I HATE to say it, but Prince Harry is starting to sound like a whiny, selfpitying, grievance addict.
It is a shame it has come to this as I always liked Meghan and Harry.
As a Royal Family fan and a dark-skinned African-British woman, I thought it was wonderful we were seeing their first mixed ethnicity couple.
And with Prince George and my own daughter being about the same age, I was more than happy for Duchess Meg to pave the way for black princesses of the future.
But almost as soon as this positivity set in, they began another, to quote Harry, “journey” — this time on an endless conveyor belt of pity.
They started with the attention-grabbing tours which, coming from a couple supposedly intent on keeping out of the media, was bizarre — and then they started grating on me.
I believe Harry has now crossed the point of no return as far as sympathy from the British public is concerned. And it is incredibly sad to watch.
I was only two when Princess Diana died but even I can still feel the palpable sense of tragedy and the outpouring of sympathy and support that the British public offered to the two princes.
I’m sure it pains many people to have to say a bad word about Harry.
'SELF-INDULGENT'
Nobody can deny he had a tragic childhood in many ways. And we know that his father’s behaviour hardly helped make a poor situation better.
I’m sure some people will never truly forgive him for how he treated Diana — particularly after watching The Crown, which Harry himself said had truth to it.
And not a single soul would object to Harry — nor anyone for that matter — taking the private decision to seek counselling.
But I find his latest tirade against his family ill-timed and self-indulgent.
When he compares his upbringing to living in a zoo and accuses his parents of passing on “genetic pain and suffering”, not only is it bizarre, it feels like a bitter attempt to knife them in the back.
And at a time of great mourning for the family, after having lost the Duke of Edinburgh, no less!
Nobody is under the impression the Royal Family and the life of princes and princesses is perfect.
What Harry doesn’t realise in his attempts to discredit his family is that imperfection is already baked into how we perceive the Royal Family.
Seeing them go through their own dramas has reminded us that royals are human, too.
All families fight and all families have tragedies. In Britain today, you’ll be hard pressed to find somebody who hasn’t had tumultuous relationships with their parents at one point or another.
In fact, the number of single parent families in the UK is 2.9 million — nearly 15 per cent of all families. And the divorce rate is higher than ever — up 18 per cent from the previous year.
I can relate to this. My own family life was less than ideal.
Experiencing a family breakdown aged seven which led to homelessness, having to uproot my life, coupled with a “suboptimal” relationship with my father undoubtedly affected me in ways I probably don’t understand fully.
But you’ll sooner find me campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn to be instated as Supreme Leader of the British Isles than trashing my family to millions of people worldwide.
Quite frankly, slagging off your parents and grandparents to the world is a Jeremy Kyle-esque endeavour that is most unbecoming of self-respecting people. And we all know how that show ended.
'SELF-ABSORBED'
The more Harry opens his mouth, the less sympathy I feel for him. Not because I want to dismiss his “lived experience” but because he sounds increasingly self-absorbed every time he does.
I know many people will be in the same boat.
There comes a time when the couple who, for one reason or another, have increasingly become isolated from members of their family and huge swathes of the British public have to ask themselves — could we perhaps be the problem?
Yes, Harry wants to be the best parent he can be. Don’t we all?
Those among us who have been parents for longer can assure him he won’t always get it right.
He’ll make mistakes, like all good parents, and he’ll forever second guess whether he did the right thing by his children. But, like all well-meaning parents, he should be afforded grace for that.
Perhaps he’d be better off extending that same grace to his own family and deal with what is such a delicate matter privately with those involved.
For all their faults, I genuinely believe Harry’s parents and grandparents love him and wish him all the best. I struggle to believe the unsubstantiated claims that they are embittered by his choice to marry a woman with slightly darker skin.
I feel for them not being able to give their own side of the story in a glossy prime-time interview like Harry has done. And nor should they have to.
A couple of years ago, most people would look at Harry and Wills and say, they’re a couple of good lads and you can just tell they were raised right. Raised to be grateful and graceful with a sense of national pride and duty.
The fact Harry’s gone off to America and suddenly started using the lingo of “genetic pain and suffering” is so bizarre.
This is language I’ve only ever heard from those talking about how the struggles of their slave ancestors has afflicted future generations.
In those cases, it is at least plausible — their ancestors were robbed of all resources and treated like anything other than human and the trauma suffered has been passed on to their kids and theirs. I struggle to apply the logic to his own privileged life.
This leads me to believe he has been drip-fed the Americanised language of victimhood and suffering from Meghan and her woke compatriots.
That’s what being sucked into the culture of victimhood does. It forces you to re-examine everything that’s ever happened to you through the lens of victimhood and suffering.
It turns you into a pitiful, infantile person who feels ever so hard done by the world, with little regard for how fortunate you are.
Harry, I fear, has finally lost the British people.
Perhaps he will truly find a home in America, where victimhood makes big bucks and where it pays to be a self-pitying millionaire celebrity.
PRINCE Harry discusses mental health alongside a string of celebs in a trailer for his new TV series with Oprah Winfrey.
One clip sees Harry at the 1997 funeral of his mother Princess Diana as a voiceover goes: “Treating people with dignity is the first act.”
In the two-minute trailer from The Me You Can’t See, Harry stresses the importance of seeking help if needed.
He says: “To make that decision to receive help is not a sign of weakness. In today’s world, more than ever, it is a sign of strength.”
The Duke of Sussex and TV host Oprah are joined by stars including singer Lady Gaga and actress Glenn Close. The series premieres on Apple TV+ on Friday.
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