High jinks for Harry with Diana’s naughty nephew
NExT Saturday Prince Harry will be guest of honour at the wedding in South Africa of his cousin George McCorquodale to Bianca Moore, whom George met when they worked at one of the country’s schools. It promises to be a magnificent occasion — a gathering of the Spencer and McCorquodale families, headed by George’s parents, Neil and Lady Sarah McCorquodale (nee Spencer), eldest sister of Diana, Princess of Wales — held at Netherwood in KwaZulu-Natal.
Harry, right, who will remain in South Africa for a few weeks to work on conservation projects dear to his heart, may however be hoping for slightly more than just a decent slice of wedding cake.
Recently, he reflected ruefully on the instant and intense attention endured by any girl he is photographed with. ‘If I even talk to a girl, that person is then suddenly my wife,’ he explained, adding that, in the days that follow, ‘people go knocking on her door’.
It seems that his cousin George — at 31, just a couple of months younger than Harry, and, like him, an inheritor of the Spencer ginger curls — is doing his utmost to give him some breathing space. The wedding website alerts guests that the couple have ‘chosen for our wedding to be an adult-only occasion’, and politely but pointedly states: ‘Please note: No personal photos or cellphone photography allowed.’
The bond between the cousins is unsurprising.
As children, George and his sisters, Emily and Celia, were notably close to Diana and her sons, joining the Princess and the boys for family holidays on Necker, Sir Richard Branson’s private island.
The affinity appears to endure in adulthood; indeed, in the section of the wedding website entitled ‘our story’, George describes himself as ‘a naughty boy from England’.
A description to which Harry, too, would surely like to lay claim.