there were "no plans" for the brothers to reunite while Prince Harry was in the U.K.

During that period, Prince William had stepped away from royal engagements as he focused on supporting Middleton, who was recuperating from her Jan. 16 abdominal surgery, and taking care of their three children.

Middleton recently fueled speculation about her health and whereabouts after she posted a photo with her kids -- Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5 -- on social media that was later pulled by major photo agencies due to concerns of manipulation.

Earlier this week, the Princess of Wales issued an apology via X suggesting she edited the image, which was reportedly taken by Prince William.

Hours after posting the apology, the Daily Mail published photos of Middleton reportedly sitting next to Prince William in the backseat of a car leaving Windsor Castle.

However, Middleton's face was not captured on camera, raising more questions among royal fans.