We all waited poised to learn what the wayward but beguiling young Prince is to do next, only to discover that the answer is not a lot.
In April and May he will spend four weeks seconded to the Australian Defence Force, attached to a variety of units in Darwin, Perth and Sydney. He will then proceed to New Zealand and finally on to Africa, where he will undertake 'field-based conservation work'.
As Captain Harry Wales, he more than did his bit in Afghanistan, where he was admired by his Army colleagues
Er,
what precisely does that mean? We are told that 'he will focus his time
learning how local communities in sub-Saharan Africa are working to
protect and conserve their natural resources and wildlife'.
Then,
in September he will return to the UK to work with the Ministry of
Defence in a voluntary capacity with its Recovery Capability Programme,
laudably helping wounded soldiers.
In other words, not to put too fine a point on it, he is unemployed with no immediate job prospects.
Is
it really sensible, therefore, for Harry to leave the Army — and to
join his first cousin, Princess Beatrice, and other young royals who are
currently living a highly privileged and luxurious lifestyle while out
of work?
Prince Harry, fourth in line to the
throne, is to quit the Armed Forces in June after ten years, two tours
of duty in Afghanistan, and qualifying as an Apache Aircraft Commander
Most
of us are ready to forgive, with a wry smile and a shake of the head,
his occasional gaffes — such as referring to one of his Army team as
'our little Paki friend'.
We're
even prepared to overlook the times when his party antics have become
wildly out of hand, like the occasion when he was photographed stark
naked in a Las Vegas hotel suite playing strip billiards with a group of
equally naked girls he had only just met.
But
Harry is now over 30, which seems rather long in the tooth to be taking
what amounts to a 'gap year', something which he first did at the age
of 18, and which most young people do while they are still students.
As
the Queen's grandson, his life and activities are supplemented by
taxpayers' money from the Queen's Sovereign Grant, which replaced the
Civil List when it was abolished. He is also heavily subsidised by money
from his father's £19million Duchy of Cornwall revenues.
There
is also the huge cost of police protection for the wayward Prince. He
has been rumoured to have six SAS minders, and one of his royal
protection officers reluctantly admitted that the task of minding him
has been made more difficult and also costlier over the years by Harry's
occasionally outrageous antics.
To
be necessarily blunt about all this, it has been public money — and a
great deal of it — that has been used to train Harry as an Apache
Aircraft Commander.
Prince Harry playing rugby while in Helmand - but he's turning his back on the only career he has ever had
The prince is currently single after splitting from his girlfriend of two years, Cressida Bonas, last spring
Now,
in what seems like a decision of complete illogicality, he is to turn
his back on all that expenditure, and on the only career he has ever
had, to meander off into the wilderness of an uncertain future, with no
job, no wife, and no apparent plan to help and support his grandmother,
the Queen, who continues to soldier on at the age of 89 next month.
This seems a senseless waste of a young man with proven and undoubted ability.
Harry's
inspirational spearheading of the hugely successful Invictus Games, a
Paralympic-style event for injured and disabled ex-service personnel,
showed him as a Prince with vision, compassion, flair and drive. Isn't
the time now overdue for him to put those qualities to work for the
benefit of the nation and of the Royal Family?
Isn't
it also time for him to abandon princely pranks and find a suitable
wife with whom he can at last settle down and raise a family?
His
ex-girlfriends, Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas, hardly seemed
princess-material in the way that his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, has
spectacularly proved herself to be.
Just how delighted Australians will be to welcome Harry back again seems debatable.
His
previous 'gap year' Down Under in 2003 at the age of 18 was a source of
controversy. Australian republicans, embittered by the loss of a
referendum in 1999 to replace the Queen as Australia's head of state,
were incensed that Australian taxpayers were being expected to foot a
large part of Harry's £600,000 security bill, since the Prince's own
bodyguards were to be supplemented by an elite unit of Australian
police.
Isn't
it also time for him to abandon princely pranks and find a suitable
wife with whom he can at last settle down and raise a family?
Presumably there will be similar objections and criticism during next month's visit.
Harry's
jobless state and lack of a clearly defined career also seems likely to
provide fodder for the republican movement in Britain.
His
first cousin, Princess Beatrice, elder daughter of the now beleaguered
Duke of York, has been branded a 'royal scrounger' for continuing to
live in luxury at her father's 30-room mansion, Royal Lodge, in Windsor
Great Park, and at her grace-and-favour apartment in St James's Palace,
which was given a £250,000 taxpayer-funded make-over in 2008.
Graham
Smith, head of the anti-monarchist campaign group, Republic, said of
Beatrice: 'She has the HRH title and is living off the taxpayer by using
subsidised housing.
But she's not putting the hours in (to royal duties) so she shouldn't be getting any money off the state.'
And
now Harry risks being in the same position as Beatrice. He, too, has a
grace-and-favour apartment in Kensington Palace, refurbished at a cost
of more than £1million. Like her, he has no job to speak of, and can
hardly be considered a front-line royal working to support his ageing
grandmother.
His previous 'gap year' Down Under in 2003 at the age of 18 was a source of controversy
It
would be sad indeed if the abiding affection Harry has always inspired
in the public since his mother's tragically premature death were to
erode into criticism and controversy. Yet I fear there is a real danger
that it could.
Harry,
Beatrice, and the rest of the less-than-dedicated young royals need to
study the unflagging performance of their grandmother, the Queen, and of
her 93-year-old consort, Prince Philip, who continues to support his
wife in spite of recent ill-health.
This
admirable couple, the life-tenants of the British monarchy, shirk no
duty, even at ages at which the rest of us are long retired and putting
our feet up. The Queen will never abdicate, and only death will end her
magnificent service to her country and to the peoples of the
Commonwealth.
There
is also the example of Anne, the Princess Royal, who, without fuss and
with the minimum of publicity, continues to work indefatigably to
support her parents and the monarchy.
I
was personally involved in a royal visit last year which Princess Anne
accepted with alacrity after her nephew, Prince William, had turned it
down. She made no comment on William's decision but said immediately
that she would be delighted to do it.
We're even prepared to overlook the
times when his party antics have become wildly out of hand, including
his infamous trip to Las Vegas
As
his adored mother Diana —whose will has made her younger son wealthy in
his own right — would be the first to tell him, if she were here, the
time has come for Prince Harry to confront his destiny. At 30, the time
for youthful self-indulgence has gone.
He
needs to find a wife who will support him steadfastly in the work he
was born to do. It is time for a proper career and some serious work to
justify the privileged upbringing he has enjoyed and the luxurious life
he still leads.
Harry's
massive popularity, and his deep and genuine care and compassion for
others, could now prove a vital factor in helping to keep the British
monarchy at the high level of respect and prestige to which his
grandmother's dedication has taken it. That chance lies in his own
hands.
As Captain Harry Wales, he more than did his bit in Afghanistan, where he was admired by his Army colleagues
Prince Harry, fourth in line to the
throne, is to quit the Armed Forces in June after ten years, two tours
of duty in Afghanistan, and qualifying as an Apache Aircraft Commander
Prince Harry playing rugby while in Helmand - but he's turning his back on the only career he has ever had
The prince is currently single after splitting from his girlfriend of two years, Cressida Bonas, last spring
Isn't
it also time for him to abandon princely pranks and find a suitable
wife with whom he can at last settle down and raise a family?
His previous 'gap year' Down Under in 2003 at the age of 18 was a source of controversy
We're even prepared to overlook the
times when his party antics have become wildly out of hand, including
his infamous trip to Las Vegas