The official Buckingham Palace account published a birthday message for Prince Harry this Sunday, September 15, who is celebrating his 40th birthday. Should we see this as a sign of reconciliation?
The message is not signed by the king, but it has the merit of existing. The royal family wishes this Sunday, on social networks, “a very happy 40th birthday” to Prince Harry.
This hadn’t happened since 2021. In the last three years, neither the official account of the Prince and Princess of Wales nor that of Charles and Camilla had published a message for Harry’s birthday. The message was even relayed a few hours later by the official account of William and Kate, with another message, even more impersonal, if that were possible.
The photo, meanwhile, dates from July 11, 2018, and was taken by photographer Jimmy Rainford during the prince’s visit to Ireland. It had already been used by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 2019 to announce another event on social media.
A sign of relaxation?
Should we see this, despite a certain coldness, as a sign of relaxation? Of Harry’s return to the bosom of the royal family? In any case, since Charles has been king, birthday messages have been reserved for active members of the royal family, Anne and Edward, the king’s brother and sister, or William and Kate.
Enough to reassure the Duke of Sussex, who some close friends say is keen to return to a role within the royal family. Even if that seems unlikely, according to observers.
There is little evidence to support this rumour, says BBC royal correspondent Daniela Relph in a column to mark Harry’s birthday.
“Completely isolated”
“He is completely isolated and he will remain so. Any suggestion of a return even with a minor role within the monarchy seems to me completely unrealistic,” Pauline MacLaran, professor at Royal Holloway University, told AFP.
‘A friend of Harry’s told me that a return to the UK was not on the cards. ‘Why would he give up everything he’s achieved there to come back here? His life is now in America,'” the BBC columnist wrote.
And it is far from the United Kingdom and the royal family that Prince Harry celebrates his 40th birthday, with Meghan and their children.
The Duke of Sussex’s ties with “the firm” (as the royal family is known) were strained in 2020 when he and his wife Meghan stepped back from their royal duties and moved to California.
Last February, when the king’s cancer was announced, Prince Harry “jumped on a plane” to go to his father’s bedside, who had only given him about thirty minutes of his time. Harry had hoped at the time, as he confided to the ABC, to be “sure” that his father’s cancer could reunite the royal family.
Popularity started
Since moving to California, Meghan and Harry have continued to settle scores with the royal family, accusing them first in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, then in a documentary on Netflix, and finally in Prince Harry’s memoirs, of not having supported them, and of having even discredited them in the press.
These numerous attacks have permanently damaged the relationship with King Charles and Prince William, but also damaged Harry’s popularity in the United Kingdom. This is reflected in the comments on Instagram, under the royal wishes: “he doesn’t deserve it”, “he’s nobody anymore”, “he’s a traitor to the royal family”…
The British have not forgiven him for making money by denigrating the royal family, and blame him for darkening the final years of their beloved queen by shaking the monarchy with his accusations of racism.
His great-grandmother’s fortune
As his book is soon to be published in paperback The Substitute, the prince must think about ensuring his luxurious lifestyle in Montecito, his huge house, his security… Especially since some of the lucrative contracts he signed in 2020. Spotify has thus loudly turned its back on Meghan and Harry, accusing them of not having worked hard enough and of being “scammers”. Then there is Netflix, for whom Harry still has to produce a series on polo, which will probably be less exciting to the crowds than the revelations about the royal family.
Fortunately, the prince can still count on his family a little, since he is due to receive, on the occasion of his 40th birthday, a small sum of around 8 million pounds (nearly 9.5 million euros), which Queen Elizabeth’s mother, the “queen mum”, placed for him and his cousins in 1994.
