What a shameless hypocrite Prince Harry is. Having just arrived in the UK for his ‘pseudo royal’ tour, his first stop after being expedited through customs was to pay private homage to his cherished ‘Granny’ at her grave.

Harry was spotted heading for Windsor Castle where, as reported, he laid a wreath and flowers on the late Queen’s grave – located in the King George VI Memorial Chapel – and spent 20 minutes there alone.

How could he have done so, after all the damage and pain he caused her and the monarchy in her final years?

One hopes he was on his knees seeking forgiveness after the merciless and strategic manner in which he and Meghan disparaged the Royal Family for unearned millions. They turned what should have been a joyous period of the Queen’s reign into one marred by false accusations – including the dreadful insinuation of racism – controversy and at times utter despair for the monarch.

Especially with their assertion that the late Queen had endorsed them naming their daughter Lilibet – conduct which, as my colleague Robert Hardman notes in his book on King Charles, deeply angered the late Queen.

‘A [palace staff member] privately recalled that Elizabeth II had been “as angry as I’d ever seen her” in 2021 after the Sussexes declared that she had consented to them naming their baby daughter Lilibet, the Queen’s childhood nickname,’ he documented.

The Queen is reported to have said sadly that her nickname Lilibet was the only thing she truly owned for herself and she had been denied even that.

 

Ahead of Harry’s four-day trip it had been briefed, who knows by whom, that it was pure coincidence that his arrival aligned with the third anniversary of the Queen’s death.

Forgive the cynicism but, given his form, I’d say that’s utter tosh.

Harry and his scheming wife Meghan always have an eye for a headline and must have known of the anniversary, as well as the potential publicity garnered by the solitary Prince in the Chapel. A timely reminder to everyone perhaps that he is fifth in line to the throne, given that his royal status is the Sussexes’ only currency for making money.

They probably also had a good inkling that his brother William would also be honouring their grandmother’s death on that day, so there was an opportunity to upstage him.

Which Harry did by visiting poorly children, reinforcing the impression that he is the real heir to Diana, the Prince of People’s Hearts. Pass the sickbag.

Meanwhile, William and Catherine joined the ladies of the Women’s Institute, an organisation of which the late Queen was proudly not just a patron, but also a member for 80 years.

At least we should be grateful he didn’t have his Netflix crew in tow. Or were they hiding in the bushes? Maybe he took a few photos himself inside the chapel mourning for his next hateful series on the Royals.

And he can play the victim yet again, as it remains uncertain if even his own father King Charles will meet him – more poor Harry.

It’s a wonder he doesn’t suffocate in his own self-pity, even though he was the prodigal son who sold out his own family.

The reasons Harry should be begging for forgiveness date back to November 2017 when he and Meghan got engaged. Despite Her Majesty welcoming her warmly, even enlisting Samantha Cohen as a trusted personal adviser, Meghan threw the offer back in her face, saying: ‘I don’t need that, I’ve got Harry.’

The timeline thereafter is pretty devastating. In May 2018, the Royal Family paid for their £32million wedding and the nation celebrated, although Meghan later recalled that the horrid uncaring Royals drove her to thoughts of suicide.

The ink on their wedding certificate had hardly dried before January 2020 when the Sussexes announced they were stepping back as senior working members of the Royal Family to pursue their own money–making careers.

In June of that year they decamped to California.

Barely a year later, in March 2021, they gave the excoriating Oprah Winfrey interview. Such was the standing of the Royal Family after Harry and Meghan had put them through the mincer, some even feared for its very survival.

Can you imagine how upset and angry the late Queen must have been at those suggestions of racism in the Royal Family, and so much more?

And that was before the March 2022 $100million (£75million) deal struck with Netflix for the Harry & Meghan documentary, which was so calculatingly cruel about the Royals that it became the streaming giant’s second most-viewed documentary.

At least her late Majesty, who died in September 2022, never had to witness the show and its fall-out.

Nor was she around in January the following year for Harry’s unforgiving memoir Spare, for which he was given a $20million (£17million) advance.

But she was around for far too much of Harry’s and Meghan’s egregious behaviour.

After the death of her beloved Prince Philip, the Queen should have been allowed to live out her selfless reign of over 70 years in peace and dignity. 

But those squalid money-grubbers Harry and Meghan put an end to all that. I hope Prince Harry was hanging his head in shame over her final resting place.