PRINCE Harry has proudly spoken about his great relationship with the Queen and his “deep respect” for her.
If that’s the case, then he would do well to show it.
Instead, the virtual-signalling Californian convert last week told his 95-year-old grandmother that he couldn’t be bothered to turn up to Prince Philip’s memorial service at Westminster Abbey.
This is an event that Her Majesty has lovingly arranged herself so she and the congregation — to include family, friends, dignitaries and representatives of the many charities and organisations with which the Duke of Edinburgh was associated — can pay their respects. But Prince Harry — who once described his grandfather as “a legend”, a man of “service, honour and great humour” — will be glaringly absent.
This is a rejection of the greatest order, made worse by the fact he gave the Queen just 15 minutes to digest the news on Friday before going public with it.
I, for one, am pleased he won’t be there. I think Harry is an attention seeker with a gigantic chip on his shoulder. The longer he stays in America with Meghan, the better.
He has failed to show his grandmother respect for some time. That Oprah interview where he and Meghan made accusations was wounding to the woman who has given her life to this country.
Harry named his daughter Lilibet in honour of her childhood name — but he hasn’t bothered to bring the little girl to even meet her great grandmother.
Surely he has noticed that the Queen is frail?
This is a woman who has had to cope with the grief of losing the husband she adored, health issues including Covid and the kind of family problems that would test the best of us.
She has been forced to pull out of some public events — such as tomorrow’s Commonwealth Day service.
But on March 29 I am sure she will do absolutely everything she possibly can to be at Prince Philip’s memorial service.
Harry will no doubt blame his security battle for his absence.
Get off his high horse
He lost his taxpayer-funded police protection when he and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020.
Harry says he doesn’t feel safe in Britain without Scotland Yard officers because privately hired bodyguards do not offer enough protection.
His offer to finance it himself has been turned down so now he’s taking legal action against the Government to allow him to pay for Metropolitan police security for him and his family when they visit the UK.
Are we really to believe that a man who served in Afghanistan is too scared to be in Westminster Abbey where, I imagine, there will be a decent amount of top-notch security on standby?
He is too pompous to get off his high horse and head home until it is resolved.
And he’s a coward who doesn’t want to be quizzed by the family he has already betrayed about his upcoming memoirs.
To really rub salt in the wound, on Friday night, after snubbing the Queen, his spokesman revealed that Harry would fly to the Netherlands three weeks after the memorial for the Invictus Games.
And a few days ago he was in Texas for a rodeo. So presumably it is only the UK with security issues.
This is a service arranged by an ailing grandmother so that everyone her husband loved can be together in one room for a celebration of his life. Harry will not get a second chance at this.
He really needs the talking-to of his life — and the Duke of Edinburgh would have been the man to give it to him.
Hollywood right up Neighbours cast’s Street
THE cast of Neighbours have started flogging video messages for as little as £7.50 to cash in before the Australian soap ends. Surely they need to stop panicking. You only need to look at the Erinsborough alumni, from Kylie Minogue to Margot Robbie, to know that it’s not all doom and gloom after Ramsay Street.
