At around six this afternoon in Twickenham stadium, Prince Harry will hand the Webb Ellis rugby World Cup to the triumphant captain of New Zealand or Australia.
As he shakes the players’ hastily-wiped hands, he will know that, be they winners or losers, he is looking into the eyes of men with a goal in life.
Just 72 hours earlier, on a flying visit to the U.S., he was meeting a very different group of admirable, tough-minded men — wounded military veterans, their lives changed utterly by war, each forced to forge a new future.
He shares with them, though for very different reasons, an urgent, single-minded ambition to make something of his life.
This week’s visit by Harry, alongside U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, to promote the Invictus Games next year in Florida, has had the effect of making him a star almost as big as Princess Diana when she was dazzling America.
On occasions such as these, the Queen’s grandson connects easily with people: while in Washington he drew Roderic Liggens, a traumatised U.S. Marine veteran, into a warm embrace.
But then, Harry is very much his mother’s son.
Yet, at 31, having left the Army earlier this year after ten years, his role on Civvy Street remains curiously undefined.
Bound up in this is his apparent dependence on William and Kate. At Kensington Palace, they are neighbours — he in the small flat where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge used to live; they in the lavishly refurbished, 20-room apartment that was once Princess Margaret’s.
For much of this week, all three were virtually joined at the hip — together at the gala premiere of the new James Bond film, Spectre, and the premiere of the short film Shaun The Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas, by British animators Aardman.
That wasn’t all.
Part of the evening for charities supported by all three royals involved them joining children hurling wellies (‘welly wanging’).
Much fun was had by all.
So even though William and Kate are often at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, Harry sees a great deal of them — understandably, given that Harry’s instinct to turn to his elder brother for guidance has scarcely lessened in the 18 years since their mother’s death.
But what is surprising is that Harry’s role as a full-time royal has yet to develop beyond the obvious: that he has emerged as the royal megastar.
Pictures of the royal trio at this week’s premieres inevitably prompted his friends to share an old joke with Harry the butt as ‘HRH Gooseberry’.
In court circles, Harry is said to be ‘in dread of becoming the new Prince Andrew’ — a second son marrying someone inappropriate and bringing the family into disrepute.
‘Harry’s desire to settle down, have his own family and be like his brother is quite a strong one,’ says a courtier. ‘He wants to have some kids and get a dog and be ordinary. He just doesn’t know how to achieve it.’
Certainly, despite some well-publicised romances, most notably with Zimbabwean farmer’s daughter Chelsy Davy and fledgling actress Cressida Bonas, and with no prospect of a marriage any time soon, defining a role for Harry is becoming more pressing.
Prince Charles has been careful not to interfere in his son’s relationships — other than those that have ended up luridly described in downmarket Sunday papers — as he is acutely aware of the pressure he himself came under at around the same age to marry 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer.
Chelsy and Cressida both rejected the royal spotlight — with the legally-qualified Chelsy saying succinctly that marrying Harry is ‘not a life for me’.
Girls who do think it would be the life for them are harder to find than you may think.
‘Ideally, Harry is looking for a Kate Mk II,’ says one of his circle. ‘But they’re thin on the ground.’
One family friend describes Kate and Harry as ‘terrific mates’ and he has talked about her as the sister he never had.
The paradox of Harry is that although being a good-looking, 6ft 3in bachelor is a key element of his star status, staid palace planners would prefer him to have a wife on his arm. ‘Mindful of his erratic past, there is a constant anxiety that he could still fall into the wrong company,’ murmurs a courtier.
‘The Queen has mixed feelings on the Harry front. While she’s more relaxed these days, she does worry about duty and commitment. Harry’s charitable work is strong, but his direction is not.’
Some at Buckingham Palace feel there has been no proper co-ordination of his life since he left the Army.
Not long ago, Harry seemed determined to follow his brother in getting a ‘real’ job — William is an ambulance helicopter pilot in East Anglia — alongside his royal duties. Although Harry is a trained Army Air Corps Apache helicopter pilot himself, having two royal princes doing similar jobs would surely have been one too many.
One plan, therefore, was for him to have a formal role with a charity or a sporting body — his passion for rugby is well known.
Another idea being kicked around is for him to be the Queen’s roving ambassador to the Commonwealth, with particular emphasis on those realms where she is still Monarch. (Mindful of what happened to his Uncle Andrew when he was a roving ambassador, Harry is being kept well away from commerce.)
Ideally, Harry is looking for a Kate Mk II... but they’re thin on the ground
Source close to Harry
Such a role, based at the Commonwealth Secretariat on the Mall, has been on the palace agenda for some time, but the right royal for the job has so far not been identified.
Harry certainly doesn’t give the impression of a prince searching with any great urgency for a consort. Like his father years ago, when sowing his wild oats he has developed a penchant for the company of older, more worldly women on whose discretion he can rely.
Some time ago, an intriguing plan was dreamed up to team Harry on royal duties with his first cousin Princess Beatrice, the idea being it would have given ‘balance’ to his official engagements, especially when seating plans required equal numbers of men and women.
Prince Andrew was all for it, for at the time he was losing a battle with Charles for his elder daughter Bea, now 27, to have a meaningful royal role. But in the end, the plan never took wing.
So how goes the palace dream of Harry settling down, with or without a ‘Kate Mk II’?
He wants to have some kids and get a dog and be ordinary. He just doesn’t know how to achieve it
While the bachelor prince has never been all that close to Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall is on the case.
With the help of her children, Tom and Laura, and their well-connected address books, she is said to be doing her bit to point her stepson in the right direction.
‘Camilla knows it will make Charles very happy to see Harry settled down with the right girl, just as William is,’ says a friend of the duchess. ‘Camilla loves to be involved — she had lunch with Kate after she got engaged to William.’
Whoever does eventually marry Harry will, like Kate, become a duchess. The title earmarked for him is understood to be Duke of Clarence, a royal dukedom that has not been used for more than a century.
Intriguingly, however, there is talk that, in due course, Harry could have conferred on him the most coveted dukedom of all, Edinburgh — Prince Philip’s title — which has always been expected to pass to Prince Edward.
For his part, Prince Harry sees his most important responsibility now, and in the future, to be the welfare of wounded veterans.
As an ex-soldier who nobly served two tough tours in Afghanistan, it’s a role Harry cherishes.
‘He sometimes spends three or four days a week with them all over the country,’ says one of his friends. ‘Whatever problems they have, he makes sure details get back to the appropriate authority.
‘Whatever else Harry does, at heart he’ll always be a soldier.’
Harry, whose ebullience representing the Queen on visits to Jamaica and Australia made him a spectacular success there, is seen by many as a good choice now. But the prince himself is uncertain, not least because of his commitments to conservation projects and charitable works in Africa.
The fear among some of the Queen’s advisers is that Harry may be unwilling to embrace what one describes as ‘too much royal routine’, at least while he remains unmarried.
As one explains: ‘Right now, all we know of his future plans is a trip to Southern Africa in December, another to Florida for the marvellous Invictus Games in May — and he is certainly entitled to great credit for getting these up and running — and on to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games in July.
‘All very worthwhile, but not enough for a young man whose popularity makes him so immensely important to the Royal Family.’
(Daily Mail)
As he shakes the players’ hastily-wiped hands, he will know that, be they winners or losers, he is looking into the eyes of men with a goal in life.
Just 72 hours earlier, on a flying visit to the U.S., he was meeting a very different group of admirable, tough-minded men — wounded military veterans, their lives changed utterly by war, each forced to forge a new future.
He shares with them, though for very different reasons, an urgent, single-minded ambition to make something of his life.
This week’s visit by Harry, alongside U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, to promote the Invictus Games next year in Florida, has had the effect of making him a star almost as big as Princess Diana when she was dazzling America.
On occasions such as these, the Queen’s grandson connects easily with people: while in Washington he drew Roderic Liggens, a traumatised U.S. Marine veteran, into a warm embrace.
But then, Harry is very much his mother’s son.
Yet, at 31, having left the Army earlier this year after ten years, his role on Civvy Street remains curiously undefined.
Bound up in this is his apparent dependence on William and Kate. At Kensington Palace, they are neighbours — he in the small flat where the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge used to live; they in the lavishly refurbished, 20-room apartment that was once Princess Margaret’s.
For much of this week, all three were virtually joined at the hip — together at the gala premiere of the new James Bond film, Spectre, and the premiere of the short film Shaun The Sheep: The Farmer’s Llamas, by British animators Aardman.
That wasn’t all.
Part of the evening for charities supported by all three royals involved them joining children hurling wellies (‘welly wanging’).
Much fun was had by all.
So even though William and Kate are often at Anmer Hall in Norfolk, Harry sees a great deal of them — understandably, given that Harry’s instinct to turn to his elder brother for guidance has scarcely lessened in the 18 years since their mother’s death.
But what is surprising is that Harry’s role as a full-time royal has yet to develop beyond the obvious: that he has emerged as the royal megastar.
Pictures of the royal trio at this week’s premieres inevitably prompted his friends to share an old joke with Harry the butt as ‘HRH Gooseberry’.
In court circles, Harry is said to be ‘in dread of becoming the new Prince Andrew’ — a second son marrying someone inappropriate and bringing the family into disrepute.
‘Harry’s desire to settle down, have his own family and be like his brother is quite a strong one,’ says a courtier. ‘He wants to have some kids and get a dog and be ordinary. He just doesn’t know how to achieve it.’
Certainly, despite some well-publicised romances, most notably with Zimbabwean farmer’s daughter Chelsy Davy and fledgling actress Cressida Bonas, and with no prospect of a marriage any time soon, defining a role for Harry is becoming more pressing.
Prince Charles has been careful not to interfere in his son’s relationships — other than those that have ended up luridly described in downmarket Sunday papers — as he is acutely aware of the pressure he himself came under at around the same age to marry 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer.
Chelsy and Cressida both rejected the royal spotlight — with the legally-qualified Chelsy saying succinctly that marrying Harry is ‘not a life for me’.
Girls who do think it would be the life for them are harder to find than you may think.
‘Ideally, Harry is looking for a Kate Mk II,’ says one of his circle. ‘But they’re thin on the ground.’
One family friend describes Kate and Harry as ‘terrific mates’ and he has talked about her as the sister he never had.
The paradox of Harry is that although being a good-looking, 6ft 3in bachelor is a key element of his star status, staid palace planners would prefer him to have a wife on his arm. ‘Mindful of his erratic past, there is a constant anxiety that he could still fall into the wrong company,’ murmurs a courtier.
‘The Queen has mixed feelings on the Harry front. While she’s more relaxed these days, she does worry about duty and commitment. Harry’s charitable work is strong, but his direction is not.’
Some at Buckingham Palace feel there has been no proper co-ordination of his life since he left the Army.
Not long ago, Harry seemed determined to follow his brother in getting a ‘real’ job — William is an ambulance helicopter pilot in East Anglia — alongside his royal duties. Although Harry is a trained Army Air Corps Apache helicopter pilot himself, having two royal princes doing similar jobs would surely have been one too many.
One plan, therefore, was for him to have a formal role with a charity or a sporting body — his passion for rugby is well known.
Another idea being kicked around is for him to be the Queen’s roving ambassador to the Commonwealth, with particular emphasis on those realms where she is still Monarch. (Mindful of what happened to his Uncle Andrew when he was a roving ambassador, Harry is being kept well away from commerce.)
Ideally, Harry is looking for a Kate Mk II... but they’re thin on the ground
Source close to Harry
Such a role, based at the Commonwealth Secretariat on the Mall, has been on the palace agenda for some time, but the right royal for the job has so far not been identified.
Harry certainly doesn’t give the impression of a prince searching with any great urgency for a consort. Like his father years ago, when sowing his wild oats he has developed a penchant for the company of older, more worldly women on whose discretion he can rely.
Some time ago, an intriguing plan was dreamed up to team Harry on royal duties with his first cousin Princess Beatrice, the idea being it would have given ‘balance’ to his official engagements, especially when seating plans required equal numbers of men and women.
Prince Andrew was all for it, for at the time he was losing a battle with Charles for his elder daughter Bea, now 27, to have a meaningful royal role. But in the end, the plan never took wing.
So how goes the palace dream of Harry settling down, with or without a ‘Kate Mk II’?
He wants to have some kids and get a dog and be ordinary. He just doesn’t know how to achieve it
While the bachelor prince has never been all that close to Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall is on the case.
With the help of her children, Tom and Laura, and their well-connected address books, she is said to be doing her bit to point her stepson in the right direction.
‘Camilla knows it will make Charles very happy to see Harry settled down with the right girl, just as William is,’ says a friend of the duchess. ‘Camilla loves to be involved — she had lunch with Kate after she got engaged to William.’
Whoever does eventually marry Harry will, like Kate, become a duchess. The title earmarked for him is understood to be Duke of Clarence, a royal dukedom that has not been used for more than a century.
Intriguingly, however, there is talk that, in due course, Harry could have conferred on him the most coveted dukedom of all, Edinburgh — Prince Philip’s title — which has always been expected to pass to Prince Edward.
For his part, Prince Harry sees his most important responsibility now, and in the future, to be the welfare of wounded veterans.
As an ex-soldier who nobly served two tough tours in Afghanistan, it’s a role Harry cherishes.
‘He sometimes spends three or four days a week with them all over the country,’ says one of his friends. ‘Whatever problems they have, he makes sure details get back to the appropriate authority.
‘Whatever else Harry does, at heart he’ll always be a soldier.’
Harry, whose ebullience representing the Queen on visits to Jamaica and Australia made him a spectacular success there, is seen by many as a good choice now. But the prince himself is uncertain, not least because of his commitments to conservation projects and charitable works in Africa.
The fear among some of the Queen’s advisers is that Harry may be unwilling to embrace what one describes as ‘too much royal routine’, at least while he remains unmarried.
As one explains: ‘Right now, all we know of his future plans is a trip to Southern Africa in December, another to Florida for the marvellous Invictus Games in May — and he is certainly entitled to great credit for getting these up and running — and on to Rio de Janeiro for the Olympic Games in July.
‘All very worthwhile, but not enough for a young man whose popularity makes him so immensely important to the Royal Family.’
(Daily Mail)
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