This was supposed to be his big return. His big moment to prove everyone wrong. His chance to have the family reunion he pines for – and now it’s all gone down the drain. In fact, not just down the drain – it has imploded, the funeral has been held, and the wake is imminent.
He famously used the well-thumbed pages of his memoir Spare to argue that the press was not only full of liars, but they were also lawbreakers. The problem is, the court doesn’t agree.
He’ll take comfort in the fact that he has had some limited success in previous court cases against the media machine, but this time around was a bloodbath, and there’s no amount of media spin that can soften the blow.
For not a single one of his 14 examples of alleged illegal newsgathering was proved and, now to be hit with eye-watering legal bills to foot once again, that has to sting.
Harry’s issue is, he’s spent so long telling us that he is the victim – a victim of the media, a victim of his family, a victim of his position thanks to an accident of birth – that that’s all we can see.
He may well be a brave veteran, a doting father and a philanthropist, but when every chance to show the world this side of himself is overshadowed by a court battle, a chaotic PR back and forth or another pitiful ‘Oh woe is me’ dig at his circumstances, what does he expect?
He wanted us to see him as a victim, and we do. There's a real sense of poetic justice in the whole mess that even Keats, Chaucer or Shakespeare himself wouldn’t be able to neatly sum up in one go.
This visit was supposed to be Harry at his absolute best: statesmanlike, philanthropic, and genuinely impactful. But, as always, within moments, the focus shifted from the wounded veterans he is in the UK to champion to his own wounded pride, which is, ironically, playing out right in front of the cameras.
So what card does he have left to play when all that has been squandered? Will he walk away from the fight or attempt to resurrect it? Honestly, it’s anyone’s guess, but the correct course of action is very clear to the rest of us.
