Meghan Markle, however, is a celebrity in her own right, so will people view her situation in the same conciliatory way? Many may not, and indeed point out that if the relationship fails, her career and profile will have been boosted beyond recognition.
Harry knows he is a public figure, largely adored and admired the world over. And he is well aware that this comes at a price. His level of privacy will always be less than that of the normal man in the street. But there has to be a balance, and he has to enjoy the right to a private life. The danger for him is that in fighting for his privacy, the outspoken Royal alienates the people who adore him so much, the members of the public who fuel the demand for stories about his life.
In the long term, Harry must fight this battle with care and caution, because no one can guarantee a lifetime of support from the public. As Prince Andrew discovered to his cost, there is a fine line between being seen as a hero and being forever branded a sulk.
As for his relationship with Meghan, the only way it will succeed is if she is indeed a strong enough teabag to cope with life in the boiling depths of a public brew.
CHAPTER 24
THE FUTURE
No one can predict what life for the Royals might be like by the time Prince William becomes King. But based on what we know about Harry it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the hot-headed Royal may one day decide to turn his back on the life he seems to resent so much. Is that an unfair appraisal of the person who has, for so many years, proved he has an unrivalled place in the hearts of the public?
Well, yes, of course it is, but one does wonder where the popular Royal will find himself twenty years from now. It can sometimes seem as if William’s younger brother has been walking on water since he left school and entered the big wide world. People love Harry, and the more they see his flaws, the more his admirers are willing to leap to his defence. When he announced he was leaving the Army in 2014, Harry was quick to point out that this did not mean he would become a full-time working Royal, and there is continuing uncertainty about the role he will play in the future of the monarchy.
In his interview during a trip to New Zealand that year, Harry was at pains to say he felt he needed to earn a wage, to mix with ordinary people and to broaden his experience before embarking on a full-time Royal life. This was, and remains, a sensible sentiment, especially when we consider that the prince is still only in his thirties and has many years ahead of him. Rushing into being a full-time working Royal risks Harry losing the direction and purpose he gained while serving in the military. While he is still young enough to forge a new career, it may not be sensible for him to miss out on the opportunity.
But almost two years since his ‘retirement’ from the Army, Harry has not yet showed any signs of finding a new role as a civilian, earning a wage or forging a new career. This contrasts with his brother Prince William, who continued to work as a helicopter pilot for the Air Ambulance Service until the start of 2016. Since leaving the RAF the future king has managed to balance Royal duties with a career and family life. William’s work with the Air Ambulance Service gave him a life balance which seemed to help him stay ‘sane’ – as Harry put it – while at the same time being able to appear in public from time to time in his official capacity as heir to the throne.
In January 2016 William finally announced he would quit his civilian role and enter life as a full-time working Royal. This move – seen by many as long overdue – was always inevitable given the fact the Queen is in her nineties while the burden of Her Majesty’s Royal duties showed few signs of scaling back.
But what we have learned about Harry’s character does give a clue as to why he seems to be stalling on finding a new career. Harry wears his heart on his sleeve, but he is also someone who finds it difficult to do anything by halves. When he was training to become a pilot, he approached the challenge with the full-throttle intensity of someone determined to achieve all that was demanded of him and more.
Since leaving the military, he has focused on making a success of the Invictus Games, and there is nothing half-hearted about his efforts to boost his charities and cast light on the work they do. Harry is not the kind of person who finds it easy to split his time between different roles. Unlike his brother, he is not likely to be able to perform a Royal role at the same time as working in a civilian job, balancing the demands of both. If he does find a way to ‘earn a wage’ he will almost certainly throw himself into the new career at the expense of his Royal work.
For the time being Harry has plenty of commitments to keep him busy, taking part in overseas tours, working with his charities and maintaining the momentum of the Invictus Games. William will no doubt be delighted that his brother has failed to find a civilian job. The brothers have in effect become a ‘double act’, sharing the burden of their Royal duties, and in so doing freeing up William and Kate from a diary packed with official engagements. In effect, Harry’s greatest gift as an uncle has been to allow the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to balance Royal duties with family life.
Clearly William and Kate want to ensure their two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, have as normal an upbringing as is possible. They rarely appear in public and the list of official engagements William and Kate have taken their children on remains extremely short.
When William was a child, his parents took him all over the world on official tours. Even as a baby, Prince William was famously seen crawling on the lawn of the ambassador’s residence in Wellington, New Zealand, as Charles and Diana carried out an official engagement.
As a father now himself, William has done everything in his power to avoid history repeating itself with his own children. When the Royals gathered for the traditional Christmas set piece in December 2015, he had taken the unique decision to protect his children from the limelight. Instead of posing for the cameras and the crowds at Sandringham, George and Charlotte were miles away, enjoying a private Christmas celebration with the Middleton family.
But William will not be able to enjoy this for long. With the Queen in her nineties and the Duke of Edinburgh approaching his century, how much longer can they maintain the workload of official engagements that would be a struggle for anyone twenty years younger? It is testament to Her Majesty that the lifelong commitment she made following the death of her father remains so strong.
William has faced criticism from some quarters for his reluctance to take on more official duties, especially given the workload of his grandmother in what is now her tenth decade, but as one senior palace source revealed, this is unfair on the future king. ‘The Queen is determined to allow her grandson to be free from becoming a full-time working Royal for as long as possible. Prince William has often made it clear that he is willing to give up his job and ease the burden on Her Majesty, but she has expressed the desire that she wants William to continue his civilian work for as long as possible to allow him to bring up his children in as normal an environment as possible. By working as a helicopter pilot, William is able to spend a great deal of time with his children and the Queen sees this as vital for future generations of the family.
‘Since leaving the Army, Prince Harry has helped make this possible for William by committing to official engagements and taking part in overseas tours. But there will inevitably come a time when this situation will have to change, when William’s hand will be forced by events.’
The source said this was most likely to happen in the event of the Duke of Edinburgh’s health deteriorating. Now in his mid nineties, it cannot be assumed he will be well enough to continue to support the Queen for much longer.
But there is perhaps a deeper reason why Harry has stalled in finding a new job after leaving the military. The reality is that the Royal family need him more now than ever. With the Queen still on the throne, and the Prince of Wales approaching his seventies, there is a real danger that the senior Royals could be seen as being out of touch with the younger generation.
What Harry brings to the �
��Firm’ is that vital link between the generations. His profile as a ‘rock star Royal’ may not be to his personal liking, but its value would be impossible to overestimate. Harry’s appeal to young people is not in dispute and he still enjoys a hero’s welcome whenever he carries out a public engagement. In effect he has become that link between the older members of the family and the younger generation. Wittingly or not, Harry manages to keep the older generation of Royals relevant.
There is no better example of this than when he prepared to take a team of wounded British soldiers to the Invictus Games in America in 2016. With just weeks to go before US veterans would go head to head with their British counterparts, Prince Harry decided to enlist his grandmother to help promote the event.
In April that year he released a short video which has come to epitomize Harry’s unique place within the British Royal family. Sitting on a sofa next to his grandmother, Harry was filmed showing the Queen a flier for the Invictus Games. As the monarch is looking at the brochure, Harry’s phone suddenly goes off to the tune of the US national anthem.
‘Oh … message,’ says Harry as he interrupts his conversation to look at his phone. ‘It’s from Michelle,’ he tells the Queen.
‘How very amusing,’ she says. ‘Are we allowed to watch it together?’
Harry and the Queen then focus on the mobile phone and listen to the message.
‘Hey, Prince Harry, remember when you told us to “bring it” at the Invictus Games?’ said the First Lady, Michelle Obama, folding her arms and staring at the camera.
The American President, Barack Obama, standing by her side, then unfolds his arms to point at the camera and say: ‘Be careful what you wish for.’
At this point three American soldiers are seen smirking at the camera and pulling faces as they lay down the challenge of the games ahead.
The Queen then turns to Harry and says in a dismissive tone: ‘Oh, really?’
At which point Harry turns to the camera, raises his hand and, imitating a basketballer slamming the ball into the net, says: ‘Boom.’
The video went viral on the internet and had viewers all over the world laughing as they tuned into their television news channels.
Only Harry could have persuaded the Queen of England and the then President of the United States and his wife to take part in a stunt like that. And only he could have made sure that the hilarious clip was received in the way it was intended – as a light-hearted, and unexpected, scam to promote the Invictus Games.
The palace source added: ‘It was Harry’s idea and he persuaded the Queen and President Obama to take part. The palace were delighted at the result, because it was a rare glimpse of Her Majesty’s sense of humour, and her affection for Prince Harry. They made a surprisingly good double act, given they are nearly sixty years apart in age. It showed them in a good light and the appeal of the video crossed the generations. It was also a marvellous way to promote the Invictus Games and it certainly helped raise the event’s profile at home and in the United States.’
The success of the video, and the progress that Harry is making with his charities, may in part begin to explain why he has seemingly stalled in his plans to find another job. As things stand, Harry is finding a role to play within the Royal family and it is a role that is certainly needed.
Since his wedding, Prince William has taken a more formal, dutiful approach to his public engagements and he is certainly perceived as more ‘serious’ than in his earlier days. This is clearly a deliberate attempt by William as he prepares for the serious business of what lies ahead. Being a future king, he does not have the same freedom as his brother to take risks, tell it how it is and play the fool in public. People need to view William as a person with whom the line of succession is in safe hands. It is imperative that he avoids scandals, takes care not to be dragged into political rows or be perceived as lightweight. With his status comes the requirement for him to show signs of being regal, thoughtful and cautious. Gone are the days when William would risk chatting to a reporter while enjoying a drink in a Swiss nightclub.
So as the heir moulds his image to the demands of the huge task ahead, his younger brother provides a much-needed balance within the family. We have already seen examples of when William’s public role at Harry’s side seems more like that of a straight man in a comedy duo. William provides the gravitas and his brother the spark, a combination which will reassure senior members of the Royal family when they consider the future of the monarchy.
Contrast the Wills and Harry double act with their father and their uncle Prince Andrew. The senior brothers hardly ever attend official engagements together. Beyond the set-piece family occasions, they are rarely even seen by each other’s side.
Harry’s future role will therefore be as a balance to William, and in this regard the future king is likely to benefit from the knock-on effect of his brother’s magic touch. As long as Harry maintains his popularity, some of it will brush off on William.
For the Royal family itself, Harry is already showing signs of being the jewel in its crown, a popular prince who has managed to maintain its appeal to the wider audience. Like it or not, Harry is the perfect prince in an age when celebrity culture is a dominant force. He is the person people want to meet, and his popularity with the public is only surpassed by that of his grandmother.
When Prince Harry attends an event studded with A-list celebrities and superstars, he enjoys a place at the top of the tree. It seems to come naturally to the prince but it must not be taken for granted. Imagine if you were at a dinner with Hollywood stars and legends from the music industry. Would you not try and catch a glimpse of Prince Harry as he arrived? The only other Royals who have the same draw are the Queen, Prince Charles, William and Kate. In Harry people see someone who carries his mother’s legacy in him. His natural way of making people feel at ease, his ability to light up a room no matter who else is by his side.
What remains to be seen is how long this Midas touch will last. But then there is nothing new in that question. On the day I put in the call to Clarence House to inform them of the picture of Harry in Nazi uniform there was no way anyone could have predicted that the tearaway young prince would become one of his family’s best assets.
Harry’s CV is littered with incidents that would have wrecked the reputations of most public figures. But these mishaps are what make him so popular, so real. In our celebrity-obsessed culture, people don’t want to see flawless individuals whose lives seem perfect and unblemished. It is the glimpses of imperfection that keep them real, and therein lies his unwavering appeal.
The final piece of the jigsaw for Harry is finding someone to share his life with, and the frustration of not yet being able to follow his brother’s example is clear to see. Harry has won over the public, of that there can be no doubt. But his final challenge is winning the heart of someone special who will support him in life.
Only when this has been achieved will we truly know the role that Harry will play for the rest of his life, as a husband, father and popular Royal.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the following people for their help with this book: Royal writer Phil Dampier; Royal reporters Emily Nash and Emily Andrews; former reporter for The Sun, Jamie Pyatt; Royal photographer for The Sun, Arthur Edwards; photographers for The Sun, Paul Edwards, Dan Charity and Scott Hornby; and thanks also to Chris Pharo for his support.
PICTURE SECTION
Harry showed a love for helicopters from an early age. He’s pictured here at the controls of a Sea King flying from Highgrove to HMS Invincible in July 1997.
The Sun / News Syndication
The tragic image so deeply associated with Harry, his head bowed as the coffin of his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, is placed into a hearse at Westminster Abbey on 6 September 1997.
Reuters / Kieran Doherty
Even as a child Harry was known for the cheeky glint in his eye. Pictured here on his first day in his distinctive Eton Co
llege uniform.
UK Press via Getty Images
Harry plants a fruit tree with four-year-old Mutsu during a visit to the kingdom of Lesotho. The visit, during his extended gap year in 2004, had a profound impact on the teenage prince.
Reuters / Kieran Doherty
The young princes join their father Charles for a photo call during the annual ski trip to Klosters, Switzerland, in April 2005. Prince Charles was accidently caught on camera making his feelings towards to the media known.
The Sun / News Syndication
A Granny’s pride. The Queen beamed with delight as she inspected Harry during the Sovereign’s Parade to mark his passing out of Sandhurst in April 2006.
Reuters / Dylan Martinez
The look of love. Harry shares a laugh with Chelsy Davy, his first serious girlfriend, as they watch the England rugby team play South Africa at Twickenham in November 2008.
Chris Ratcliffe / AFP / Getty Images
The front page of the Sun, when news of Harry’s secret deployment to Afghanistan leaked out in February 2008.
The Sun / News Syndication
Harry the easy rider. The prince messed about on an abandoned motorbike during his stint on the front line in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February 2008.
John Stillwell PA Archive / PA Images
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