“I certainly don’t want any sympathy,” Prince Harry said in yet another interview. “We’re way past that.”
But does he really want no sympathy?
And if the conversation is truly “way past that,” another question follows: What are we all still doing here?
Harry spoke at length with GQ magazine in a video interview published Tuesday. Its rather predictable title was “Prince Harry Opens Up” — prompting a weary response from the public: Again? Really?
The accompanying subhead promised discussion of “Grieving Princess Diana and The Royal Reconciliation.”
So, in other words, the familiar themes once again.
The public can now seem like an unwilling guest trapped beside a tedious speaker at a metaphorical dinner party. The conversation circles around the same familiar subjects, repeated so often that those nearby have little choice but to offer polite nods and wait for it to end.
Harry, however, shows little sign of tiring of the subject.
Harry spoke at length with GQ magazine in a video interview published Tuesday, titled “Prince Harry Opens Up” — a headline that prompted a weary reaction: Again? Really?
Even so, the interview produced a headline. To me, it appeared to be another attempt to cast Harry as the victim and his brother, Prince William, as the person responsible for the conflict.
After Harry and Meghan’s much-discussed return to the UK — the country they have portrayed as the place where Meghan was allegedly driven to suicidal ideation and met with indifference — it seemed likely that Harry, now more unpopular than ever, would again assign blame for the family estrangement.
“Some people don’t want it to work out,” Harry said.
Some people.
Within hours of the interview’s release, a spokesman for the Sussexes said the comment was not directed at William.
“It was absolutely not intended as a swipe at his brother or any other member of his family,” the spokesman said. “The comment was made in a general context and was not directed at his family in any way.”
At this stage, Harry might as well say plainly what he appears to be suggesting.
He could acknowledge that he believes the relationship is beyond repair. His posture, lowered shoulders and weary expression during the GQ interview seemed, to me, to convey a man who knows the reconciliation he discusses may never happen.
Nothing appears to have provoked William into a public confrontation — not the Oprah interview, the Netflix documentary, Harry’s memoir Spare, the succession of interviews critics have described as self-pitying, Meghan’s Instagram photoshoot at Princess Diana’s resting place, the couple’s royal-style tours or their walkabout in Nottingham last week.
William has addressed Harry and Meghan’s previous attacks on the monarchy only once, saying, “We are very much not a racist family.” Since then, he has continued with his duties and focused on preserving the institution he is expected to one day lead.
Harry’s interview did generate a headline, but it appeared to frame him once again as the victim and Prince William as the person responsible for the family rift.
No provocation — not the Oprah interview, not the Netflix documentary, not Spare or the litany of self-pitying interviews or the walkabout he and his wife did in Nottingham last week (above) — has rattled William
Meanwhile, over here, we have the sad, slithering Harry, bemoaning the consequences of his own actions.
Some people don’t want it to work out.
Really, Harry: Why would they? You have proven yourself untrustworthy at every turn.
‘I want to work it out,’ he continued.
Does Harry consider Sussex sources briefing their preferred American outlet, People magazine, with their intent to carry on a ‘half-in, half-out’ royal model upon their return to the UK — in defiance of the late Queen Elizabeth’s orders — to be an act that advances reconciliation?
An April 29 People cover story entitled, ‘Harry & Meghan: Making Their Own Rules’ — again, subtle — was underscored with a pull quote from Harry: ‘I’m Doing the Things I Was Born to Do’.
The piece cited his unannounced trip to war-torn Ukraine just two days prior, during which he was asked if he agreed that ‘not a working royal’ was an apt description of his status.
‘No,’ Harry said. ‘I will always be part of the royal family… I am here working, doing the things I was born to do.’
A statement, plainly, of utter defiance.
Sources close to Harry and Meghan doubled down again on Monday — one day before Harry’s GQ interview premiered — telling People magazine ‘they never agreed they wouldn’t be half in, half out. That was what was decided and foisted upon them.’
Yes, Harry and Meghan: That’s how a monarchy works. The reigning king or queen makes the rules. You don’t have to like those rules, but — if you wish to remain in the fold — you do have to abide by them.
Yet this is how Harry and Meghan honor the late Queen Elizabeth, who allowed them to leave with their royal titles intact.
These two are a disgrace.
And lest we forget: Prince Charles graciously cushioned their exit, reportedly gifting the couple a ‘substantial sum’ to ease their move to California.
Clarence House released financial documents — after Harry moaned to Oprah, in that infamous bitch session, that ‘my family literally cut me off financially’ — showing that Prince William, Prince Harry and their families received some share of a reported £4.5 million in the 2020 fiscal year.
A spokesperson for the Sussexes said at the time, ‘The Duke’s comments during the Oprah interview were in reference to the first quarter of the fiscal reporting period in the UK, which starts annually in April.’
So, he got the money.
Some people don’t want to work it out.
We have the sad, slithering Harry, bemoaning the consequences of his own actions. ‘I want to work it out,’ he told GQ
King Charles III speaks with the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq Al Said at Windsor Castle on October 20
Then came the invocation of every celebrity, ever, caught in a crisis of their own making.
Harry, to GQ: ‘With everything else that’s going on in the world’ — which, I suppose, is meant to make the rest of us feel small-minded for following this epic soap opera Harry and Meghan have been enacting on the world stage — ‘the most important thing is to reconcile.’
Speaking of things going on in the world, Harry’s interview dropped shortly before King Charles, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Catherine, Princess of Wales greeted the Sultan of Oman for a state dinner.
A Sussex spokesman said it was ‘entirely the publishers’ decision when to run [the interview],’ but you’d expect Harry, in the spirit of reconciliation, to at least be sensitive to the timing.
After all, the GQ interview was recorded in late September. The state visit was announced on September 3.
At that dinner, Charles praised William, saying ‘There can be few happier symbols of success than a living relationship being passed from one generation to the next.’ Addressing the Sultan directly, he added: ‘I have been especially delighted to see our sons… become joint patrons of the Jewel of Arabia Expedition.’
Message delivered.
By the way, Harry: It’s not just ‘some’ people who don’t want it to work — it’s most of us!
