EDITORIAL – Prince Harry has had his say; now can he just be quiet?

An editorial by Mel Rothenburger.

CAN PRINCE HARRY just be quiet now?

His much-anticipated book, Spare, is released today and indications from B.C. libraries and book stores are that it will be a big seller here and everywhere.

The prince has been making the rounds of TV interviews in advance of the release and the book very much appears to be more of what he’s served up for the past couple of years — playing the victim and trashing his family.

We have enough real victims in the world without a prince, born with privileges and wealth the rest of us can only imagine, muscling his way in.

In March of 2021 I wrote an editorial that I headlined, ‘Pity Harry and Meghan; all they want is their cake and to eat it too.’

I wrote that they had characterized the Royal Family as uncaring racists. And, poor them, they were forced to seek a more “authentic” life in a 14,500 square foot California mansion.

Those were not popular things to say among his admirers. So, let’s acknowledge that much of what he’s told interviewers has sounded heartfelt, especially his grief at the death of his mother.

And maybe he doesn’t deserve the condemnation he’s received in the British press for his revelations about his role as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan. Certainly, he was doing a necessary and dangerous job, though the way he described it could have been better.

Yet he’s talked and written about a lot of stuff that really should be kept within family rather than complaining about it to the whole world. And the fact he’ll donate to charities some of the many millions he’s making from his seemingly never-ending pot shots at various members of his family — especially his brother William and King Charles — doesn’t make it OK.

After throwing them under the bus, he claims he now wants to reconcile with them.

Talk about wanting your cake and eating it too.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former TNRD director and a retired newspaper editor. He is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.