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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Dave Burke

Prince William and Harry's rare show of unity as they pen joint letter in memory of pal

Feuding princes William and Harry have joined forces in a rare show of unity in memory of a friend.

The brothers penned a joint letter for a carol concert in memory of pal Henry van Straubenzee, praising his parents for their charity work.

The letter - signed by both princes - paid tribute to "Henners" and praised the "extraordinary" achievements of the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund, which was set up in 2009.

Henry was just 18 when he died in a car crash in 2002, and the royals are patrons of the charity set up in his memory.

The concert will take place at St Luke's Church in Chelsea on Thursday — the same day the first instalment of Harry and Meghan's "explosive" new Netflix documentary is set to air.

William and Harry paid tribute to late friend Henry van Straubenzee (Getty Images)
Harry and William seen at a reception to mark the launch of the Henry Van Straubenzee Memorial Fund in 2009 (WireImage)

Praising the work of Henry's parents Alex and Claire, the princes wrote in a letter seen by the Mail on Sunday : "We believe everyone here tonight will agree that what Claire and Alex have achieved since 2009 with The Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund, is nothing short of extraordinary

"As you gather together under this roof tonight, the charity is supporting 51 nursery, primary and secondary schools in rural Uganda, where 1700 projects have been completed and over 35,000 children, each year, are benefitting by receiving education they wouldn't have otherwise,' said the letter."

It continued: "It is with a mixture of great pride and sadness therefore, that tonight we share with you Claire and Alex's plan to embark on a gradual winding down of the charity.

"Henry's legacy will live on through the incredible achievements of his mum and dad have accomplished over the years. For those of us who knew Henners, we will always miss his mischievous charm and hilarious sense of humour.

Harry and Meghan's Netflix documentary is set to further strain relations between the brothers (Netflix)

"But everyone here tonight, his family and many friends, are able to come together and remember him twenty years after his death by being here at St Luke's Church to celebrate his life and legacy at this Christmas time."

The brothers' relationship is expected to be under the microscope in the coming week with the release of Harry and Meghan's controversial Netflix docuseries.

The six-part series is jointly produced by Archewell and Netflix, and is expected to spark a backlash from the embattled royal family, who are currently embroiled in another racism storm.

One source in contact with a Netflix production insider said: “I genuinely think it’s going to be worse than the royals can imagine.

“I’m told that it’s going to be utterly explosive and will be very damaging.”

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