Harry’s new bombshell: but when will he finally make peace?
His latest revelations are rocking the Royal Family again
It’s good to talk and Prince Harry did just that (with a slight American twang) on podcast Armchair Expert, dropping more Sussex bombshells. Is it really only two months since Oprah, writes Maria.
Harry confessed to desperately wanting out of the Royal Family at least a decade before Megxit and blasted Prince Charles’ parenting skills, saying they caused him years of pain and suffering (listen here). It’s clear he finally feels liberated from palace protocol but, as Harry and Meghan celebrate their third wedding anniversary this week, has he gone so far, he’ll never find peace with his family again?
“In my early twenties, it was a case of, I don’t want this job. I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to be doing this, look what it did to my mum,” Harry said. “How am I ever going to settle down, have a wife and a family, when I know that it’s going to happen again?” He compared life as a royal to being in The Truman Show. “It’s a mix between The Truman Show and living in a zoo.”
Harry said he moved out of the UK to ‘break the cycle’ of ‘pain’ he suffered as a member of the Royal Family. “I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on,” he said. “It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say, ‘you know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you’.”
He said of Charles, “He’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids. Sometimes you’ve got to make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.”
Harry added it was a relief to have left the UK. “I can now actually lift my head… my shoulders have dropped, so have hers, you can walk around feeling a little more free. I can take Archie on the back of my bicycle. I never had the chance to do that.”
He said he had therapy after meeting Meghan, which ‘burst’ a bubble and lead to his decision to ‘stop complaining’. Oh Harry, we hope so, because you still sound so sad. Losing a parent at a young age, in sudden and shocking circumstances, and then feeling abandoned by the one left to pick up the pieces, is tough to overcome, whatever your privilege. Family trauma reverberates down the generations and leaves lasting scars. And yet there’s a danger in constantly focussing on the past that it can stop you finding closure, resolution and forgiveness. Harry’s public discussion of Charles and his beloved widowed grandmother isn’t really helping him or them.
Last week also saw the duke launch his latest mental health initiative, The Me You Can’t See, a new Apple TV+ series created with Oprah. “The majority of us carry some form of unresolved trauma, loss, or grief, which feels - and is - very personal,” he said. Starting on May 21, Harry will reveal his struggles during the five-part series.
Harry said he doesn’t care what people think of him anymore when he talks about his mental health. Good for him. We should all be able to talk about our mental health without prejudice or fear. It’s just a shame that the ‘genetic pain’ he feels prevents him from making the bravest move of all - talking meaningfully and privately with his dad and brother. However difficult, maybe just maybe, he’ll go some way to finally healing the pain across the generations. Now, how good would that feel, Harry?
Activist Meghan’s cut another deal
With news Meghan and Harry’s Archewell Foundation is collaborating with Procter & Gamble, to promote gender equality and ‘compassionate communities’, we’re taking it Meghan has forgiven the megabucks US multi-national for their sexist language in a washing-up TV ad in 1993.
So miffed was the 12-year-old whilst watching an Ivory Clear ad implying only women did the dishes, she launched a letter-writing campaign demanding the line, ‘women are fighting greasy pots and pans’ to change to ‘people are fighting…’ Watch Meghan as a curly-haired, CEO-scaring schoolgirl here. The ad was changed within three months. What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.
We peek inside the Queen’s handbag
At the State Opening of Parliament this week, Prince Charles’ supporting role to the Queen was upstaged by her black patent Launer handbag. There it sat on the throne, one of her ubiquitous bags (she’s said to own more than 200). Which got us thinking, what exactly is in it? Sally Bedell Smith, author of Elizabeth the Queen: The Woman Behind The Throne, has it on good authority that you’ll find…
* Reading glasses
* Compact mirror
* Lipstick (Clarins or Elizabeth Arden)
* Mint lozenges
* Fountain pen
* £5, crisply folded, for church service donations
* Portable hook with suction cup (to hang bag under tables. Queen: officially a genius)
However, Phil Dampier, author of What's In The Queen's Handbag: And Other Royal Secrets, claims her Launers are also filled with sentimental good luck charms, such as mini dogs, horses and saddles, plus family pics, including one of Prince Andrew after his return from the 1982 Falklands War.
Back to the castle
As lockdown finally lifts in the UK, royal residences are slowly re-opening. Windsor Castle reopens from tomorrow, May 17. See the State Rooms, St George’s Chapel, Queen Mary’s Dolls House and pristine grounds. For tickets click here. Also opening on Thursday is our favourite, Hampton Court Palace, with its formal gardens, maze, and fascinating interiors of Henry VIII’s former home. Kids will love Horrible Histories Live on Stage and adults the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival in July. For tickets, click here.
Double-take royal recycler
Recycling her wardrobe is a Duchess of Cambridge USP, and days after her tenth wedding anniversary, Catherine wore her £125 cream silk ruffled Whistles blouse first seen in the photos released to celebrate her engagement to William in 2010. The blouse instantly sold out, and was later reissued as the ‘Kate’.