Prince Harry family traditions Diana came into focus on July 11, when he said he, Meghan Markle and their children mark Princess Diana’s birthday and death anniversary with lemon drizzle cake. He gave the detail during Scotty's Summer Festival at Maxstoke Castle in Warwickshire, England, and tied it to the two dates the family keeps each year.
“Yes, we do lemon drizzle cake,” he said when asked whether he does anything special for August 31 or July 1. Harry added, “I think traditions are really, really important” and “Especially when they're sweet.”
July 11 at Maxstoke Castle
The remark came during a Q&A at Scotty's Summer Festival, where Harry appeared as a global ambassador for Scotty's Little Soldiers. His answer gave a clear picture of how the family handles a private ritual in public terms: one cake, two dates, and the children included alongside Meghan Markle.
That sequence also places the tradition in the context of Harry’s role with the British nonprofit and his broader public schedule. The event itself did not announce a new family commemoration; it showed that the ritual already exists and is carried out annually on both of Princess Diana’s remembrance dates.
Princess Diana and the dates
Princess Diana died in 1997 at age 36 after injuries from a car crash in Paris, France. Harry was 12 when she died, and his description on July 11 connected that loss to a family practice centered on a dessert rather than a formal ceremony.
The dates he named, August 31 and July 1, frame the tradition as a recurring family marker rather than a one-time gesture. For readers, the practical detail is simple: Harry has said his household uses lemon drizzle cake to observe both occasions.
Harry, Meghan Markle and the children
Harry said the tradition includes Meghan Markle, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. That makes the ritual something the couple is passing to their children, not just recalling privately themselves.
The detail lands a day after Harry and Meghan Markle met with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove House on July 10, their first meeting with Charles since 2022. The family gathering was kept private, while the lemon drizzle cake tradition was described openly the next day, leaving the ritual itself as the clearest public window into how Harry says the family remembers Princess Diana.
