He had, he assured us several times — in an extraordinarily petulant 30-minute BBC interview aired over the weekend — given “35 years of service” and deserved nothing less.
But in doing so, any rapprochement with the Royal Family has evaporated.
Once again, the royals have been betrayed.
Inside Buckingham Palace there is renewed shock that Harry has breached trust, accused family members of wishing history to repeat itself — alluding to the death of his mother, Princess Diana — and, just as incredibly, claimed that the Appeal Court in the Royal Courts of Justice made a ruling against him that was “a good old-fashioned Establishment stitch-up”.
Yet for all of that nonsense, it was when Harry discussed the health of King Charles that he overplayed his hand.
“I don’t know how much longer my father has,” Harry said. “He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”
Charles’s cancer battle and weekly treatments have been well documented, but a poor prognosis has not.
Harry’s public pronouncements about his father’s illness were an obvious, self-serving attempt to elicit sympathy, but have only reminded the Palace and royal family members of his untrustworthiness.
Harry was on the couch in the tell-all interview, saying how “devastating” it was for him and his ego just hours after losing an appeal to have his full-blown security reinstated.
His grievances came to this: how uncharitable it was that, now living in the United States and having given up royal duties, he could no longer have the full security shebang — armed protection officers backed with the intelligence of MI5 and MI6.
Instead of an automatic, high-status security cordon upon arrival at Heathrow, Harry must now give 30 days’ notice before arrival, to allow for a security assessment and bespoke arrangements to be made.
Harry told the BBC this meant that if he were invited by the Royal Family, he would receive top-level protection, but if he came for private reasons, his security might be as remote as someone at the end of a phone offering advice.
Harry was so angered when full security was removed at the time he fled the country in 2020 that he demanded the names of those who had made the decision. Not content with that, he has spent three years in the courts, unsuccessfully arguing his birthright to such top-grade protection — even when that meant Charles had to diplomatically cease communications.
Harry claimed to want reconciliation, but lacked awareness that his father has been unable to intervene in a court case held in the King’s name, in the King’s courtroom.
The court finding was, Harry insisted, a stitch-up — this from a man who was once part of the very Establishment he has since trashed in an Oprah interview, a Netflix series, and his autobiography. He even alluded to dark forces — hinting it was actually other Royal Family members — conspiring to keep him unsafe.
It was so dangerous, he claimed, that he couldn’t bring Meghan or the children to the UK.
Judging by responses in newspapers, on radio talkback, and in general conversation in cafés, remaining in the US is a situation that sits fine with the British public.
They don’t want him back and consider his veiled threats to deny the King access to his grandchildren to be distasteful indeed.
Another point in the interview raised eyebrows.
Somehow Harry has confused living in the United Kingdom from his birth in 1985 until his chaotic departure for California with Meghan and their young son Archie in 2020 as being “in service”.
No one disputes his military service or his role as the figurehead of the Invictus Games as being laudable contributions to public life. But how does this “service” extend to an indulged childhood and troubled teenage years? The expensive Eton education? Falling out of nightclubs in a drunken state? Performing the Nazi salute? Playing “strip billiards” in Las Vegas? Having his pick of palaces to decamp to?
Or was he thinking of the ski holidays in Austria and Switzerland, the African safaris, the jackaroo experience in the Australian outback, the polo tournaments?
As fifth in line to the throne, Harry now spends most days in California picking up the children, playing a bit part in Meghan’s dire home-making show, and serving as the “chief impact officer” — also known as giving a speech or two — for a company called BetterUp, while helping oversee Archewell, the Sussexes’ company that includes a foundation, a production firm and an audio arm.
None of it involves royal duties or working inside the UK.
Yet he insists he has been asking for protection because “I remain committed to a life of public service. This has been and will always be my life’s work...”
Hmm. The Brits are not convinced.
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I suppose it was overdue for Prince Harry to face the cameras and moan, for half an hour, about how it was so unfair that British taxpayers wouldn’t stump up several million pounds a year to “keep him safe” whenever he visits his homeland.