"π₯ ROYAL FAMILY EARTHQUAKE! β HARRY'S LATEST ATTACK ON THE ROYALS COULDN'T COME AT A WORSE TIME!"
Prince Harry has just thrown the royals under the bus again - his timing couldn't be worse
Having spent the best part of two hours outside in the pouring rain covering the pomp and pageantry of a state visit at Windsor Castle, I was looking forward to drying off inside a warm pub and tucking into some French Onion soup as I filed on this morning's activities. However, my plans for a brief break before heading back inside the Berkshire royal residence for the rest of today's events celebrating Britain's relationship with Oman were rudely interrupted.
Not by any developments from the state visit - a staple royal event that involves most senior working royals - but from Prince Harry, the non-working royal who has just moved back to Britain and is determined to show his family what they're missing. The King's youngest son has sat down with GQ magazine, where he gives a far-reaching interview about his relationship with the Royal Family and explains why he and his family decided to relocate to the UK after publicly trashing them for so long.
He tells the interviewer that he wants to reconcile with his brother, the Prince of Wales, and has had enough of "drama". The irony of him saying that - when the very interview has been published to coincide with a set-piece royal event involving William, his father, and wider family.
Sources dismiss the clash as a mere coincidence. They say it was filmed in September and GQ decided when to hit publish - it was out of their hands. But after so many diary clashes before, not to mention Harry and Meghan's trip to Nottingham overshadowing the King's official opening of the Welsh Parliament for the first time as monarch last week, I'm not sure it will wash.
Harry has spent over a year telling journalists that he's desperate for a reconciliation with the Royal Family. He wants to have a relationship with his father, who continues with his cancer treatment; he wants his children to know and love his side of the family. And more importantly, he wants to make amends with his brother, William. But has he thought about telling them this himself? Rather than using the press as a medium to show him as the victim and the one whose desire to make amends is being blocked at every angle.
"Some people don't want it to work out," he says. I want it to work out." This language perpetuates the idea that Harry is the one we should empathise with - and William is the obstacle to reconciliation. It's a clear swipe at his brother for refusing to meet him in the middle. He's telling us that William is the unreasonable brother.
But has he forgotten his own actions? Not that long ago, he and his wife sat down with Oprah Winfrey and said that the Royal Family had made their lives a misery and that they had no choice but to get out. This unforgivable attack was followed up by a Netflix documentary, a memoir and several more high-profile interviews. And now he's back in the UK, carrying out royal-style engagements on their doorstep.
I don't think William is the unreasonable one. He's just not falling for the circus and doesn't want to be forced into anything. As I've said before, William's focus is on his wife, children and his job. Yes, his brother's actions annoy him, even infuriate him, but after six years of this he knows not to give the drama any oxygen.
And as he and the wider family emerge from their lunch and discover that Harry has given yet another interview, they will view it as just another attempt at Sussex sabotage and simply get on with the job at hand. They'll don their glad rags this evening and smile as if nothing has happened. They're the real royals after all, standing outside getting drenched in the rain while others sit home and dry, picking and choosing when they work.
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That's the only dignified way the Royal Family can respond to Harry's "poor me" approach. And if he really is so desperate for a reconciliation, when will he realise that interviews such as these only make things worse? It's a shame he didn't learn from his late grandmother's 'never explain, never complain' approach. It would have saved an awful lot of heartache - and allowed me to eat my soup without endless calls from the news desk.
