Within his BBC News interview on Friday, Prince Harry made it clear that he would love to reconcile with his father and the Windsors, and that he still dreams of visiting the UK with his wife and children, so that his kids can know his homeland. Harry repeatedly stated variations of his desire to “return” and to “reconcile.” Buckingham Palace has decided that this is what they will hold over his head, that there can be no reconciliation as long as he’s telling his story publicly and calling them out in such a huge way. Nevermind that reconciliation hasn’t been on the table in years, and that King Charles evicted his son and grandchildren from their UK home in January 2023, specifically because Charles didn’t want to see any of them. Nevermind that Charles and Harry have not spoken in fourteen months. Suddenly, this BBC interview is the new thing which Harry did which has become the final straw/the reason why there is no coming back. When, actually, Harry did the interview because he knows there’s no coming back. In any case, Roya Nikkhah at the Times published a new piece on Saturday. Some highlights:
Harry stole Princess Charlotte’s thunder! “All this on a day when the royal family hoped their headlines would be celebrating Princess Charlotte’s tenth birthday, with a new photo of her smiling broadly while walking in Cumbria wearing a camouflage-style jacket, and an announcement that the King and Queen will travel to Canada later this month. Oh, Harry. This is not what reconciliation looks like.”
The Windsors are still crying about ‘Spare’: In his world, the main “sticking point”, which has caused years of discord resulting in estrangement from his kin, is “the security issue”. For the rest of the world, and most of his family, it is about so much more. Not least his tell-all book, Spare, so damning of his father, his brother, his stepmother and their teams but also the Sussexes’ numerous interviews airing the grievances that have removed the last shreds of trust that any family communications could ever remain private.
How Harry’s BBC interview went down in Windsor-ville: How has all this gone down with the King and the royal family? As a close friend of Charles’s says: “Harry just sees conspiracy every time a decision doesn’t go in his direction. He is like a gambler in a casino who can’t walk away — he just doubles down. Even when he speaks of reconciliation, it is laced with threats and anger. It’s not that the King won’t speak to him — it’s that he can’t. How can you have a private and delicate conversation when you know it is going to end up on a news special within hours? Perhaps if he tried to earn rather than demand a reconciliation, things might go a little better for him. It’s just very tragic.”
Harry’s poll numbers are down! Despite warmer words publicly issued from the royals this side of the pond, neither side has played a perfect hand. Painful mistakes have been made on both sides along the way, with lasting repercussions, but it is Harry that has lost most, not just in the courts, but in the court of public opinion. A YouGov poll published just after Friday’s ruling found that the public’s sympathies are moving away from his narrative, and towards the monarchy’s. The poll of 6,020 adults asked whether the public felt the royal family had treated Harry “fairly or unfairly” and 46 per cent said “fairly” (23 per cent said unfairly, 31 per cent said don’t know).
Harry stole WWII’s thunder! For Harry to go on the attack again with more missiles, just as his father and family prepare to honour veterans with a week of VE Day 80th anniversary events, goes to the very heart of what he keeps getting wrong. On Monday, as the royal family assemble on the Buckingham Palace balcony to honour those who fought for and secured our freedom, the prince’s latest outburst means that for many watching, family discord and those absent from the balcony will be the background noise, despite the roar of an RAF flypast. Much as Harry talks of “forgiveness”, that is something his family will not forgive. Harry, himself a veteran of two tours of Afghanistan with a decade of military service under his belt, knows full well how this latest storm cloud from California will overshadow the King and commander-in-chief’s horizon. Charles and his family will do their best to commemorate the guns finally falling silent across Europe 80 years ago. But for the monarchy, after a long, painful, personal war, there is still no ceasefire.
While I edited this out, Nikkhah went off on a strange tangent, quoting statements from QEII and King Charles in which they both said publicly that they wished the Sussexes well as they built their lives overseas. I guess Nikkhah couldn’t find an unnamed palace aide who would even bother denying the truth we’ve seen with our own eyes: that the original plan was to get Harry back, broke and divorced. When that plan failed, the new plan became “public banishment, humiliation, and a global hate campaign to destroy the Sussexes.” And all of the “but Harry might leak conversations!?!?!” Jesus. These people send their minions out on a daily basis to make unhinged comments about Harry and Meghan, but every time Harry opens his mouth for any reason, it’s declared a national emergency. Anyway, I’m glad Harry got all of that off his chest and I hope people see Charles’s nondenials and sleight-of-hand briefings for what they are: admissions that much of what Harry said was true.
Photos courtesy of BBC News and CBS, Avalon Red.
