As Prince Harry marks his 40th, another round of unhappy families is on the birthday list
The Duke of Sussex is building bridges with the King but peace with his brother seems out of reach.
As the Duke of Sussex marks his 40th birthday this weekend there will be a party for family and friends in Montecito, California.
Harry will then be going away early next week for a few days with some of his closest friends. It is understood that the break, organised by the Duchess of Sussex, is a gift from her and will be a far cry from the kind of lads’ weekend he might have once enjoyed.
Whether Buckingham Palace will publicly acknowledge his birthday on Sunday is unclear. Relations remain strained.
When Harry arrived in the UK at the end of last month for the memorial service to his uncle Lord Fellowes, he did not speak to his brother, the Prince of Wales, even though they sat a few feet apart in the pews. When Harry visited in May, the King did not have time to see him. The prince had turned down an offer to stay at the Palace, which would have made a meeting easier.
Over the past two years the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not had their birthdays marked by the royal family’s official social media channels. For Harry the last such message was in 2021, when Buckingham Palace posted pictures of him with a balloon emoji to wish him a “very happy birthday”.
Since his attacks on the royal family, however, the duke is understood to feel that he has “said his piece” and now favours a less combative approach.
His 400-page memoir, Spare, will not be updated when it is released in paperback next month, and there are no interviews planned to promote it. If that remains the case, the Palace will breathe a sigh of relief, if not feel at ease.
For Harry’s part, a British-based reassurance mission is under way. While he has lost several members of staff from his US operation, he has hired a PR executive based in the UK this year. It seems to have been a wise move.
Two new YouGov polls commissioned by The Times on both sides of the Atlantic show that Harry is far more popular in the United States than in the UK. In the survey of US citizens, 49 per cent had a positive view of Harry, while 24 per cent reported a negative view. This made him more popular than the King, with 38 per cent saying they had a positive view of Charles, compared with 33 per cent with a negative view.
Harry’s polling in the US even placed him ahead of the Princess of Wales, for whom 43 per cent of people said they had a positive view. However, only 6 per cent reported a negative view of Kate.
In the US, Prince William remains the most popular, with 54 per cent of people reporting a positive opinion of him compared with 14 per cent with a negative view. When asked about Harry’s wife, Meghan, 36 per cent had a positive view and 24 per cent a negative one. The Queen fared worst in the US poll, with 25 per cent holding a positive view and 31 per cent a negative one.
In the US, respondents of the survey for The Times were more likely to say that the royal family should apologise to Harry, 33 per cent, while 22 per cent said that they should not. When asked whether Harry should be the one to apologise, 33 per cent said “no” while 29 per cent said “yes”.
For the results from the UK survey, the tables were turned – with positive results for working members and a far lower opinion of the Sussexes. Overall, only 26 per cent of UK respondents had a positive view of Harry, compared with 63 per cent for Charles.
In the UK, as in the US, William came out on top. The UK polls shows that 75 per cent had a positive opinion of him. Kate came a close second with 74 per cent. The Queen is far more popular in the UK than in the US, with 49 per cent of respondents holding a positive view in the UK compared with 25 per cent of Americans.
Yet what does this mean for the duke in exile? As Harry turns 40, he gives every indication of wishing to improve his opinion ratings in Britain. There are already signs that he wishes to engage more with the British public.
Yesterday (Friday), he issued a statement to the BBC, saying: “I was anxious about 30, I’m excited about 40. Whatever my age, my mission is to continue showing up and doing good in the world.”
Speaking about his new responsibilities and bringing up a family in California, he said: “Becoming a father of two incredibly kind and funny kids has given me a fresh perspective on life, as well as sharpening my focus in all my work. Being a dad is one of life’s greatest joys and has only made me more driven and committed to making this world a better place.”
This year there will be new projects, too. Harry and Meghan’s five-year, multimillion-dollar deal with streaming giant Netflix continues. Meghan will produce a cookery show to tie in with her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard.
Harry is involved in a behind-the-scenes docu-series looking at the world of polo. Filming took place at the US Open Polo Championship in Wellington, Florida, in April, and it has been produced in collaboration with Boardwalk Pictures, the company that produced the television series Welcome to Wrexham, about the fortunes of the city’s football club.
While Harry may wish to build bridges with his father, the relationship with his brother looks beyond repair, in the short term at least. Even projects to honour their mother’s legacy have offered little hope of a reconciliation.
On the eve of his 40th birthday, Harry may be wondering how he can win over the public even if he never heals the rift with his brother.
The Times
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