Eye of the Tiger

By CAROLE MALONE19:32, Wed, Feb 22, 2023 | UPDATED: 20:08, Wed, Feb 22, 2023

He was told that if he wasn’t a working royal he wouldn’t be entitled to Met Police armed protection. So is he stupid? Is he deaf? Or is he just incapable of understanding the word “no”? It must be one of those three because he’s still demanding that protection.

In fact, the man who told us he wanted to be “financially independent” and totally responsible for himself and his family has spent £300,000 of taxpayers’ money taking legal action against the Government and the Met Police to try and change the law so that he can have armed Met protection.

How dare Harry imagine he’s entitled to this! He flounced out of this country shouting that he didn’t want to be a working royal anymore. He packed in all the responsibilities that went with being a Prince yet still he wants all the privileges of that position. The older he gets the more he behaves like a spoiled child – stamping his feet and suing people if he doesn’t get what he wants. When she was alive the Queen told Prince Harry he couldn’t be a half-in-half-out royal. Well, he chose to be an all “out” royal and the loss of his armed protection is a direct result of that. He forfeited all rights to it when he gave up royal duties and moved to California.

And why should taxpayers pay to protect a bloke who made it clear he thought the British people were racists? He cited it as one of his major reasons for leaving Britain.

Yes, he says he’s willing to pay for armed protection but the Met Police have said loud and clear they’re not guns for hire. They don’t jump to the Petulant Prince’s tune. But more important than that is the decision by the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which falls under the remit of the Home Office and which last June ruled that Prince Harry was no longer entitled to the “same degree” of security as he is now a private citizen. And that should have been an end to it. But still, Harry is banging on that he, his wife and his family are at risk when they come to Britain. Well, tell you what Harry – Don’t Come!

The fact is a majority of British people don’t want him here any more and they don’t want him because he’s made a smutty career out of trashing his family for huge sums of money. He has irredeemably hurt his Father and his brother. He has hurt, humiliated and damaged the reputation of the Royal Family on the world stage - a reputation the Queen spent a lifetime building. And he has revealed intimate family secrets that have caused deep, dark, bitter chasms that will never heal.

Worst of all he caused our dear Queen hurt and upset during his final years.

So No Harry - don’t come!

And if he is now in danger that’s 100 percent his own fault. It was him who put a target on his own back when in his tattle-tale book Spare regaled us with stories about how many Taliban soldiers he’d killed. That has very likely put him in danger. It may also have put other members of the Royal Family in danger too. But maybe he doesn’t care too much about that. If Harry needs armed protection elsewhere in the world he can hire it. But when he comes here he must obey the law which clearly states if he isn’t a working royal – he can’t have it.

Former Scotland Yard commander John O’Connor condemned Harry’s legal action saying: “To expect protection provided by the state is arrogant and irrational. “It’s only vanity anyway. He only wants protection because he thinks his importance is downgraded without it. “The taxpayer shouldn’t have to pay a single penny towards this.”

And he’s dead right. We shouldn’t. And Harry really needs to wake up and smell the coffee if he imagines he is in any way, shape or form “important” to the British people anymore. But if he really thinks his wife and children would be in danger if they came to the UK why the Hell is he even considering bringing them to the Coronation? Only a fool would willingly plunge the people they love into danger if they were certain existed.

Or is it, as ex-Commander O’Conner says, Harry’s just vain and would just feel “downgraded” without armed protection? Well, newsflash Harry - you are downgraded. And you did it to yourself.

On the rare occasions he’s been seen with the royals these last two years he’s looked like a man who no longer belongs either with his family or to this country. He looks like an outsider – which is exactly what he wanted. He’s made a new life thousands of miles away yet he seems determined to hang onto the one he threw away. Why? Is he regretting giving up the one thing that made him special – his royal status? Because while he might still be a Prince most of us don’t see or respect him as such any more.