‘The monarchy’s a rosebush, you have to cut off a head to keep it going & Harry may be one of those heads’, expert says
TENSIONS have been running high between Prince Harry and his family, particularly following his bombshell Spare memoir and Oprah interview.
But a royal expert has revealed why the Duke of Sussex stepping back from royal duties may actually be beneficial for the royal family long-term.
Writer Hugo Vickers appeared on The Times royal podcast – The Royals – with Roya and Kate – and was asked about how the monarchy maintains an “image of unity.”
The royal expert told host Roya Nikkhah, royal editor at The Sunday Times: “It’s not easy.”
He then provided a metaphor for how the royal family ensures its survival.
Hugo shared: “Tommy Lascelles, who was the private secretary during the abdication of George VI and in the early years of the Queen‘s reign, said that the monarchy is rather like a rosebush; every now and again, you have to cut off a head to keep it going.
“If you think about it through history, that is what’s happened.
“Prince Harry may indeed be one of those heads.”
Megxit reasons
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped down as senior working royals in 2020 and relocated to California, where they live in a £12million mansion with Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.
After making the announcement, Prince Harry said in a Sentebale speech in Kensington that he hoped their decision would lead to a “more peaceful” life.
He said: “What I want to make clear is: we aren’t walking away and we are certainly not walking away from you.
“Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth and my military associations but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
“I’ve accepted this, knowing that it doesn’t change who I am or how committed I am, but I hope that helps you understand what it had come to.
“That I would step my family back from all I have ever known, to take a step forward into what I hope could be a more peaceful life.”
Since stepping down, the couple have criticised the royal family via a number of outlets, including their explosive chat with Oprah Winfrey where they made a series of damning revelations, including how two royals allegedly questioned the colour of Prince Archie’s skin tone.
Then came Harry and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries, followed by Prince Harry’s Spare book.
In this he recalled an alleged altercation with his brother William which ended with him falling into a dog bowl.
Harry’s father King Charles was also in the firing line for criticism.
Harry laid into his father for not hugging him after the death of his mother, Diana, the late Princess of Wales.
He also revealed how William disapproved of Harry’s marriage to Meghan and once called her “difficult,” “rude” and “abrasive.”
Meanwhile, Harry branded Camilla the “villain” and a “wicked stepmother” and accused her of leaking stories to the media about Prince William.
The monarchy is rather like a rosebush; every now and again, you have to cut off a head to keep it going. Prince Harry may indeed be one of those heads
Hugo Vickers
Staff member quitting
It comes as Meghan and Harry lost their chief-of-staff, Josh Kettler, just days before the couple’s Colombia trip.
Kettler left his role as Harry’s fixer after only three months.
The veteran PR supremo had reportedly been brought in to “guide Harry through his next phase”.
But the staff member stepped down after three months in the role in what Team Sussex insisted was a “mutual decision.”
And a friend of Prince Harry has claimed that he “desperately wants to be admired” like William and Kate and misses his home.
A timeline of Prince Harry's family feud
TENSIONS have been running high in the royal family for a number of years.
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she’d returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he “went mental”.
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure – but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the brothers.
Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the floor” during an argument about Meghan, in his memoir.
In Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a row.
Harry alleged William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day – without seeing Wills.
In May he visited the UK for a three-day visit without seeing King Charles or Prince William.
One close friend, who claims to still receive messages from Harry, has revealed the Prince, who used to be so happy-go-lucky, is missing Britain.
As reported by The Times, an old pal of the former royal claimed he’d rather be in the UK with “everyone loving him” as Prince William and Princess Kate are.
The pal told the outlet: “He has ended up isolated from his family and most of his old mates.
“He’s an angry boy. Things haven’t turned out how he wanted.
“Anyone who knows him feels he’d rather be top of the pops here with everyone loving him, as they do with William and Kate.”