Prince Harry’s car-crash BBC interview, in which he railed against the decision to reduce his security in Britain and expressed frustration with his father King Charles III, has sparked outrage. And so it should.
His reaction had an air of old-school, jolly hockey-sticks entitlement and total self-indulgence. Every parent wants to keep his child safe, including the King, and the suggestion by Harry that the opposite could be true is repulsive.
All it demonstrates is that Harry remains fixated on retaining all the perks of royal life, including particular security arrangements, while making none of the sacrifices.
While I felt his pain in that interview, especially when he spoke of the depth of his estrangement with the family who will no longer speak to him, I also believed strongly that he was the architect of his own misfortune. Many royal insiders agree.
For had he stayed in the UK and kept up with the hard yards of fete openings, plaque unveilings and general public service eventing, this court case simply would never have happened.
In addition to entitlement, Harry’s paranoia was clearly evident. As he expressed frustration over the loss of his UK security, he accused the royal household and the RAVEC committee of unfairly influencing the decision, suggesting his ‘family’s safety is at risk due to ongoing threats‘.
While I cannot say one way or the other whether Harry’s life is in danger and I am not downplaying the threats he spoke of, I would like to point out that many Britons – and Aussies like me – find the suggestion the Sussexes are more at risk in the UK than the United States, frankly, risible.
I mean, does he really think America is a fountain of endless positivity where every living soul adores him and would never wish him harm? Please!
After Prince Harry lost his appeal to restore his UK government-funded security detail, I got the distinct impression we were witnessing the end of a chapter, writes Melissa Hoyer
I feel that, in a strange way, Harry’s feud with his family and legal challenge against the Home Office gave him a sense of purpose. Without those two battles, I fear he will be rudderless
But beyond his complaints about the verdict, I got the distinct impression we were witnessing the end of a chapter, the denouement of the ‘Megxit’ saga.
Since they stepped away from the royal fold in 2020, the narrative has been Harry vs the royals, his truth vs. theirs, the cuddly, supportive Americans vs. the stuffy Brits.
Last week, with the BBC interview, that came to a close. Now, we are in Meghan’s chapter, and it is one in which Harry plays a supporting role only.
While Meghan forges ahead with her foraging, crepes and St Patrick’s Day waffles, Harry is at a crossroads. He appears to be quite rudderless and without direction.
He says he wants reconciliation, but his family won’t speak to him. To borrow the millennial therapy-speak of which he is so fond, they have gone ‘no contact’. His future as a royal with any meaningful purpose is effectively over.
Meanwhile, he seems misplaced in Montecito, the band of brothers who once rallied behind him now a world away.
I feel that, in a strange way, his feud with his family and his legal challenge against the Home Office almost gave him a sense of purpose.
These two battles provided him with a goal, an enemy combatant, a reason to venture beyond his garden in California and hop on a plane home.
Harry’s car-crash BBC interview, in which he railed against the decision to reduce his security in Britain and expressed frustration with his father King Charles III, has sparked outrage
Harry’s father King Charles (left, in April 2019) and brother William really do appear to have moved on, settling into a new chapter of their lives without Harry
I always felt this case was Harry’s way of proving himself as his wife’s protector
Now, with both those battles lost, I worry for Harry. His family walking away and his loss in Court of Appeal are, arguably, his two biggest failures since Megxit – the only question now is, can he recover?
The family estrangement is, of course, the more tragic of the two.
His father and brother William really do appear to have moved on, settling into a new chapter of their lives without Harry – even though he did make a point of saying in his BBC interview that he had ‘forgiven’ them.
As for his legal matter, how will the young prince-in-exile fill his days now without court appearances and Zoom meetings with lawyers? Will he miss the busywork that comes with taking on the Home Office? Will he try again, just to give himself something to do?
I always felt this case was Harry’s way of proving himself as his wife’s protector, her knight in shining armour defending her against an Establishment that, in the Sussexes’ telling, had attempted to destroy her.
He was not successful. But no matter – Meghan doesn’t seem to want to go back to stuffy old England anyway, what with her blossoming Hollywood career.
I imagine he woke up in bed the day after losing his legal challenge and thought to himself, ‘So… what next?’ Perhaps he asked his wife Meghan the same question. Perhaps she wasn’t even there, having woken up early for yoga before her 10am catch-up with Oprah Winfrey, or Tyler Perry, or the CEO of Netflix.
My greatest fear is seeing Harry, the lovable ‘spare’, party boy and war hero, go the way of Edward VIII, the last royal to throw it all away for the love of an American.
The comparisons between the two men have been endlessly noted, but the BBC interview brought them into focus for me.
Edward became a listless, tragic figure as the Crown flourished in his absence. He lived in the shadow of his charismatic wife.
Will that be Harry’s fate too? I pray it won’t be, if only out of fondness for the Harry I remember before a certain sitcom actress sauntered into his life…
