The Palace Papers author Tina Brown shocked some royal analysts when she criticized a speech Prince William gave during his Earthshot Prize awards ceremony where HRH wants to start doing things with a small r for royalty.
The former Editor-in-Chief of Vanity Fair also went so far as to suggest, “The Crown needs Harry.”
Writing on her Substack, the former head of The New Yorker shared, “Despite the passing of years, there is still a gaping Harry-shaped hole in the depleted royal line-up. As a veteran of two military tours in Afghanistan and founder of Invictus, the substantive charity that brings hope through competitive sports events for injured vets, the Duke of Sussex, now stripped of his military honors, surely deserved a place on the balcony. The British nation needs his human touch and so does his ailing father.”
Not everyone was pleased with her opinion.
“What William needs is for his now parasitic brother and narcissistic wife to keep his and his family’s names out of their grifting mouths,” a commenter pointedly shared on X.
“He told reporters about his plans to ‘do things differently’ and then listed ‘impact philanthropy, collaboration, convening and helping people,'” she added about the future king’s interview while in South Africa. “In short, everything his father has been doing for the past 50 years…”
The former editor then pointedly continued, “William’s comment that his plans for a caring, sharing monarchy also include ‘throwing some empathy in there’ made him sound like a performative pinhead. In happier years, it was the irreverent Harry who could tease the Prince of Wales and take him down a peg.”
HRH told a reporter in Cape Town: “I’m trying to do it for my generation. And to give you more of an understanding around it, I’m doing it with maybe a smaller R in the royal if you like.”
The next monarch continued, “So it’s more about impact philanthropy, collaboration, convening, and helping people. I’m also going to throw empathy in there as well because I really care about what I do. It helps impact people’s lives.”
Brown concluded that King Charles III, whether his heir likes it or not, needs to take a page from his mother’s book when it comes to what is right for the Crown.
“No one would have been happier about a rapprochement than Queen Elizabeth, who took a harsh position on Megxit, but in times of crisis evolved her positions, albeit at a glacial pace, as she did when she finally allowed Prince Charles to marry his mistress in 2005. What was always paramount for her was the health of the Crown.”
It is believed that Harry and his father have “barely spoken” throughout 2024, leading to an “accidental estrangement.”
