I simply cannot get enough of the British media fuming over Prince Harry’s sudden appearance in London this week. It’s turned into one of the “scandals” of the week – how dare Harry fly into the UK without telling them! How dare he steal King Charles’s Roman thunder! I am giggling at every single one of these articles and commentary pieces. The royal rota is especially mad, because they had to go to Rome to Charles and Camilla, thinking that they were just going to cover an ancient king and queen staggering around for four days. They would have stayed home if they had known Harry was flying in! Even more hilarious is that Charles’s courtiers are now briefing “the poor cancer-stricken king just wanted all of the attention to be on HIM for once” stories to friendly journalists like Richard Kay at the Daily Mail. This is too funny:

Even the most swivel-eyed of Prince Harry’s devoted fans must have been taken aback by the timing. Just as King Charles stood stiffly to attention in the Rome sunshine for the official welcome marking his first visit as monarch to Italy, the historic moment was being overshadowed by the arrival of his son at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Harry was in town for the last roll of the dice in his battle to win back official police protection for him and his family whenever they are in the UK. He was appealing against a judge’s ruling that the decision to downgrade his security was neither unlawful nor unfair.

What an irony, then, that this unheralded appearance – slipping unseen into Britain as he has done on frequent occasions over the duration of this and his many other legal cases – seemed to undermine his very argument that it is not safe for him to travel within the land of his birth. There was no publicity of his departure from the US and his presence in London was only confirmed after his arrival.

But what an outrage that the scene-stealing should come at the expense of his cancer-stricken father. If ever there was a more convincing demonstration of the two faces of royalty, this was surely it. As the Mail reveals today, just hours before embarking on the four-day state visit to Italy the King was in hospital for scheduled cancer treatment. He flew by helicopter from Highgrove, his home in Gloucestershire, to London, landing at Kensington Palace from where he was driven to hospital. There was no question of this hindering or even preventing the royal trip. When the treatment was completed, and after a period of recuperation, he returned to the Cotswolds before flying to Rome on Monday.

Yesterday, watching a joint flypast by an Italian aerobatic team and the Red Arrows, the King was the very example of selfless duty as he and Queen Camilla undertook a raft of official engagements alongside Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella.

And Harry? A 5,000-mile flight for a courtroom appearance that left some questioning the need for him even to be there. It was at the very least ‘a distraction’, a figure close to the King said.

Others were less circumspect. ‘Quite unnecessary,’ said one. ‘What was he thinking of?’

Over the past five years Prince Harry has said or written many outrageous and bizarre things about his family, the monarchy and the media. But however ill-advised his outpourings have been, there has always been a glimmer of hope that the door was never completely closed and a reconciliation with loved ones, however remote, was still possible. His conduct over the past few days is beginning to suggest otherwise. Officials already anxious that the Harry grievance show was once again upstaging the diplomacy of an important bilateral visit were understandably reluctant to say whether or not a request had been made by him to see King Charles.

‘It is an unwritten rule that when the monarch is on an official overseas visit, the rest of the family have a duty to avoid anything that grabs the limelight,’ says a courtier. ‘Has Harry forgotten everything about royal life?’

[From The Daily Mail]

These courtiers are SO SALTY!! “Has Harry forgotten everything about royal life?” As Charles has made abundantly clear over the past five-plus years, Harry and Meghan were pushed out of royal life and full-time royal work. If the Sussexes pointedly do not receive the respect, protection or security of “royalty,” why would they bother to follow the “unwritten rules?” Note that in Kay’s full column, he basically says that “Harry flying to London to appear in court” has done irreparable damage to Harry and Charles’s relationship or the hope for reconciliation between father and son. Which is also funny/sad because… Charles refuses to speak to Harry while Harry’s security fight is ongoing. They can’t even get their stories straight about whether Charles knew Harry would be in London, or if Harry requested to see his father.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.