Stark difference between Prince William and Prince Harry’s Instagram posts

The Duke of Sussex has happily appeared in social posts during his mini tour, but his big brother has been showing the world what he gave up.

William and Harry's latest Instagram appearances show a stark difference between the two brothers' lifestyles.

Sometimes there are moments in this here wild ride of royal writing and thought-having that seem nearly to have been handed down by some higher power. (Princess Margaret?)

This is the tale of two Instagram posts, two posts put out within about 36-hours of one another and which exquisitely capture the wildly divergent paths that the lives of Prince William, Destroyer of Dog Bowls and Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Feeler of So Many Feelings, have taken.

The first post came via ‘a bit of alright’ Nacho Figueras’ Instagram account, the polo professional having spent last week travelling with Harry. First, the pals landed in Tokyo for a sports summit before heading to Singapore where they took part in a charity polo tournament.

While the world was quietly trying to get used to the new Harry on display in Asia, the smile upon whose face could not be wiped off, Figueras was keeping the world up to date with this lads gone mild tour.

There was the shot of them wearing aviators captioned “Shopping for our wives” in co-ordinating Dad-core polo T-shirts which probably sent the duke’s wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex into a lather that he would bring her home some low-rent dreck.

Prince Harry and Nacho Figueras took time to do some shopping for their families in Tokyo. Picture: Instagram

Then came an Instagram story, via Figueras, of the duo playing foosball, captioned “First game to H, despite his squeaky performance! Now we ride …” like they were off to Bosworth Field and not just to entertain wealthy Singaporeans sucking down cocktails.

All unremarkable, lame stuff.

The boys😎

Via: Nacho Figueras instagram stories. pic.twitter.com/vQGLuRmGAo

— Gabsxo (@Gabsxo3) August 12, 2023

If only 9,500 kilometres away the Kensington Palace social media team had not been hard at, managing to show up Aitch’s mini-tour up.

On Friday, Buckingham Palace announced the redistribution of 21 military appointments, many that had been previously held by Her late Majesty, with the honorary roles being dished out like Smarties to the remaining tiny clutch of working HRHs.

William and Kate picked up six new roles between them, something that their team then hyped up on social media by putting out a video that felt like a sizzle reel for Top Gun 3. There was the throbbing base; the lingering, sexy shots of helicopter rotor blades; the montage of images of a pleasingly diverse range of British service men and women defending the Motherland.

It might have looked more like a bit of marketing fluff put out by the military industrial complex or someone who sells toilet seats to the Pentagon but gee whizzikers, it’s an effective bit of self-promotion. (Don’t just take my word for it – it was viewed more than 2.4 million times over the weekend.)

We can only assume that the Ancient Greek god Momus, god of irony among other things, has been hard at work here. The contrast between these two social media outings could not be more sadly exquisite.

In one we have a man who managed to jettison his official standing and cashed in the import of his former working royal life to occasionally carpool with Ellen (I’m guessing) and the other who is looking more and more like a Sun King in the making.

The Prince and Princess of Wales took on six new roles between them at The Firm. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for TGI Sport

Or to put it another way, Harry, who served two tours on the frontline of Afghanistan, is now trying to reclaim his lost lad-dom while on a jaunty mini-break while his “arch-nemesises” William and Kate, the woman who may or may not have made Meghan cry, are being given prestigious roles like sweeties.

It looks nearly like the life that Harry wanted – where “service is universal” and he can spend all-day, everyday supporting the armed services – has somehow ended up going to his estranged brother, while he is left creating daggy influencer content with a former Ralph Lauren model.

It’s hard to imagine that this is the life the duke envisioned back in late 2019 and the first days of 2020 when he and Meghan were sketching out their plans for a brave new Sussex world.

Rather than touring military bases and enthusiastically shaking the hands of the people who put their lives on the line for the safety of Britain, Harry’s day job is now trying to work out how to bring a romance novel to the screen to keep Netflix sweet.

The last week has seen Harry cast even further off into the outer-reaches of the royal universe, the Pluto of the princely pantheon.

While the 38-year-old was busy filling his suitcase with kewpie mayonnaise, the Buckingham Palace website was being updated, stripping the Sussexes’ HRHs from their entries, while also shunting them to nearly the bottom of the list. (Last place was reserved for disgraced human Humpty Dumpty Prince Andrew.)

The timing of all this – this digital defenestration happening right when Harry is returning to the spotlight after months of being tucked away behind the high walls and high dudgeon of the Sussexes’ Montecito compound – is curious.

According to a new report from the Daily Mail’s Richard Kay there has been no cooling of tempers or defraying of pique inside The Firm. He writes that “a visceral bitterness persists at the sustained attacks that Harry and Meghan have waged against family members through his memoir and their various television interviews.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to produce a movie for Netflix. Picture: Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund/Vimeo

Meanwhile, next month will see Harry, this time his designer darling duchess by his side, pop over to Dusseldörf for the next Invictus Games. The timing means that the Sussexes will be in Europe only days after the first anniversary of his late grandmother, Elizabeth II’s death.

Could this be an opportunity for a bit of a hands across the water moment? Some sort of pragmatic decision made to invite the Sussexes to Balmoral to do some emotional patching up?

Absolutely not, according to reports which suggest that King Charles is still not particularly interested in getting that dusty Olive branch of his out of the cupboard.

Here comes a bit more of Momus’ handiwork. Because while Harry and Meghan are being blanked by Team Windsor and are in Germany, William and Kate will have just enjoyed seeing their star rise even higher. According to the Mirror, the Waleses are set to “lead the tributes” to Her late Majesty and will “deliver a public message honouring the life and legacy of the monarch. (Charles will reportedly spend the day privately at Balmoral, the same way that his mother religiously marked the passing of her father Georve VI annually at Sandringham where he died in 1952.)

Not only might the Prince and Princess of Wales be about to get starring roles but just to rub some Maldon salt into the Sussex wounds, a new Gallup poll last week found that Prince William was the most liked world leader, out of a choice of 15 contenders, according to Americans.

Next month, the heir to the throne will continue his accidental encroaching on Sussex territory when he arrives in New York for the Earthshot innovation summit.

To return to the two social media posts we started with here. Really the story they tell us is like some sort of Alice in Wonderland scenario- while Harry has shrunk his place in the world and transformed himself into a much reduced figure, William grows and grows in responsibility and Palace lustre.

I suppose we’ve long since gone through the looking glass here, and Nacho Figuears and his Instagram account are waiting on the other side.

Daniela Elser is writer, editor and a royal commentator with more than 15 years’ experience working with a number of Australia’s leading media titles.