Harry is chauffeured to LAX to fly to London for the unveiling of a statue to his mother Diana

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Prince Harry landed at London Heathrow Airport this afternoon to begin his five days of self-isolation ahead of attending the unveiling of a statue of his late mother Princess Diana next Thursday.

The Duke of Sussex has arrived in time to serve out his ‘amber list’ quarantine at Frogmore Cottage before the event on July 1, on what is his first trip back home since his grandfather Prince Philip’s funeral ten weeks ago.

Harry touched down at Heathrow’s Terminal Five at 12.38pm today on a Boeing 777-323 on American Airlines flight AA134, which left Los Angeles International Airport last night at about 7pm local time (3am UK time today).  

Those arriving in England from amber list countries must normally quarantine for ten days, but can end this early after five days under ‘test to release’ if they pay for a Covid-19 test on day five, in addition to a test on day two. 

Harry was pictured yesterday evening in a car on the way to the airport in California, as he prepares for what promises to be an emotional visit to unveil the statue of Diana on what would have been her 60th birthday. 

The Duke, 36, was photographed being driven by a chauffeur in a California-registered 2021 Cadillac Escalade which is worth £55,000 new and can do 0-60mph in 5.9 seconds and has a top speed of 130mph. 

His wife Meghan Markle is remaining at their £11million mansion in Montecito with two-year-old Archie and their second child, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, who was born 21 days ago at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital.

Next week, Harry will join his brother Prince William at their first meeting since the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral at Windsor Castle on April 17 amid continuing friction following a series of explosive claims in US interviews. 

It comes as the Daily Mail revealed today that William and Harry have had to drastically scale back the statue unveiling.

The brothers were due to put aside their bitter rift to host an elaborate ceremony on July 1 at Kensington Palace, her former home.

Instead they will preside over a significantly reduced gathering featuring just a handful of guests – the estranged princes themselves and Spencer relatives.

Up until this week they had been planning to welcome more than 100 of their mother’s friends, former staff and supporters. But Covid rules have pressed them into a rethink.

Guests have been told that next Thursday’s large ceremony has been scrapped and that a new date will be fixed for September.

It is a bitter disappointment for many in Diana’s circle who had hoped their presence would help bring about a reconciliation between William and his brother. 

They have been barely on speaking terms since Harry and Meghan quit royal life for California. Whether this makes a rapprochement that much easier remains to be seen.

The pair have privately told friends that they will do their utmost to ensure their differences do not distract from what they hope will be a moving celebration to recognise their mother’s ‘positive impact’. 

Ever since they announced plans for the statue it has been bedevilled by problems. Originally it was hoped to be unveiled in 2017.

But there were delays over the design and, according to insiders, differences of opinion over what period in Diana’s life the statue should represent. 

Such divisions led the committee – set up after her death in 1997 in order to find a suitable way to celebrate her life – to conclude that a statue would be wrong.

At the time, her family expressed reservations that no sculptor had ever properly ‘caught’ Diana. There were also real fears that a statue would become a shrine. 

Those fears have not subsided but with the passing years, William and Harry felt the time was right for a life-size figure. 

They sought private donations to fund the statue, which has been created by artist Ian Rank-Broadley, whose portrait of the Queen appears on all British coins.

The statue was finished in 2018, but Harry and Meghan’s wedding and Megxit delayed the unveiling.

Donors including Elton John and David Furnish will now be invited to September’s party along with other friends and family – but there is no guarantee Harry will be there.

So while many watching on Thursday will be keen to see how the artist has imagined Diana, many more will be searching for any sign that the warring brothers can settle their differences. 

During the family gathering, Kate Middleton is set to help William and Harry put on a united front, reports say, after she agreed to attend the ceremony. 

An insider said the 39-year-old Duchess of Cambridge had seen the project since the beginning and would want to be there to support her husband. 

It comes after it was claimed Kate and William did not have a sit-down conversation with Harry after Prince Philip‘s funeral because they feared details would be leaked.

Royal historian Robert Lacey said the chat did not happened because the Cambridges were worried their comments would be given to the US press.

The row has intensified in recent weeks following the birth of Harry and Meghan’s daughter, Lilibet – the name Prince Philip affectionately used for the Queen.

Claims from the BBC then followed that the monarch had not been consulted, but the couple’s lawyers said it was ‘false and defamatory’ to suggest they did not discuss using the name with Her Majesty.  

Lilibet has not been seen in public yet, although the Queen has reportedly met her over a video call. Mr Lacey said the meeting needs to have far more substance than just appearing for the cameras if the rift is to begin to heal.

He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: ‘Surely when they’re gathered together to honor their mother and what Diana stood for, that will be the time when we can hope for some sort of reconciliation and serious talk.

‘Otherwise if they just appear together in public in front of the statue and there’s nothing more, I think we would rightly conclude that it’s a superficial gesture.’ 

Mr Lacey also reflected on the brothers’ recent appearance at their grandfather, Prince Philip’s funeral, and how their relationship has altered since Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

‘A funeral would be when you would hope brothers thinking of other things, honoring their grandfather, would come together,’ he said. 

‘I’m not saying when they walked together across that courtyard it was fake. As we saw, Kate rather skillfully brought the two together, but apparently nothing came of it once they got inside.

‘Certainly the reports they had a big family sit down were sadly denied on both sides.’  

Harry is leaving wife Meghan Markle, who has recently given birth, back at their California mansion to take part in the unveiling of the statue.  

Frogmore Cottage was initially gifted to Harry and Meghan by the Queen after the couple’s wedding. But they gave up the property after dramatically quitting frontline royal duties and moving to the US.

The keys were later handed to Princess Eugenie, who is living there with husband Jack Brooksbank and their recently born first child August.

According to the Sun, the house has been divided into two parts to make it Covid safe for Harry’s arrival.

A source told the paper: ‘Eugenie and Jack were handed the keys last year and told they could use it while Harry and Meghan were in America.

‘The cottage is now literally split into two, meaning Harry can isolate in one half of the house without ever coming into contact with his cousin and her family.’     

There was some drama when Harry was at the Los Angeles International Airport yesterday as a car crashed through the perimeter of the facility’s fence and its driver chased by police.

Around 20 police cars could be seen just off an LAX runway surrounding a car that authorities say crashed through a fence. The incident happened around 6pm local time – less than an hour before Prince Harry was set to take off.

It wasn’t clear why the car crashed through the fence. The man driving the car was apprehended, LAX Police told DailyMail.com. There were no injuries, police said.