The British media has already spent several weeks hyping Prince Harry’s 40th birthday, which is on September 15th. He is a Virgo King, and I appreciate the reminders for his Virgo King status. What I don’t understand is why these people are going Full Stalker and screaming, crying and throwing up about Harry’s birthday and What It Means. The man has lived quietly in Montecito for over four years. He has made it abundantly clear that he does not f–k with 99.9% of the people he left behind in 2020. Why did the Daily Mail send their most unhinged columnist Jan Moir to Montecito just to stalk Harry? And why is this piece dripping with bile towards Californians, Americans and celebrities? Moir’s piece- “Inside Harry’s glitzy Montecito world as he turns 40. JAN MOIR visits the enclave and poses the tantalising question: What DOES the Prince do all day?” – is journalistic malpractice. Here are the parts which I found most telling:
Yet for most people, waking up on your 40th birthday inside a nine-bedroom Californian mansion with a beautiful wife and two adorable children would surely be a testament to success and achieving life goals. A vindication of good fortune and even better planning. So on the morning of September 15, Prince Harry could be forgiven for congratulating himself on the road he has travelled to reach this point. As his milestone birthday approaches, he certainly deserves credit for having the courage to change history and his own destiny by choosing a future he felt was a better fit for his family and for himself.
Yet although Harry has gained much in the four years since he fled to America to escape the oppression and tyranny of inherited wealth, it could be argued he has lost even more. As he reaches his fifth decade, he is far removed from the life he once knew and has lost touch with many of the friends he once had, while a sinkhole of family estrangement has opened beneath the soles of the grey suede booties he still inexplicably favours.
Perhaps the truth is that the Duke of Sussex had to destroy his past to create his future – but even those sympathetic to his cause wonder if he really had to damage so many other members of the Royal Family in the process. Boom, boom went his relentless artillery, wounding nearest, dearest and even firing a few cannonballs at the monarchy itself. The blames and claims made in his best-selling memoir Spare, along with accusations levelled in various television specials, appalled many in royal circles.
Today, Prince Harry’s reward for this treachery is living the American dream, right down to the five-car garage, the azure swimming pool and the orange and lemon trees in his own citrus grove. Yet there must be moments when even he wonders if the juice was worth the squeeze.
Turning 40 is a milestone for anyone, but it brings the Duke to a crucial crossroads. Surely it is now or never to make some kind of amends with his family back home. Not just for himself and his wife, but to provide a rich family heritage for his children, rather than the cold void of relatives they will probably never meet and memories they will never have.
In California, this birthday will no doubt be quite different: not just the dishes served but also the flavour of the life he lives. How does he fit in, what does he do all day? Surely there are only so many Zoom meetings, chicken feeds and strategy-planning sessions you can fit into an afternoon, along with the school runs and the meditation sessions he never skips. Yet amid the sunshine and the palm trees, does Harry ever wonder if he has escaped one prison only to end up trapped in another?
What prison is he trapped in now? The prison of well-seasoned food, a beautiful wife, happy children and meaningful, fulfilling work? That kind of prison? They have nothing else to hold over his head. Charles evicted the Sussexes from Frogmore Cottage, Charles refuses to make appropriate security arrangements, and Charles and William are sick with jealousy and rage towards Harry and that negativity spills out constantly, putting a target on Harry’s back. Instead of just admitting that Harry is better off and in a happier and healthier situation now, they cry about how his kids need to know the Windsors, or how Harry should want to spend time with the old mates who said racist sh-t about his wife. The crux of it is: why doesn’t Harry miss us like we miss him? Why doesn’t he want to be his father and brother’s scapegoat? Why is he so successful and busy, why does he keep making the Windsors look so dull and lazy?? Anyway, surely the Mail would be better off financing Jan Moir’s trip to Norfolk to investigate WTF is really going on with the royals y’all actually pay for.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.