To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, nothing is certain in life but death, taxes – and articles on Prince Harry and Meghan Markle generating polarising debate.
This sure held true on Tuesday when I asked HELLO! readers whether they felt sorry for the Duke of Sussex following defeat in his High Court case against Associated Newspapers Limited. At the time of publication, nearly 12,000 of you had participated in the poll, and 85 per cent were distinctly unsympathetic to the Prince’s plight.
Delving into the comments, the theme which crops up time and time again is that Harry brought it all upon himself, whatever this “all” may be…
Jenny wrote: “Prince Harry chose to leave his country and hurt his father deeply. Therefore he doesn’t deserve any sympathy. He was born for duty and he chose the opposite.”
Without getting into a philosophical debate about free will, the 17th century French polymath Blaise Pascal did famously opine that “the heart has its reasons”, and so how much choice Harry had in the matter after falling in love with Meghan Markle is open for debate.
To his detractors, Harry’s heart-on-sleeve approach to life is clearly a cause of great chagrin. “Harry moved to America six years ago,” wrote Spike. “That’s more than enough time for a cooling-off period and for reconciliation.”
I was a royalist until this saga
To his sympathisers, Harry’s emotional disposition is deeply refreshing. “Harry is the same person he ever was,” wrote Maureen. “A man of the people. He is as loving, kindly and caring as his mother was before him.”
Maureen’s Princess Diana allusion raises an interesting tension in the contemporary discourse. Harry may be the spit of his father but it’s his mother whom he takes after temperamentally. Yet while Diana was – and still is – revered, Prince Harry is reviled.
Will the years be kind to Harry?
Does this mean her youngest son will be judged more kindly in years to come? HELLO! reader Ellen would need to undergo a Damascene conversion if this future were to come to pass. “I do not feel sorry for Harry or Meghan,” she wrote. “They have multi-million dollar homes, a wardrobe of the most expensive items available, and travel all over the world – yet they complain about everything from security to not being loved.”
Ellen was obviously speaking idiomatically but it does seem a bit harsh to imply the Sussexes are unhappy about “everything” – though some Sussex critics in the comments appear desperate for this to be the case. “If your life is not working for you personally, professionally and financially, it is important to take an honest inventory and make changes,” wrote Kathleen, somewhat speculatively (after all, Harry looks pretty darn happy when pictures of him in Montecito emerge).
Gillian thinks it is the royal family writ large, not its Americanised prince, who should make changes. “The King, Camilla, Kate and William all say they have empathy with regard to mental illness but Harry fought for this country… I was a royalist until this saga.”
Tiamat also cast a critical eye towards The Firm, and adopted a stance which many in the pro-Sussex camp adopt: rebuking Harry’s critics for jumping to conclusions when they aren’t in possession of the full facts. “Something obviously happened that prompted [Harrry’s] stepping away and since none of you were in the room, don’t blame only one side. Remember, it takes two to tango.”
How Christian is the royal family really?
It also takes two to have a conversation and yet conversations between the warring parties have been sadly lacking, a sadness reflected by Judy, whose comment I will transpose in full as within it is a truth which transcends petty recriminations: “I am a mother of a broken family. My children do not speak and it has broken me as a mother. I love all three with all my heart and am sad for any family whose children are separated through misunderstandings, jealousy or opinions that differ. It is incumbent on a future monarch to show enough empathy to heal the wounds that are real and reunite with his sibling. Family is the most important unit we have. It should bind us, not separate us.”
Judy is espousing some of the core tenets of Christianity, and a love of Christ has always been central to the identity of the Windsorian monarchy. Most of you may not be able to feel sorry for Prince Harry, and that’s fine and understandable, but if the royal family’s faith is more than just a religious aesthetic, perhaps it should start feeling a bit more sorry for its embattled spare…
