No one expected Harry to show up for his grandfather’s memorial service on 29 March 2022, but did we need an announcement from his PR team? Perhaps his ‘no show’ was an attempt to help his legal challenge against the government, where he seeks to have round-the-clock Met protection with the empty gesture of paying for it when he knows that the service is not one that can privately paid for?
Should he have shown his face (unwise under the circumstances), he would have received a frosty welcome from family members and the majority of the UK, and quite possibly ruined the event with his appearance. People rejoiced at him declaring he wasn’t going to attend, and if he had, there was a chance he would have tried to slip a camera crew in for Netflix which is as low as you can get. He would have received Met protection for the event because he was attending in an official capacity, so he had no excuse for not attending on the grounds of fearing for his life. The visit would not have been profitable, and his lawyers probably advised him to stick it out to try and convince the courts he doesn’t feel safe visiting the UK. Any person with any integrity and dignity would ‘take the risk’ if they truly were a decent human being that cared about a family member that had passed.
The announcement was for publicity it seems as less than 24 hours later, the Invictus Games released a promotional video (why do they need to promote it?) with a poorly scripted skit, where Harry tries to learn some Dutch phrases, and then strips off into the home colours of the Netherlands which is orange. It wasn’t funny, but was tacky, corny, embarrassing, and cheap.
How long did it take to shoot and to edit? The setting was in the faux Tuscan filming room again, that we are led to believe is an office. The hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed—that Harry feels it is too dangerous for him to make a private visit to the UK without full Met protection, but he feels it is not dangerous to fly to the Netherlands with minimal protection and stay there for a week, and to mingle with crowds that won’t all be vetted. The chances are is that the visit is business and for publicity—Invictus will pay for his flight and all expenses because they think his PR is worth it, and he can film footage for Netflix. Compare that to a visit to the UK where the People loathe him, and where he won’t be allowed to take his camera crew wherever he goes. Plus he would have to pay for everything himself.
Again, last weekend we saw that he visited a rodeo in Texas without full protection, mingling with the locals in a state where nearly 50% of the people own a gun and who can carry it around freely. He felt safe there it seems, and so his claim that the UK is so dangerous has fallen on deaf ears.
We are now on day 18 of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, so who knows what will happen in the next 36 days before the Invictus Games are due to be held? There could be a World War by then (I hope not, but it’s not looking good). The Ukrainians cannot attend as they must defend their country, which makes the event wrong somehow. It is not a natural disaster but an ongoing attack where the resolution will not have a good outcome.
People across Europe are helping with the Ukrainian humanitarian crisis, housing refugees, and by transporting supplies to the border countries. In the UK, people are driving vans across to Poland, packed with donations and supplies, and are even offering to bring refugees across with and to help with the paperwork. These are the actions of people with integrity and who are humanitarians who do not need credit, praise or glory. Are those with any decency really interested in an event that is now for publicity, but that now appears to be in poor taste?
Ultimately, the Invictus gig is profitable, versus his grandfather’s memorial that isn’t. Money seems to talk with the shallow Sussexes.
