Prince William and Prince Harry suffer heartbreaking loss as uncle dies
Prince William and Prince Harry's uncle Lord Robert Fellowes, who was married to their aunt Jane and was also private secretary to the late Queen during the 1990s, has died at the age of 82
An uncle of Prince William and Prince Harry who also worked for the late Queen has died.
Lord Robert Fellowes, the husband of William and Harry’s aunt Jane, passed away earlier this week at the age of 82. Jane, an older sister of the late Princess Diana, had been married to him for more than 40 years and they had three children – Laura, Alexander and Eleanor – who are all cousins of William and Harry. Laura is also a godmother to Princess Charlotte.
Not only was he related to royalty, Lord Fellowes also worked as private secretary to the late Queen during some of the most dramatic times during the 1990s. He advised the former monarch through her annus horribilis in 1992 when the marriages of Charles and Diana and Fergie and Andrew broke down and a fire engulfed Windsor Castle.
Lord Robert Fellowes at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018
Lord Fellowes also worked for the late Queen ( Image: PA)
He was also in the role when his sister-in-law Diana at the age of 36 died following a car crash in Paris in 1997. He was part of her small trusted group of advisors, who guided the Royal Family during the turbulent time and according to The Times, which has ran his obituary, helped to write the speech Elizabeth II gave to the nation from Buckingham Palace on the eve of Diana’s funeral.
His role of being a palace courtier meant he often had a strained relationship with his sister-in-law, but when she died suddenly, he said: “I was deeply fond of her. She was a very good person. She found it difficult in life to find happiness, and I’m sad for people who have that situation.”
His position meant that he was depicted in the hit Netflix series, The Crown, where he was played by Andrew Havill and he remained an extra equerry to the late Queen until her death in 2022. He died on Monday at the age of 82 from undisclosed causes.
Lord Fellowes was born on the royals’ Sandringham estate in 1941, where his father Sir William Fellowes was the estate manager and later went to Eton College. He served in the Army from 1960 to 1963 and married Lady Jane Spencer in 1978, with Diana acting as one of their bridesmaids. He joined the Royal Household in 1977, working his way up the late Queen’s private secretary in 1990. He served in the posiion until 1999 before he left – and was made a peer in the House of Lords in the same year.
William and Harry with their aunts Lady Sarah McCorquodale (left) and Lady Jane Fellowes (right) in 2021 ( Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
