Meghan Markle wears the pants as Prince Harry clowns around

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

British princes are a rare breed. At the moment we have only a handful of them, yet they generate so many headlines that Her Majesty, the Queen, would find distasteful.

The Queen has a problem child who has married a woman who presents a real headache for the Windsors and no Aspro will make the pain go away. The announcement that Harry, his bride and babe are off to Canada to live came as a shock to the Queen and her subjects.

A problem child such as Prince Andrew can withdraw from public life without much fuss because there was never that much love for him.

Harry, on the other hand, is revered. That little boy striding in the procession behind his mother’s coffin left an indelible imprint on millions.

He may have chosen to walk away because of too much intrusion into his private life but it remains to be seen if this choice has any effect on the paparazzi.

He is not that little boy earning the sympathy of the nation anymore.

Now he is his own man, but he is still the grandson of a queen; photographs will bring high prices at trashy magazines. His star has shone too brightly to fade away quickly. It remains to be seen if he can ever have a truly private life. His marriage to a mixed-race American actress was the stuff of photo-opportunity dreamtime. It was heady stuff for a while but it always came with a risk. How would Britain react to her and how would she react to Britain?

It seems Meghan tired of the attention faster than anyone expected. Had she asked, my hot tip for her would have been don’t marry a royal if you’re seeking privacy.

In her granddaughter-in-law the Queen is looking for elegance, not sex appeal. Kate is the epitome of the English rose and oozes elegance. The contrast could not be more obvious.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

English rose, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Given that he will never be king, Harry has always known that he was a sideshow. There must be some resentment at that lower ceiling. There are suggestions they move to Los Angeles, but I can’t see Harry living in Beverly Hills. The prospect must terrify the Queen, but this couple is prepared to carve out their own destiny.

Then there’s Meghan’s fool of a father. He is up to his old tricks again. While you would hope that media outlets would respect her privacy, you know there are those with no scruples who will fork out money to her father and fuel his addiction to the income his relationship might bring.

Already the British press is making the case for the couple to come back to Britain. Headlines shout that living in Canada will never work. Given the rocky start they may well be right.

Meghan was never content to be just a loyal wife, staying by her husband’s side and occasionally opening a local school fete. This woman always saw a bigger role for herself than that.

She certainly has a social conscience and feels the need to stretch the role others had carved out and expected of her. Meghan quite clearly wears the pants in that relationship and all I can say is “welcome to the club, Harry”. That is how most modern mar­riages work.

The main role of the monarchy is to be a head of state to Britain and many countries of the British Commonwealth. At the heart of that role is a need for rock-solid stability. There can be no fraying at the edges and that is precisely what Harry and Meghan are providing.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit Croke Park, home of Ireland's largest sporting organisation, the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Clearly they are an unhelpful distraction if you happen to be a believer in the monarchy. For those of us who are staunch republicans, this is a good example of why we don’t want the monarchy. It is an expensive method of providing a head of state.

The flaw in the case for constitutional change has always been that the most efficient way of choosing a head of state lies in a parliamentary process, not in a popular vote.

If you elect a head of state by a popular vote you introduce a second leadership force into our system. That just means a weakening in the status of the prime minister. If the mob won’t wear it, and they most definitely will not, then that is the end of the argument.

Monarchists can take great comfort in the stability provided by William and Kate. The Cambridges obviously have a good marriage and both appear to enjoy their duties. I wonder how many of us are as happy in our jobs as they appear to be.

In the mother country, Labour is at the crossroads. The left took over the party during the Jeremy Corbyn years and that takeover has been totally rejected by the electorate. That will not stop the crazies from trying to elect a Corbyn clone, but if they want to sit on the Treasury benches they will turn to Emily Thornberry, who would have a real chance of beating Boris Johnson.

Prince William and his wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, come out of Westminster Abbey following their wedding ceremony, in London, in 2011.

I am old enough to remember the days when Bill Hartley and George Crawford were determined to maintain an iron grip on power in the Australian Labor Party while in opposition in the early 1970s and place every obstacle they could in the way of electoral victory.

Former Victorian premier John Cain, who died a few weeks ago, played a key role in their destruction and dragged the party into the sunlight and into government. Credit should also be paid to Bob Hogg, who came from the Socialist Left but who had a burning desire to see Labor elected. Reform of the Victorian party could not have been achieved without him, nor the reform of policy on uranium mining, which at the time was a key test of fitness to govern.

British Labour has not yet passed every test of fitness for government; then again, neither has Boris Johnson.