My hope for Prince Harry is that he’s made his peace with the fact that his father and brother suck and there’s no hope for any kind of reconciliation. The way the Windsors behaved this week was ghastly, yet again. It’s like they’re escalating too – the less control they have over Harry, the more they “punish” him publicly. King Charles was so jealous of Harry’s Invictus service that the king scheduled his garden party for the exact same time as the service AND the king ordered the other working royals to attend his garden party. Charles and his palace goons (Camilla included) have been on a briefing spree about Harry all week as well. The Windsors are the ones making this mind-numbingly toxic, all so the royal experts can say that “Harry was snubbed and he was sad about it.” Which brings me back to my hope that Harry is teflon at this point when dealing with all of this bullsh-t. Some highlights from Katie Nicholl’s commentary to Entertainment Tonight:
Harry genuinely hoped to see his father: “He hasn’t got many other plans. He was, of course, hoping to see his family. Possibly that’s why the trip was three days… but as we now know, there will be no family meetings.”
No Windsor support for the Invictus service: “When you look at the inaugural Invictus Games back in 2014… he had support from his father and from Prince William… You could see that wonderful closeness between Charles and his sons, and you could see how happy Harry was to have the support of his older brother. When you consider that this is the 10th anniversary, this felt a little flat, I think it’s fair to say. He certainly cut a pretty lonely figure… He looked very much an outsider over here in Britain.”
Charles still claims to be eager to reconcile with Harry: Nicholl’s sources say “that the king is very, very keen to get his relationship with his son back on track. He very much wants to be close to his son again and to see more of his grandchildren, who he’s barely seen since they were born.” Because of that, Nicholl said, “There is a sense of surprise that he hasn’t made time to see his son.”
Trust issues: The “fundamental issue” remains, however, as there’s been “this breakdown of trust between Harry and the family,” according to Nicholl. “Clearly, there are still some pretty major trust issues and concerns on Charles’ part that any private meetings or conversations that he has with his son may not stay private for long,” she said. “I think Harry’s going to have to work really quite hard to repair some of that trust before he’s going to get a sort of privileged audience with his father.”
Charles handing off the Colonel-in-Chief of the Army Air Corps to Prince William: “You know, the timing is curious. I think many people will see that as a bit of a snub, really, from the palace, and perhaps a little bit of a poke in the ribs to Prince Harry. Yes, he’s over here part of the Invictus community celebrating 10 years, but he’s been stripped of his right to wear his military uniform. And now his brother’s taken over the role that I think Harry would have expected to have come to him, had he still been a working member of the royal family. So, yes, I think the timing does feel poignant. And, yes, I think it’s probably another slap in the face for Prince Harry, and yet another reminder that he’s very much out rather than in when it comes to the royal family.”
[From Entertainment Tonight]
“Clearly, there are still some pretty major trust issues and concerns on Charles’ part that any private meetings or conversations that he has with his son may not stay private for long.” How long will Charles ring this bell? How many times will Charles and Camilla go on blatant briefing sprees against Harry, with “insiders” claiming that C&C have zero trust that HARRY won’t leak things. The palace leaks constantly. Harry says his sh-t with his whole chest, on the record or through his official spokesperson. Anyway, the slap in the face stuff, the Windsors’ lack of support for Invictus, the pettiness for petty’s sake… these people keep insisting that it’s all bad news for Harry. But that palace-issued talking point is falling flat. Charles really misjudged the situation this week. Charles looked sick with jealousy, spiteful, petty and just mean. Harry looked like a king who weathered the storm.
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