While senior members of the royal family gathered in London to mark what would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday, Prince Harry chose a more private, deeply personal tribute thousands of miles away in Montecito, California.
The Duke of Sussex did not join the public commemorations in the UK, but his presence was quietly felt. According to reports, Harry arranged for flowers to be placed at St George’s Chapel in Windsor, where his beloved grandmother was laid to rest in September 2022.
It is a place of profound significance for the royal family. The late monarch rests in the King George VI Memorial Chapel alongside her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, her husband Prince Philip, and her sister Princess Margaret. For Harry, it has become a focal point of remembrance, one he has returned to, both in person and in spirit, time and again.
This is not the first time he has honoured her in such a way. In 2023, on the first anniversary of her passing, Harry made a quiet visit to the chapel while in the UK, paying his respects away from the public eye. Two years later, in 2025, he again visited her grave during a return home, marking the third anniversary of her death with another deeply personal moment of reflection.
His enduring devotion to his grandmother has long been clear. Following her death, Harry shared an emotional tribute, reflecting on their close bond and the many milestones they had shared together.
“I am forever grateful for all of our first meetings” he wrote at the time, recalling everything from his earliest childhood memories to introducing her to his wife Meghan and their children. “I cherish these times shared with you… You are already sorely missed, not just by us, but by the world over.”
In his memoir Spare, Harry offered further insight into their final conversations, moments now etched into memory. He described their last phone call just days before her death, a warm and wide-ranging chat that touched on her health, current events and even light-hearted observations about the dry British summer.
As he flew to Balmoral following news of her declining health, Harry wrote of the devastating moment he learned of her passing mid-flight. “I spent much of the flight staring at the clouds, replaying the last time I’d spoken with Granny” he shared, describing the quiet shock of discovering via the BBC that “Granny was gone. Pa was King.”
The nickname “Granny” was one he used affectionately throughout his life, a reflection of the warmth that defined their relationship beyond the formality of royal titles.
That connection also lives on through his own family. In June 2021, Harry and Meghan honoured the Queen in a deeply meaningful way, naming their daughter Lilibet Diana after her childhood nickname. Just a year later, during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the Queen met her great-grandchildren Archie and Lili, a moment Harry later described with tenderness.
Recalling that final visit, he wrote of Archie’s “deep, chivalrous bows” and baby Lili “cuddling the monarch’s shins” adding that the Queen had been quietly amused and delighted by the children.
