Prince William and Prince Harry unveil a statue they commissioned of their mother Princess Diana, on what would have been her 60th birthday, in the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace, London. Video / PA via AP
OPINION:
Prince Harry may not be the brightest spark but surely he can see how hypocritical his latest venture appears?
"I'm writing this not as the Prince I was born but as the man I have become," Harry said, in the statement about his new autobiography … with the sign-off:"Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex".
In that one sentence, he encapsulated what many have come to see as the spirit of Harry and Meghan: have your cake and eat it.
To recap, the Sussexes withdrew from royal duties and yet tried unsuccessfully to hold on to their Sussex Royal brand. Prince Harry attacked the press for invasion of his private life. Yet he felt comfortable enough to invite Oprah Winfrey into his backyard – and James Corden on a double-decker tour of LA – to give his side of the story, slanted – so it appeared – against the Royal Family. As the Daily Star claimed, on its front page at the time, "Publicity-shy couple to tell all to Oprah."
The longer this goes on, many of us long to tell Harry, the more ridiculous it looks.
Even with the end of the Sussex Royal brand, Harry seems determined to persist with this idea that now he is his own man: a private self-made individual. But, it seems so obvious to everyone else, he would not be that man or have the success, coverage and money he's got, without having been born a prince. Or, for that matter, still calling himself a prince – and the Duke of Sussex.
For example, it is clear that it is only as a prince that Harry secured the reputed $20m book deal with Penguin Random House. If he were plain Harry Smith – a Brit living in LA and working at a startup – he would be of no interest to the publishing world.
It's hard not to conclude that the Sussexes seem to want all the trappings of royalty with none of the boring bits. Just look at the Oprah interview and how concerned the Duchess seemed to be with the lack of a princedom for Archie – not to mention her clear worry at their current lack of security, previously available while they were on royal duties.
It's difficult not to wonder what Peter Cook would have made of them. In Not Only… But Also, his 1960s series with Dudley Moore, Cook parodied the famous recluse, Greta Garbo. Dressed up as Garbo, he took to the top of a double-decker and shouted at passers-by, through a megaphone, Garbo's supposed catchphrase, "I want to be alone."
The difference was Garbo wasn't a hypocrite: she did want to be alone. She retired from films at the age of 35 and lived till 84 in near-complete seclusion.
Harry and Meghan could have done the same. If they'd retired to a life of quiet domesticity in LA – as many of us assumed they wanted at first – they'd have eventually slipped into obscurity, after the initial fuss died down.
Instead, the pair are barely off our screens, airwaves and now bookshelves. Hardly a week goes by without some new Sussex media venture being announced, from those megabucks deals with Netflix and Spotify to last weekend's announcement of a family-focused cartoon series for Netflix, called Pearl.
The book's cover had her name as "Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex". Photo / Getty Images
The duchess, its executive producer, said: "Like many girls her age, our heroine Pearl is on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to overcome life's daily challenges."
Certainly, she must be hoping Pearl does a lot better than her children's book, The Bench, which came out earlier this year – and struggled to sell in British bookshops.
The book's cover had her name as "Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex".
In strict etiquette terms, that's wrong. She can be the Duchess of Sussex or Meghan – but, as long as she's married to Harry, she can't be both.
Still, by using both names, Meg gets all the intimate friendliness she wants to signal to potential buyers, while retaining the status that goes with being a duchess.
The problem is that, so far, the Sussexes haven't revealed much solid broadcasting or literary talent. The mass attention they crave only goes with royal revelations of the sort they poured out to Oprah Winfrey.
But, when it comes to royal gossip, the Sussexes are feeding off dwindling resources. Living in LA, thousands of miles from Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, they are getting decreasing access to the heart of the royal action.
Harry is said to be keen to get back to Britain for a royal christening, attended by the Queen, for Lilibet Diana, his newborn daughter. That would make for a nice, uplifting last chapter in the autobiography – and perhaps be an ideal moment to close the book on the couple's busy publicity schedule, too.
