There are so many agendas playing out in all of these “Prince Harry at 40” stories. It’s a reminder that when Prince William turned 40 in 2022, all of the “Huevo at 40” stories were about how much he hates his brother and how William never, ever thinks about Harry. Two years later, the “Harry at 40” stories are about… how much William hates his brother. I’m just saying, William has been heavy-handed and obvious as hell in how many of these stories are being sourced. One of the rare pieces which seemed almost generous to Harry and his motives was this one in the Guardian, written by Caroline Davies. Some highlights:
How did Harry get here? Five thousand miles and 10 tumultuous years away, he may ponder, as he did following his dramatic departure from the UK: “What on earth happened? How did we end up here?” The “here” is the celebrity enclave of Montecito in Santa Barbara county, California, and the “how” – since played out incessantly in newspapers, TV interviews and courtrooms – has been laid bare in his scathing memoir, Spare.
The inheritance? According to reports, he is to inherit money from a trust set up by his great-grandmother the late queen mother. William and Harry were to receive £6m when they reached 21, with the bulk going to Harry in the knowledge that William would inherit the Duchy of Cornwall and, later as king, the Duchy of Lancaster. A further £8m was said to have been set aside for the brothers when they turned 40, the Times has reported.
Appears to be financially independent! Home, today, is a nine-bedroom, £11m mansion on the Sussexes’ gated 2.2-hectare (5.4-acre) estate, where mononymous neighbours include Oprah and Gwyneth. Hard-won privacy protects Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three. Harry is finally liberated from the royal institution he regarded as toxic, and appears to be financially independent.
Peter Hunt has some thoughts: “Fundamentally, I think he’s happier because he has a family. And I think that’s pretty crucial, actually,” said the royal commentator Peter Hunt, a former BBC royal correspondent. Yet, sections of the UK media persist in unrelenting negative coverage of a prince they see as having abandoned king and country, and who has, indisputably, made damaging slurs against family and institution.
The Sandringham Summit: Cast adrift by the hardline “Sandringham summit”, brokered by the royal family, [Harry] is seemingly so estranged from William that his brother reportedly does not want him at his own coronation. The stark “in or out” ultimatum delivered at Sandringham – which refused Harry and the Duchess of Sussex a semi-royal role – divined the couple’s path to Montecito, and, presumably, the interviews, documentaries and memoir that followed. It set a simple narrative: Charles, William and the late Queen Elizabeth were right. “And, therefore, Harry has got his comeuppance,” Hunt said. “But there is an alternative narrative that argues that, actually, Harry was treated very badly. They could have found a way to accommodate him if they had chosen. There are countless examples where the royal family has adapted, when needed, to survive. But there was too much bad blood by then. They were so entrenched.”
Harry’s war with the media: He remains committed to his legal battle against some UK media organisations over his claims of unlawful information gathering. “I think he’s utterly determined to see through this legal action for what he sees as media malpractice, which I think could be described as both brave and foolhardy in equal measure,” Hunt said.
Out in the cold: So, as he turns 40, Harry remains out the cold in the Californian sunshine. Anonymous sources have reportedly claimed that a restless Harry is keen for a partial return to the UK, that he’s ditched Hollywood publicists and recently contacted former royal aides and old friends looking for a low-key entry back. Named Operation Bring Harry in from the Cold, the Guardian understands such speculation is wide of the mark, and that, now and for the foreseeable future, he sees his future in California with his family. Why, ventured one source, would they have spent the past four years establishing their freedom, only to go straight back? They have established business and media interests, including their $100m Netflix deal, along with their Archewell Foundation with its charitable mission of “show up, do good”.
The photogenic Sussexes: The four-day tour to Colombia promoting causes close to the Sussexes’ hearts – including child online safety – garnered international media coverage. Described as a “quasi-royal tour” by some, the photo spreads it generated served as a reminder that Charles’s vision for a slimmed-down monarchy did not factor in the pulling power of the photogenic Sussexes. “Ten years ago, we certainly expected him to be a working royal,” said the royal author and historian Hugo Vickers, who predicts problems ahead for the couple. “They will do anything to keep going, I think. They are relying on their royal links, on their celebrity, to keep reinventing themselves and keep themselves in the public eye. And I think it’s going to end badly, personally. They may very sincerely believe they are doing wonderful good for the under-privileged of the world. But also, their lifestyle must be incredibly expensive.”
“Harry is finally liberated from the royal institution he regarded as toxic, and appears to be financially independent.” Or, put another way, Harry escaped a violently toxic and abusive institution, managed to protect his wife and children, and is absolutely financially independent, much to the chagrin of the left-behind Windsors and the British media. It cannot be emphasized enough that everything that’s happened, all of the Sussexes’ success and independence, was never “the plan.” The plan was to force Harry to crawl back, divorced, broke and compliant. They did everything they could to make that happen and it didn’t and they cannot deal with it. Hunt brings up an interesting point, and not for the first time. Hunt has always said that the Windsors were spectacularly stupid to let the Sussexes go and to treat them the way they have. The left-behinds have never listened to Hunt though. So here we are – the Guardian and other outlets weeping as they begrudgingly admit that Harry isn’t coming back.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.