Prince Harry’s self-imposed exile just hit rock bottom – he’s got to be hurting
Prince Harry’s self-imposed exile just hit rock bottom – he’s got to be hurting
The sting of Prince Harry’s self-imposed exile must prickle even more today. As one of the few living members of the Royal Family to have served in the military, his absence from major events like Trooping the Colour is a poignant reminder of a life left behind.
While his six-year absence from the celebration hasn’t been greatly felt by the public or the institution, the personal cost to the Duke must be staggering. For all his and Meghan’s talk of freedom, the glamour and shine of the Hollywood spotlight pales in comparison to hundreds of years of tradition and military splendour.
Trooping the Colour was once a fixture of Harry’s life. He may not have stayed around long enough to be handed an even greater royal honour and join the procession as a Royal Colonel on horseback, but who can say what would have happened?
If Harry and Meghan had never pressed the self-destruct button on that fatal day back in January 2020, he could have spent today riding alongside his brother, aunt, and uncle, diligently supporting his father.
Instead, he is left to watch from afar. To see photographs of his elder brother in his scarlet tunic, bearskin cap, positively dripping in honours, there has to be the quietest whisper in his head reminding him of what he is missing.
He could have been standing shoulder to shoulder with his family, celebrating the armed forces and being cheered on by the crowds who would surely have a place in their hearts for the once cheeky Harry.
While the King and the Princess of Wales showed up despite their difficult health battles, when they stood on the balcony together, they projected a powerful message of duty, resilience, and quiet dignity that was beamed around the world.
Harry’s only battle, meanwhile, is one for relevance. He remains determined to strike that perfect rhythm between commercial success and doing something linked to the faintest vestiges of charity service.
He may have told us – loudly and often – about how terrible his upbringing was and how his lower place in the line of succession has plagued his life, but he is a military man at the end of the day. He even reiterated his deep connection to the armed forces in a recent letter to the military community, explaining that troops “deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect” as he reflected on the sacrifices made by NATO troops in Afghanistan.
Isolation is the heavy price Harry pays for his independence. You can jump in and out of court with an alarming regularity that ensures London’s finest legal minds are never far from their silks, and you can write a four-hundred-page memoir airing your grievances, but once you’re out, you’re out.
He can repeat his oft-quoted phrase “service is universal” as much as he likes, but the grand display in London proves that some forms of service carry more weight than could ever be replicated by someone who has walked away from the magic of the monarchy.
