OPINION: The difference between Prince Harry and other members of the Royal Family has never been more stark – King Charles must be infuriated.
OPINION
The difference between Harry and Kate has been laid bare in recent weeks (Image: Getty)
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll be as sick and tired as everyone else of the incessant prevarication around Prince Harry’s visit to the UK this week. Even the most disinterested onlooker must have wished the Duke of Sussex would stop complaining about the security risk to his family and just bring them over quietly.
The most staggering detail of the highly-publicised saga is its clash with the Princess of Wales’ Three Peaks Challenge, which she managed to complete, with the whole family in attendance, in utter secrecy. The contrast must be difficult to swallow for King Charles, who is surely keen to reunite with his errant son and the grandchildren he hasn’t seen since 2022.
He must have wanted to believe that Harry’s non-stop media briefings belied a genuine desire to show his children where he grew up. But even Charles must have clocked that his son drew a lot more attention to the issue than was necessary, and likely viewed it as a self-promotion and ‘woe is me’ tactic, rather than a genuine expression of feeling.
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King Charles must be growing increasingly frustrated with his son (Image: Getty)
Buckingham Palace’s withdrawal of an accommodation offer after Harry U-turned on rejecting it is clear evidence of the King’s frustration with him.
It was unlikely to have been an easy decision, given Charles’ age and awareness of mortality following his cancer diagnosis, but the whole ordeal may have cemented existing distrust of the duke linked to his various derogatory comments since moving to the US.
The King’s closeness to Princess Kate, who he is thought to regard as the daughter he never had, and the constrast in how she and Harry have conducted themselves in recent weeks, could well have solidified Charles’ view on his son.
Rather than complaining to broadcasters about her hardships, the princess, who has been an exemplar of the traditional royal stiff upper lip, dodged the spotlight entirely while taking on the “gruelling” challenge of climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales.
She only shared details of the ordeal in its aftermath, to “give something back” and “explore life beyond diagnosis” following her cancer battle, and donated all the money raised to research into the disease.
Harry’s refusal to follow suit and reunite with his UK-based family as discreetly as possible is revealing.
If the Prince and Princess of Wales can travel completely under the radar, then the risk posed to his family can’t be as severe as his non-stop scaremongering suggests.
And, lest we forget, the purpose of Harry’s trip, much like Kate’s Three Peaks Challenge, is to promote a charity – the Invictus Games Foundation, which offers support to wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women.
While Kate kept mum about what she was up to until she could use it to praise something bigger than herself, most spectators have probably forgotten about the actual reason for Harry’s visit. Perhaps unsurprisingly at this point, he has made it all about himself.