Prince William decorates an old friend of his brother Harry

He would have insisted on presiding over the investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle himself, reveals the Telegraph. It must be said that Prince William has known the recipient named Member of the Order of the British Empire, this May 8, since her youngest years. Long before Claire van Straubenzee, supported by her husband Alexander, founded the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund (Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund in French) for which she is today rewarded. Yes, long before their youngest son Henry died in a tragic car accident in 2002, plunging his family, but also Princes William and Harry, into deep distress. More than twenty years after his death, his memory remains one of the few bonds still intact that unites the two brothers beyond their differences.

Henry van Straubenzee, Harry’s childhood best friend

The story begins on the benches of Ludgrove School, in Berkshire. Two of Claire and Alexander van Straubenzee’s three sons, Thomas and Henry, are listed there, as are William and Harry. “Skinny, without muscles and with hair that stood on end in permanent abandon, Henners was all heart,” remembers the Duke of Sussex in his memoirs entitled The Substitute. Every time he smiled, people melted.” Henners, that’s what the youngest son of Charles III liked to call Henry, when everyone else nicknamed him Haz. Both of the same age, they chain antics and bad jokes so well that they receive the nickname “Jack and Russell”, reports the Mirror.

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The duo quickly becomes inseparable. William, for his part, becomes closer to the older brother, Thomas – who will subsequently become his real wedding best man according to Harry, and the godfather of his daughter Princess Charlotte – but the four boys get along wonderfully. The two princes also happily spend their vacations with the van Straubenzees. A way for them to forget the dramatic wreck of their parents’ marriage which is playing out before their eyes. Sir William van Straubenzee, the uncle of Thomas, Henry and the youngest of the siblings Charlie, also happens to be a very great friend of Princess Diana. As the years pass, this little club of five remains united. Harry confides in his autobiography that he felt particularly alone at Eton without Henners, who had been accepted at Harrow.

Nothing to worry about these best friends who plan to meet up, a few years later, in Africa! Before starting Newcastle University, Henry wants to teach for a year in a school in Uganda. In December 2002, however, the man praised for “his hilarious sense of humor” lost his life at the age of 18. William and Harry are ‘devastated’, reveals Daily Mail. All like his parents and his brothers, Thomas, 20 years old and Charlie, 14 years old. In order to overcome their grief, Claire and Alexander van Straubenzee embarked on a major project in 2007: a memorial fund that would help children in Uganda, as Henry would have done. Two years later, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex became patrons of the charity. A no-brainer for them! Even today, it is the only organization jointly sponsored by the two brothers, raises the Times.

The Memorial Fund is coming to an end

Charity polo matches and annual Christmas carol concerts at St Luke’s Church in Chelsea: William and Harry are stepping up their fundraising efforts. In December 2014, side by side, they paid tribute to Henry, “a very special friend to us, with whom we share so many happy childhood memories”. In 2018, Archie and Lilibet’s dad gave a speech while his wife Meghan read a text. For the 20th anniversary of Henners’ death, while relations between the two brothers were increasingly strained, they agreed to publish a joint message. “We think everyone here tonight will agree that what Claire and Alex have accomplished since 2009 with the Henry van Straubenzee Memorial Fund is nothing short of extraordinary.”

If they praise the work of the van Straubenzees which has enabled more than 35,000 Ugandan children to have access to education, the final message is not very encouraging: “It is with a mixture of great pride and sadness that we share with you this evening the desire of Claire and Alex to engage in a gradual liquidation of the association.” The charity will close its doors at the end of this year 2024. It is therefore not surprising that Claire van Straubenzee leaves today with the medal of the Order of the British Empire, surrounded by her husband and his sons. We can also bet that Prince Harry, in London for a mass in honor of the tenth anniversary of the Invictus Games, will certainly have thought of this “second family”.