Patrick Carlyon: Prince Harry’s farcical message is do as I say, not as I do

Prince Harry may be on a crusade, one private jet ride at a time but his farcical UN speech has utterly exposed his self-serving pretence at saving the world.

We like to divide the world into groups. Those who play Wordle, say, and those who do not. Those who unite, such as Queen Elizabeth, and those who divide, such as her grandson Harry.

Prince Harry is on a crusade, one private jet ride at a time. He is an agitator who plays the victim, a whinger who plays the winner. Give him a backward baseball cap, and Prince Harry could be the Nick Kyrgios of international affairs.

Do as I say, not as I do, his message goes.

Never mind that my grasp of American affairs bows to the public relations demands of being woke, that linking my rarefied life to the cause of Nelson Mandela is unintended comedy, and that my desire to be my true self – which pretty much excuses all shows of petulance and ignorance – precludes much hope for a constituency.

Prince Harry’s UN speech was froth, fluff and a farce. Picture: AFP

The most jarring aspect of Prince Harry’s speech to the United Nations this week was the assumption of togetherness.

By rough count, Prince Harry referred to “us”, “our” and “we” 44 times, as if he spoke for the needs and hopes of a few billion people.

To apply recent five-letter Wordle answers, his speech was froth, fluff and a farce.

“I understand,” he claimed, before presumably heading home to the 16-bathroom California chateau.

It doesn’t seem to matter that Prince Harry can’t solve family squabbles, much less climate change, war and what he calls the “global assault on democracy and freedom”.

His personal response to crisis includes the silent treatment for his father and brother, and the confiding of his petty frustrations with Oprah – and her 60 million international viewers.

Prince Harry represents the royal family whether he chooses to or not. Picture: AFP

There are many ways to be offended by Prince Harry’s language about “joining the march” and rejecting “old ideas”.

After all, who is fighting who? And doesn’t his own grandma embody some of the best of old ideas?

Prince Harry may no longer be a royal, at least officially. But his life is marbled by royal privilege (and tragedy). He represents the royal family whether he chooses to or not.

When the Queen passes on, judgments will firm for those who survive her.

And perhaps the most compelling case for an Australian republic will lie in a UN speech in July, 2022, when a once-adored royal divided the peoples of the world in his self-serving pretence at saving them.

Patrick Carlyon is a Herald Sun columnist