Humbug and Harry

It seems wrong to write about the spoiled brat of the Royal Family when there is so much real tragedy and death around the globe. Harry lost his mother in a car crash and I feel for him over that. His parents divorced and I feel for him over that. But he didn’t have to sleep in shop doorways, or find his house swept away by a flood, or not see his mother as she died slowly from cancer during lockdown.

He wants to write a book about his experience of being a royal and, no doubt, it will be popular, but let us give some thought to what he has had to ‘suffer’. He has never waited in the rain or snow because the bus he wanted to catch to work was full; he’s never had to make toast or wash-up; he’s never had to share a bed with his brother. That’s his ‘normal’ and if he were treated like a normal person who catches the bus every day and has sandwiches in the office for lunch, he’d be howling about how he was deprived.

Oh, sorry, he and his wife have been pursued by the media. As a member of the royal family, Prince George sees his photograph in the newspapers often – for him, that’s normal. Kate Middleton has adapted to being in the public eye and we now regard that as ‘normal’ for her. What about Camilla, the next queen consort? We only see her picture occasionally. Why? Because she obviously doesn’t enjoy it and makes no effort to charm the media – that’s ‘normal’ for her. What would Harry and Megan, even Diana, consider ‘normal’? On a scale of 1 to 10 just rate how much you think they hate, hated (1) or enjoy, enjoyed(10) being in the public eye (and pursued by the media).

I’ve been ‘pursued’ by a neighbour who twitched the curtains every time I brought a girl to meet my parents, especially if she was a new one. It tweeked twice if she were from another village; it annoyed me, but I never felt I was being harassed.

I grew up in a one bedroom flat and had a happy childhood, so I’m glad Harry is getting his difficult upbringing off his chest.