Weird selfies with Z-listers and no mention of the ill Charles or Kate. This is Harry’s new life now...
OH, HARRY! How has it come to this? From a royal highness who commanded respect and affection to a celebrity trinket paraded in front of paying guests at a cheesy Hollywood awards ceremony.
The only crown I could see at Friday’s Living Legends Of Aviation gala to honour the UK’s Duke of Sussex was one made from plastic and rhinestones, and perched atop the elaborately coiffured head of Miss California. And the only other ‘royal’ present was a minor German aristocrat with the faintly ridiculous name of Prince Mario Max Schaumburg-Lippe who once appeared in a saucy internet series called Travel Boobs.
Given such a distinctly D-list gathering, no wonder the room was abuzz as the audience waited for their guest of honour to arrive – although his faded royal stardust would not be enough to save the deeply unimpressive night.
Organisers had promised that Harry would attend with wife Meghan, 42, in what had been billed as the couple’s first joint Hollywood red carpet appearance, but a PR lackey suddenly announced that Harry, 39, would be flying solo.
It was later reported that Meghan had not gone because one of their two children was sick. Perhaps a wise move by the image-savvy former actress considering so many of us were wondering: ‘What on Earth is Harry doing here?’
With his father about to undergo prostate surgery and his sister-inlaw Kate in hospital for an abdominal problem, the Harry of old would surely have taken such a high-profile opportunity to publicly wish them both good health.
Of course, he may have done so in private but the omission here was as painful as a wasp sting. Instead, here was a man mingling with some of Hollywood’s most frivolous personalities and being garlanded by sycophants with yet another meaningless bauble at a €1,300-a-head event that was so lacklustre that one elderly attendee admitted he slept through most of it. One woman, who regularly attends this event, told me: ‘We all assumed that Harry would get up on stage and say something kind about his father and Kate, before going into his acceptance speech. But he didn’t say a word about them, which was weird.’
Instead, he managed to embarrass an actual Hollywood A-lister in front of the entire room. Harry was presented with his so-called Living Legend of Aviation award by actor and licensed pilot John Travolta, 69. In his introductory speech, Travolta referred to his famous dance with a 24-year-old Princess Diana in 1985. But when receiving the award, Harry responded to Travolta’s nostalgia with a rather awkward joke, saying: ‘I was just a one-year-old when you danced with my mum, as you’ve told everybody here and continue to dine out on that probably every single night.
‘But look at us now!... If we’re not going to dance together, we’ll fly together.’
The Grease star had been encouraged to approach Diana by then US first lady Nancy Reagan during the princess’s visit to the White House. At the time, Travolta said Diana reacted with the ‘bashful dip of her chin that she did, and she looked up at me and I said, “Would you care to dance?” and she said, “Yes.”’ Afterwards, Travolta said it felt like a fairytale. ‘It was a storybook moment. We bowed when it was over and she was off, and I was off, and my carriage turned into a pumpkin.’
Before dinner, Harry posed for selfies with Prince Mario Max, whose website boasts connections stretching back to William of Orange, making him a very, very distant cousin of King Charles III.
His own achievements include dating one of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, taking roles in horror movies, and appearing on Celebrity Big Brother. He immediately posted a photo on social media, attracting comments including: ‘So cringe. Two irrelevant middle-aged men without serious pursuit using their titles to grift in superficial Hollywood,’ and ‘I’m embarrassed for both of you. This must be a joke.’
If Harry is going to spend the rest of life on the D-list celebrity carousel, he would be well-advised to avoid as a role model Prince MarioMax, whose social media feeds seem to be an endless series of selfpreening photos and videos. Speaking about meeting Harry, he said: ‘We had a personal conversation and he was fabulous, very humble, very sweet. It filled me with joy.’
Whether Harry really is a ‘living legend of aviation’ is also up for debate. While he completing two tours of Afghanistan as a forward air controller and an Apache helicopter pilot, former British navy chief Alan West had poured scorn on the accolade, saying: ‘He is not a living legend of aviation. To suggest he is is pathetic.’
Accepting his award, Harry spoke of his pride in his military career – and as he did, I found it impossible to avoid thinking that, perhaps, it might finally be dawning on Harry that trashing his family for Netflix’s millions and leaving behind a life of service in the UK for a ‘career’ pandering to the whims of rich Americans might have been too high a price to pay.
When he spoke about his ‘old’ life, it felt meaningful and honest in a way so many of his Hollywood psycho-babble interviews and his kamikaze memoir Spare have not. He said: ‘Flying taught me the power of discipline, the power of patience and, beyond that, the power of trusting your gut.’
These emotive words triggered an obligatory standing ovation from the audience which including Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez, 54, who was also being hailed as a living legend for her work as a helicopter pilot who runs a company offering aerial filming. Trailed by her own TV crew, she was dressed in a black, strapless, fitted gown and wore her engagement ring, reportedly worth €2m, over gloves.
One guest commented that Harry might be lining up Bezos, the world’s third richest man, for when the $100m (€91m) deal he and Meghan have with Netflix expires next year. It was a valid point as the couple have yet to prove themselves properly in Hollywood, with their efforts attracting no little ridicule.
Meghan’s podcast deal with streaming service Spotify has ended, they were lampooned on the TV show South Park and the Hollywood Reporter, considered Tinseltown’s ‘bible’, recently wrote: ‘In 2020, the royal duo fled a life of ceremonial public service to cash in their celebrity status in the States.
‘But after a whiny Netflix documentary, a whiny biography and an inert podcast, the Harry and Meghan brand swelled into a sanctimonious bubble just begging to be popped.’
A shambles to pop Harry’s sanctimonious bubble...