This time last year, the royal commentators and reporters were still convinced that Prince Harry would come crawling back to the UK, minus Meghan and Archie, and beg them all for forgiveness. They had elaborate theories about how this would happen and how Harry would “come to his senses” once some time had passed. While they were working on that fan fiction, they devised punishments for Harry – he should be forced to pay back the money he “owes” on Frogmore Cottage, he should lose his military titles, he should be banned from the country, he should lose his HRH. Well, we all know what happened and from the looks of things, Harry has zero interest in coming back there for anything other than a brief visit or to attend a funeral. So instead of continuing their fantasies of Harry begging to come back, those same commentators are trying to pretend that Harry is somehow in desperate need of reconciliation with his father and brother. Yeah, that ship has sailed too, but I guess it’s all these people have.

Don’t hold your breath for a sitcom-style kiss-and-make-up moment between Prince Harry and his father, Prince Charles, royal expert Robert Jobson says.

“If we’re talking about building bridges, I can’t see many bridges being built whilst [Harry] wants to live it all out in the public domain,” Jobson tells Page Six. “I think that he does seem to want to capitalize, or cash in, on his discomfort — or what he claims to be his discomfort … How can a father build a relationship with his son if everything they say or will say is in public for commercial enrichment?”

In the new Apple TV+ docu-series, “The Me You Can’t See,” Harry slammed his dad over his parenting, saying he “suffer[ed]” as a child and revealing that his family attempted to thwart him and wife Meghan Markle’s so-called “Megxit” — even when his wife felt suicidal.

Jobson, author of “Prince Philip’s Century,” stressed that he admires what Harry has done to raise awareness about the issue of mental health. But he doesn’t understand how Harry, who is about to be a father for a second time, continually criticizes his father, especially so soon after his grandfather’s passing.

“There’s a bit of disrespect regarding his grandfather, which hasn’t gone unnoticed on this side of the pond,” he noted. “To continually blame your childhood — which is of course what we all do — but do you have to air it in public? Most people go see a shrink and it’s between them and the shrink, not between them and 50 million people.”

Jobson, who has also penned books about Princess Diana and Prince Charles, wonders how far Harry will continue to go — and to what end.

“How much more navel-gazing can he possibly do? To what effect, what is the impact he’s trying to achieve? Is it the end of the monarchy? What does he want?” Jobson asks.

[From Page Six]

I’ll admit something bad (I guess): I was actually really worried that The Me You Can’t See would come across as navel-gazing too, that it would be a series of “woe is me” stories from rich, privileged people. But it’s not that at all. There are all kinds of stories highlighted, from a refugee child of war, to a college athlete with depression, to a young woman dealing with schizophrenia and on and on. It’s showing solutions for how systems – colleges, businesses, refugee advocacy groups – can build better mechanisms to become more helpful and compassionate to people in need of counseling, therapy or simply someone to talk to. My point is that if this is some kind of get-rich-quick scheme for Prince Harry, I kind of think he could find much easier ways to make money. He might actually give a sh-t about helping people and using his own story to do it.

As for Charles being reticent to reconcile with Harry… my guess is that it’s the other way around. I think William, Charles and the rest of ‘em don’t understand how Harry is waiting for them to apologize and figure their sh-t out. And this whole “Harry should never talk about any of this publicly” is the very reason he’s doing it. He’s tired of mental health issues being stigmatized by repressed old men like Jobson and his father.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN and Backgrid.