Breakdown

by Rick Johansen

Prince Harry has been an outstanding advocate in the fight against mental ill health. Indeed, only yesterday he broke down at the WellChild awards. I hope someone is looking after Harry’s mental health but it surely isn’t that third rate apology of a journalist, Piers Morgan. Here are a few of Morgan’s choice comments about what happened to Harry:

  • Morgan was “worried” about Harry whose reaction was “unnatural”. A “weird reaction.”
  • “It doesn’t seem natural Harry to me. I’m a bit worried about him.”
  • “He seems slightly on the edge to me. I don’t know what’s going on with him.”
  • “It seems a bit concerning to me. I hope he’s got enough people around him.”
  • “It’s an odd thing to get emotional about, the fact you’ve become a dad.”
  • “It’s a difficult life, I get that. He doesn’t have to do it.’

Where do you begin with this? Prince Harry, who is part of a dysfunctional family, packed with divorcees, including his adulterous father, whose mother was hounded and stalked by the media – the likes of Morgan, in fact – and died during a police chase with the Paparazzi, who has admitted to his own struggles with poor mental health, who has married a black woman whom large sections of the popular press have deemed to be “the wrong colour” and treated her accordingly.

As ever, I see this from a very personal angle. Morgan, who is a very experienced journalist, if not a very good one, must know what he is saying here. He is not merely suggesting that Harry is not all there, he is saying that Harry is not all there. He is saying it’s not all right to not be all right. He’s saying Harry, and by logical extension everyone else, should simply bottle up his emotions. Because – and here’s the rub – when it comes to his life as a royal, “He doesn’t have to do it.” What he means is unmistakable: if he can’t shut up, go away.

Just this week, the Mail did a gushing piece on Prince William and Kate Middleton, explaining how they were the perfect royals, behaving wonderfully, setting an example how royals should carry themselves. Only a fool would fail to spot the subtext: Harry and Meghan are not the perfect royals. And did I mention that Meghan Markle was black?

It could be that Harry is unwell. It could be that Harry is just showing human emotions, those deemed by Morgan to be “weird” and “unnatural”. To my mind, it’s all but certain that there is an unofficial campaign to hound Harry and Meghan out of public life, maybe out of the country, something I have long thought to be very likely.

I like a man who shows his emotions, especially those of sadness and despair. If this is really “weird” and “unnatural”, then I’d hate to think what normal and natural look like.

Morgan is not “a bit worried about (Harry)”. He’s engaged in self-publicity and blatant egotism, caught up in his self-belief that he’s somehow special. He’s not special, he’s not even very good. I wish he’d head back to America, where his own career bombed so badly instead of Harry and Meghan. They have far more to offer Britain than he has.

You may also like