At 96 Queen is a phenomenon - no one will care about Harry when he's 96, says PAUL BALDWIN
"We talk about things that she can't talk about with anybody else" Prince Harry told NBC in a boast that will go down in royal infamy. Yes, presumably things like what an insufferable pompous buffoon you've become Harry. In terms of gobsmacking away-with-the-fairies royal delusion, it's right up there with "let them eat cake" and "I'm sure the Pope won't have a problem with me getting divorced".
Prince Harry says he’s ensuring the Queen is ‘protected’
As detached from reality as Rishi Sunak's trainers. It goes to the heart of why Prince Harry, once everybody's favourite knockabout royal precisely because he seemed to be so grounded, has become so thoroughly dislikable.
The quote is utterly tawdry.
At once manufactured to make us believe that of all the Queen's eight grandchildren he is the most beloved, then to monetize that suggestion for a credulous Netflix audience and rake in the cash.
His grubby media me-me-me pandering makes Katie Price look like a Joan Bakewell, his prickly arrogance makes John Bercow seem a national treasure, and his self-serving interpretation of the actualité makes Boris Johnson look a pillar of decency.
Truly Harry's self-delusion has reached intervention levels.
Not content with seeming to appoint himself the Queen's favourite (a role most royal insiders reckon actually rests with Princess Anne's son Peter Phillips if anyone) he then went on to appoint himself the Queen's Royal Protector.
With an audacity which left your jaw on the floor, he told NBC: "I'm just making sure that she's protected and got the right people around her."
And just where was Harry and his protectiveness when his beloved grandma lost her husband? When she was struggling with the Covid crisis? When she was being cared for by "the right people" prepared to be by the Queen's side come hell or high water?
Oh yes, he'd legged-it hadn't he? Abandoned Britain and the Royal Family for a soft new life of sunshine, celebrity and fatuous wokeness in California.
This outburst - just like the awful "racist in the Royal Family" line he sold Oprah Winfrey - left his brother William and wife Kate having to face a question from a TV journalist who shouted: "Sir, does the Queen need protecting?"
Wisely the Cambridges adopted the Queen's policy of never apologise never explain and simply blanked the reporter.
But the damage had been done.
Ultra-privileged Harry had done what he always does and made it all about ultra-privileged Harry (and of course his litany of "poor me" perceived grievances).
The fact the Cambridges had been trying to help the Disasters Emergency Committee publicise its fund total for its Ukraine appeal had passed £300 million was now lost in the fog of Harry's self-serving bilge.
Have you noticed too how Harry is starting to actually look dislikable? He seems to be physically morphing. Long gone are the carefree, slightly gormless smiles, replaced by an almost permanent scowl.
There's a faint whiff of the Bond villain, or the contemptuous sneer Jose Mourinho reserved for the press when his team wasn't doing awfully well.