LOOKED at one way, Prince William’s invitation for Harry and Meghan to join him and wife Catherine on a royal walkabout was a brotherly olive branch after a couple of years of fractious relations.
But forgive me if I remove the rose-tinted spectacles for a moment . . . it was also a PR masterstroke by our future king.
Think about it. To put it bluntly, Harry and Meghan have been outside the monarchal marquee and p***ing in for some time now.
Meghan’s often inaccurate blatherings were one thing, but Harry was part of the trusted inner circle for nearly 35 years before he decamped to the US in a fit of pique.
He knows family secrets. And worse still, he has an “accurate and wholly truthful” book of his life set to come out this autumn.
Couple this with Meghan’s recently launched podcast, planned chat show appearances, and a forthcoming Netflix documentary — all of which suck at the teat of royal status — and you couldn’t blame William if he’d decided to keep the Sussexes at arm’s length for the foreseeable future.
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Indeed, it’s been reported that shortly after the Queen died, Harry was supposedly “banned” from a family dinner at Balmoral with Charles, William and Camilla for fear he might tell Meghan the detail of what was said and it might then find its way on to a US news network. After all, it’s happened before.
But a public show of unity on a walkabout in front of the crowds outside Buckingham Palace? That’s a different, far more controllable, matter.
A bit of polite small talk in the car, followed by a sombre stroll by the once “Fab Four” to look at the flowers and tributes while the images of their supposed reconciliation are beamed worldwide.
William perhaps suspected they would grab the olive branch with both hands because the ensuing media coverage would enhance their status back in America.
And it had the added bonus of making him look statesmanlike and magnanimous in the face of his brother’s often petulant outbursts.
But best of all, it has hopefully killed stone dead any chance of them returning home to tell Meghan’s journalist friend Gayle King that they’ve been treated as outcasts by the Royal Family.
In other words, it brought them far enough in to the monarchal marquee to minimise the chances of them p***ing in, but not far enough that they have any valuable insights to fuel their royals-for-sale status in the US.
Let’s see if it works.
Obviously, William will be missing the close camaraderie of the brother with whom he shared that most heartbreaking of events — the loss of their mother.
And he would no doubt want nothing more than for them to return to a state of brotherly ‘it’s us against the rest of the world’ trust.
But as Sophocles once said; “Trust dies but mistrust blossoms” which, according to one interpretation, means that “earned trust is not permanent”, must be “re-earned on an on-going basis” and “can al- ways diminish given strong enough influences.”
Indeed it can.
And Prince Harry needs to work hard to re-earn his brother’s trust.
Whether this walkabout marks the start of a rapprochement, or is merely a blink-and-you-miss it reunion for PR purposes on both sides, remains to be seen.
I KNOW it’s the constitution and all that malarkey, but it seems odd that Prince Andrew and Prince Harry – both of whom completed (and excelled at) active service – have been banned from wearing military uniforms to the late Queen’s funeral because they are no longer working royals.
While Prince Edward, who bailed out of the marines after completing just one third of the tough 12-month training, will be there in military regalia thanks to his honorary titles. Go figure.
1. Roadclosures on the day of the Queen’s state funeral will mean that US president Joe Biden will have to leave his armoured “Beast” car behind and hop on a shuttle bus with other visiting VIPs.
“Can you imagine Joe Biden on a bus?” sniffs a London-based ambassador.
Er, yes. On route to Shady Pines for the Bewildered.
2) Boris Johnson has suggested that our late Queen be known as Elizabeth the Great because of the “sweep of progress” over the past 70 years.
Perhaps the most famous historic figure who shares that honour is Alexander the Great, king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, who, via various military campaigns, created one of the largest empires in history.
One suspects there’s no danger of Alexander Boris de Pfeiffel Johnson ever being granted this flatteringly rare suffix.
3) Omid Scobie, author of Meghan Markle’s supposedly unofficial biography Finding Freedom, has been showing the level of his royal knowledge on US TV.
While discussing the arrangements for the Queen’s coffin, he said our late monarch would be transported from Edinburgh on “one of the royal trains over to the UK”, thereby suggesting that Scotland is not part of the United Kingdom and that there’s a fleet of royal trains when, of course, there’s only one.
With such a tenuous grasp on the facts, perhaps his primary source was Meghan herself who, as we know, has royal recollections that may vary?
GRAN Sorelle Owens saw her grandchildren daily for the nine years her son was with his partner.
But when they split up, contact became patchy and at one point she hadn’t seen them for three months.
When she was “let down at the last minute” to see them, she “had a few cans” then jumped on the bonnet of the ex’s Fiat Punto and ripped off a wiper blade.
Owens, 46, of Green- field, Flintshire, was taken to court, admitted criminal damage and must pay £500 compensation.
The judge said “she clearly allowed emotions to get the better of her.”
I don’t know the detail of why Owens was denied access to the grand- children she had hitherto been closely involved with and clearly adores.
But while her actions can’t be condoned, grandparents across the country will understand her visceral emotions.
When relationships end, access to children can sometimes be used as a weapon, and the wider family suffers too.
So now that Owens has been punished for her behaviour, let’s hope that, behind the scenes, the state is also facilitating the mediation that might help her reunite with the grandkids who will undoubtedly be missing her too.
POOR old Jason Grant has lost his job.
Not because he wasn’t any good at it. In fact, it’s unclear whether he even started it.
No, he’s lost it because some numpty thought it would be a great idea to employ him as Period Dignity Regional Lead Officer in the Dundee area of Scotland.
Even though he’s a bloke who has never experienced a period, ovary cramp or female menopause symptom.
It’s not Jason’s fault and I hope he finds something else soon.
But one wonders whether whoever sparked uproar by making this daft appointment is also looking for another job?
Or, as is the norm when civil servants cock up, has the person responsible been promoted?
DESPITE Silicon Valley’s tongue-in-cheek dating maxim of “the odds are good but the goods are odd”, leading matchmaker Amy Andersen has helped facilitate more than 50 marriages in 20 years for tech entrepreneurs who needed help finding love.
Good for her, because some of her clients’ expectations sound excessive.
One is eco-conscious and won’t entertain anyone who drives a gas-guzzler, while a young billionaire wants an “incredibly beautiful” and “supremely intelligent” woman who speaks five languages and has a bit of an edge.
“Basically, a young Angelina Jolie,” says Amy.
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Cripes.
When the Goddess Angelina herself is considered too old for consideration, what hope is there for mere mortals?
