Prince Harry has yet again backed himself into another uncomfortable corner.
After years of stressful and wildly expensive legal battles with the government over his right to taxpayer funded security the Duke of Sussex was told to stand on his own two feet. As has always been the case since this incredibly drawn out situation began, Harry would indeed be granted access to the security he so craves if he followed the necessary procedures laid out by the Home Office.
Tell us of your plans ahead of time and the threat level will be properly assessed. Yet, time and time again this just isn’t good enough.
There are of course two sides to this story.
On one hand, Harry is the son of the King, his children as does he remain in the line of succession and as a former soldier he has endured threats against his life and that of his wife, Meghan. On the other, his decision to leave his royal role has enabled him to garner unimaginable wealth providing him the means to pay for round the clock security several times over.
But for Harry, this is not just a point of pride, it has become sheer arrogance at the unwillingness to accept he is not part of an institution which blanketed him in incredible privilege. Charles is of course desperate to see his grandchildren, but Harry knows full well the King can not involve himself in the government’s business.
It goes against the very notion of his role as head of state. So if the California based Duke is not holding him to ransom, then what is it?
At 77 and still undergoing regular treatment for cancer, is this what the King needs? Those close to him have revealed their frustrations on behalf of the monarch and suggest this whole astounding episode is an attempt to put pressure on him.
In the space of 24 hours over the weekend, Harry announced he was bringing his family to the UK and then, incredibly, said he was considering rowing back on the decision. Now we are told his decision rests solely on a decision from the government who have already told him several times nothing has changed.
Drama upon drama!
It’s enough to make you seriously question whether Harry and Meghan are addicted to it.
How many times have they been down this road? First with Meghan’s father, Thomas, then take your pick with any member of the royal family and most recently the King himself for not stepping in when he knows full well he won’t and can’t.
The Sussexes’ team have been all too keen to brief heavily that Harry and Meghan’s planned visit has been “pulled out from under their feet at the 11th hour”, which is disingenuous at best. Hyperbolic statements claiming their children would be subject to being “chased by paparazzi wherever they go from the moment they step off the plane” are another sign of Harry and Meghan’s obsession with their own importance.
The statement echoes Meghan’s claim in 2022 that if they were still in the UK, she would never be able to do school pickups and drop-offs without a “press pen of 40 people snapping pictures”. Not only are both scenarios wholly unlikely to happen, it smacks of hypocrisy from a couple so obsessed with privacy and yet happy to put their children on social media when the occasion – or self promotion – presents itself.
All of this not only undermines their position but makes it near impossible for Buckingham Palace or the King to engage with them.
Just when relations had appeared to be cooling, Harry has thrown another grenade into the mix and may live to regret his actions.
