The other family Harry’s forgotten

WHEN the Prince formerly known as Harry decided to leave the Royal Family, the country and Canada – in that order – for a life of luxury he said he was “taking a leap of faith” as he found space for the next chapter of his own family’s life.

All very laudable, and having exited Canada with a speed that wouldn’t disgrace Usain Bolt, that wish has to have been made more tolerable by the fact he is now to be found in an $18million hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills, complete with eight bedrooms and 12 bathrooms, loaned to him by actor and producer Tyler Perry.

This part of California was possibly chosen to help Meghan develop her acting career as it is so close to Hollywood, and she’ll be regularly rubbing shoulders with the great and good of the movie world.

Not that any of that seems to have “rubbed” off on her, as her attempts to launch her profile into the stratosphere are currently restricted to providing the voiceover for a documentary about elephants.

Now in self-imposed exile just five miles from that world-famous Hollywood sign, Harry chooses to give us all a lecture about what he sees as the problem of racism that is at the core of the Commonwealth.

In an online chat with young leaders from the organisation he said “there is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past”. If you’d care to brush up on your history, Harry, you’ll see the Commonwealth was only founded in 1949, it is a voluntary organisation so no nation is compelled to join, most leaders who attend the conferences are black or Asian and membership is at its highest, 54.

Hardly the oppressive days of the Empire or Raj is it, Harry? Another puzzle: if he finds the whole idea so problematic, how come two years ago he was happy to take on the role as the Queen’s Commonwealth Ambassador?

A month later, his bride-to-be’s veil, right, was embroidered with flowers from every nation in the group. He and Meghan also chose an event celebrating the Commonwealth for their final official engagement in Britain in March. As bagpipes swirled and flags fluttered, the pair seemed happy at Westminster Abbey for the Commonwealth Service, attended by the Queen.

But last week Harry talked of there being “much more still to do” about admitting the errors of the past and Meghan wittered about something to do with raising

■ issues on both a “macro and micro” level. Perhaps there was too much almond milk in her venti, quadruple shot, half caff, nonfat chai latte that morning – but that put the la la in La La Land for sure.

The idea that the Empire was all bad has never worked for me. There were egregious aspects but anything that spans the globe is going to have problems. The kinship and unity were a plus and have continued with a founding mission statement being the need for “a touch of healing”. Harry’s grandmother, the Queen, has taken on (and seen off) at least two prime ministers who sought to denigrate the Commonwealth. During the 1960s Harold Wilson’s attempt to relegate the post of secretary-general was slapped down and in 1973 she defied Edward Heath and attended a summit in Ottawa he’d tried to block.

It’s ironic, isn’t it, that given two-thirds of the Commonwealth population is under 30, it is the 94-year-old Queen who gets its importance rather than her grandson.

*Did you work out the Scrabble word? It was “cobblers” and could be worth 52 points on some parts of the board!

Picture: SIMON WALKER/HM Treasury SO THERE is such a thing as a free lunch! Chancellor Rishi Sunak splurged £30billion on a bounce-back mini-budget which means the Government is standing everyone a drink, as well as cutting VAT, spending vast sums trying to help get young people into work, and also preventing employers getting rid of other staff. While it still seems weird that we can go to the cinema, pub and restaurant but we can’t go to the theatre, the direction the Chancellor mapped out last week makes sense. There is, however, one giant, all-encompassing cloud on the horizon. If there is a second wave in the winter, all the financial stimulus on the planet will not be enough to get us, or the world, through. Accomplished as he undoubtedly is, Mr Sunak must realise he is not the sole master of his destiny.