In the latest twist to his never-ending saga of self-absorption, Prince Harry is having another temper tantrum over his visit to the United Kingdom this week. Harry lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Meghan Markle, and their two children. Why is Harry having second thoughts?
Put simply, because he’s a truly ludicrous individual.
More specifically, because he’s furious that the U.K. government’s RAVEC protection committee has refused to grant his family police protection for the visit. To Harry’s apparent lament, private close protection officers in the U.K. are prohibited from carrying firearms.
Harry’s concerns about his family’s personal security in the U.K. are long-standing but vastly disproportionate to the threat, hence why RAVEC rejected his request for 24/7 police protection. Unless Harry is expecting an armed ambush as his private security detail drives him down the road, his security will almost certainly be adequate.
But nothing is easy for this Apache gunship pilot turned imperious poser. A source close to Harry told The Guardian that the forlorn prince was “distraught,” adding, “[His] plans to see family, friends and visit various charitable causes close to the duke’s heart have been pulled out from under their feet at the 11th hour. He’s looking at every option to try and get the family here safely and keep them safe when they’re on the ground. If he can find a way to do that he will.”
Cry me a river. The truth? Harry can still easily travel around the U.K., confident in his family’s security. That’s because King Charles III has offered his son use of a royal residence under 24/7 police guard. According to the BBC, Harry was even offered the opportunity to stay at Buckingham Palace. The royal family says he then rejected that request before changing his mind. But by then it was too late to make staffing arrangements.
Still, there are numerous other royal residences Harry could presumably stay at to sate his security concerns. Consider Harry’s appearance at the Invictus Games for wounded warriors. This year’s event will take place in the English city of Birmingham. That’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive from London, a long way for a daily commute.
That said, Harry could surely base his family at the King’s Highgrove House estate. It’s under full-time police protection and is only a 90-minute drive, or 20-minute helicopter flight, from Birmingham. Surely satiating even Harry’s paranoia, the residence is reported to have a reinforced panic room. If Harry wants to see friends and family, he could do so at Highgrove House, or at other royal residences under police protection, or alongside royals such as his brother and father at any other location (they have full-time police protection).
All of this underlines how the real story here isn’t one of security, but rather of self-absorption. Just as when Harry appeared to invent “a near catastrophic car chase” in New York City, his whimpering here reflects only his and his wife’s penchant for demanding both absolute deference, as well as highly lucrative Netflix shows and adoring public attention — a tendency memorably lampooned by South Park.
And yet, even if Harry’s antics only annoy the rest of us, they have real consequences for his relationship with his extended family. After all, Harry’s security complaints are a major cause of friction with the king. Don’t take my word for it, take Harry’s.
Speaking last May, Harry referenced Charles’ cancer diagnosis and observed, “I don’t know how long my father has left, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff.” That macabre rhetoric speaks both to Harry’s defective moral compass and his evaporated sense of duty. Absurdly, and illustrating his less-than-profound intellect, Harry used that very same interview to protest his desire to repair relations with the royal family — relations unsurprisingly broke down when he wrote a book attacking them in 2023.
ADMITTING UKRAINE DIFFICULTY, PUTIN REJECTS PEACE AND PLEDGES ‘NOVOROSSIYA’ IMPERIUM
During President Donald Trump’s first term, the Washington Examiner argued that the U.S. should not provide a Diplomatic Security Service detail to the then-newly relocated Los Angeles resident unless the U.K. paid for it. Two months later, Trump directed as much. Harry has subsequently remained safe and well under the care of his private security team.
Considering the difficulty in attaining firearms and explosives in the U.K., the security of royal residences, and that Harry’s importance is measured mostly in his mirror, his latest complaints are plainly ridiculous.