We should get off Harry’s case, and hope he gets off his own–unless that’s all he’s got.
He’s a poor little rich boy, needs a hug as much as everyone does, and after his loving mother’s brutal death, there’s been–Windsor family style–no one with open arms. His brother and father are being groomed for kingship. In old photos of Queen Elizabeth as a young mother, she ignores the reaching arms of her little Charles with big ears, to shake hands with dignitaries.
That was young Charles’s parenting model, plus the cruelty of the school where his disappointed father, Philip, sent him to be toughened up. Diana, Charles’s forced-march wife and Harry’s “mum,” probably loved Harry more than anyone ever. But even before her death, the 12-kyear-old couldn’t avoid popular articles about his father wanting to be Camilla’s tampon.
Harry grew to manhood devising obnoxious ways to get the attention he wouldn’t have thought about if he’d had more hugs and less pain. Look at the sad face in the heartbreaking photos of the young teenager.
“Spare” can’t hide in the armed forces forever, so he’s supposed to spend his life dressing up and attending charity events? And he’s too far down in succession for strict marriage rules anyway? (Which was Princess Margaret’s take.)
So he marries someone thrilled by his wealth and prestige, and the Firm can’t throw her out, because though they got rid of Edward VIII, Charles himself married a divorced woman, so what can he say to Harry?
Meghan’s divorce, mixed race, nationality and dismissal of royal protocol (“Oh I don’t bother reading anything about that,” she said, wide-eyed, in their Oprah interview) take the fall for Harry, in his new role of innocent father shielding his family. Meghan’s break with her own father seems less interesting, maybe because many American families are rife with divorces, spats and rifts.
Harry says he tells the truth, but remember Diana’s book, with “The Truth” in her title changed to “Her Truth.” Harry’s version is His Truth: nothing even-handed here as he smirks about Prince William’s hair loss in probable retaliation for William’s ignoring his younger sibling at school.
Harry is doing what he can with what he has that we don’t: wealth and prominence. If you see him somewhere, step up, be Diana, and give him the warm, sincere hug that may help ease his pain.