Ahead of Prince Harry’s whirlwind four-day ‘pseudo royal tour’ many, myself included, dismissed it as just another desperate and calculated attempt to ingratiate himself into the royal fold. After all, that’s what he and his wife Meghan depend on to make their Netflix millions.
Yet I have to confess I was perhaps too cynical. Harry’s visit brought us something we have not seen for a very long time from the royals – laughter and joy.
Which leaves many of us asking why William and Kate have decided to hide away and become the Prince and Princess of Boring.
There have been fantastic pictures of Harry larking around with children in need, images like those of the cheeky Harry of old. Dare I say, the kind of pictures that Princess Diana generated during her short life even after she lost her HRH title.
And that is why Harry’s visit should be a wake-up call for his estranged brother William. In my book, he should stop skulking and be the man he was born to be.
While Harry was cheering up ill children, a sombre Prince William was worthily chairing a conference marking World Suicide Prevention Day in Cardiff – admittedly an important cause. While Harry was in London high-fiving staff at the Diana Awards set up in honour of their Mum, Kate was sent off to not one but two events at textile factories.
Prince Harry playfights using balloon swords with nine-year-old Gwen Foster
Yes it is easy for Harry to fly in for four days and capture the world’s attention, but then he followed it up with a surprise visit to Ukraine. There he promised that, after helping through his Invictus Games to rehabilitate soldiers who had lost limbs, he would offer that chance to the men, women and children in Ukraine who had been similarly wounded in the war.
And then came the bombshell. On her Fresh Hell Substack, respected royal biographer Tina Brown claimed King Charles is currently ‘less irritated’ by Prince Harry than he is by William.
Tensions are brewing between the King and William over his son’s workload, or absence of it, she says. She points out that, despite his ongoing treatment for cancer, the King has carried out official engagements on 175 days of the past year compared to William’s 107 and Kate’s 37.
Ms Brown also claims that the King believes his son’s constant references to giving his children a ‘normal family life’ are a subtle and undignified dig at his own parenting deficiencies. She also refers to the fact that while the King is working away through his cancer ordeal the Waleses have enjoyed five family vacations in the past seven months.
Which is all rather cruel of her considering Kate is still recovering from her own cancer treatment. What husband and father would not put his wife and young family first in such circumstances?
Kate and William visit the Natural History Museum’s new gardens in London earlier this week
After all William is still the heir to the throne and will not, I hope, have to carry the heavy burden of becoming King for many years to come.
Yet I have to agree with Tina Brown on one thing – that Harry’s triumphant tour has been a great success in PR terms and is ‘bad news for the Prince of Wales’.
Especially at a time when the latest survey revealed, shockingly, that support for the Monarchy has dropped from 86 percent in the Eighties to its lowest level since records began, with only half of Brits today supporting what many see as an outdated institution.
The only images we ever see of William smiling is in the home videos he and Kate reluctantly release of them and the children frolicking, not on royal duties seen by the public but hidden away around one of their many homes.
Who knows whether or not Harry will draw on any of his four-day tour in his next money-making venture. He gave the King an assurance that the contents of their brief meeting this week will remain private. But I wouldn’t trust him further than I could throw one of Meghan’s edible violet flower sprinkles.
