It’s the poor Queen who is punished by Harry’s diva drama

I READ a story the other day about an NHS doctor who lost out on a top job because he referred to a young trainee as an ‘intelligent, happy girl’. What kind of world is it in which this is now considered some sort of insult?

LET me get this straight. Prince Harry will not be attending the memorial service for his late grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, on March 29. But he will be flying to the Netherlands in midApril to attend the Invictus Games, a sporting event for military veterans that he founded in 2014. Wow. Even by his low standards, that’s low.

Actually, why am I even surprised? If it’s a choice between doing something selfless for his long-suffering grandmother and looking after his own interests, then it’s obvious from the past few years which one this petulant Prince is going to choose. There’ll be no shortage of adoring fans to welcome him in the Hague; the reception back home might be a tad more critical. And, as we know all too well, Prince Harry doesn’t take kindly to criticism.

Harry hasn’t actually provided a reason for not attending the memorial, but his decision comes in the midst of his battle with the Home Office about the provision of his security when he does deign to visit his family in Britain.

According to his lawyers (the Prince mostly communicates through lawyers these days), he ‘does not feel safe’ in the UK. This is because the Home Office is refusing to provide bells-and-whistles police protection for him on the grounds that he no longer lives here or carries out any official duties.

As with all rich and entitled people who find themselves in the unfamiliar position of not being able to obtain exactly what they want, the Prince has offered to pay the bill. But still the Home Office has said no, on principle. The dispute is ongoing.

Intriguingly, Harry has been granted ‘exceptional’ status – which means full police protection can be provided to him on a case-by-case basis. So it’s quite possible the Home Office would have arranged security for him at Prince Philip’s memorial. In any case, most of the time he’d have been part of the Royal entourage, which is positively bristling with security.

Even if he the Home Office had said no, this whole not feeling safe assertion is absurd. It’s not like Harry would have had to stay in some cheap Airbnb in Hounslow and struggled to the service in an Uber. He’d still have access to Frogmore Cottage, which is in secure

LAST week 68-year-old grandmother Pulvinder Dhillon was killed when a van crashed into the car she was in. It had stalled on the fourth lane of the M4 near Reading. As there is no longer any hard shoulder on that stretch, there was nowhere for her vehicle to go. The expansion of these so-called ‘smart motorways’ has been suspended pending further safety data. Doesn’t the mounting death toll tell you everything you need to know?

grounds in Windsor Castle. And I’m sure he could have cadged a lift to and from the service with one of his cousins. He could even have spent a night or two at his brother’s, or his dad’s – although it might have been a little awkward, given all the things he and his wife said about them to Oprah.

Even so, I’m sure Charles and William, both skilled diplomats, would have glossed over all that for the chance to spend a bit of time with him. But this is Harry. He is such a diva, there HAS to be drama. Seriously, Mariah Carey has nothing on our Prince Harry.

Mostly, I feel sorry for the Queen. Harry being a selfish, spoiled prat is one thing, but brutally letting down a 95-year-old woman who has spent her entire life in the service of others is quite another. The British public, even those who don’t entirely agree with the Monarchy, are very fond of Elizabeth II. Over many decades, she’s demonstrated that she’s a thoroughly decent person who, quite honestly, does not deserve to be treated in such a shoddy way by her own grandson.

Whatever Harry’s reasons for saying ‘no’ to his memorial invitation, there is something deeply distasteful about it all. The same, by the way, goes for choosing a highly personal pet name for your daughter – Lilibet, the name the late Duke affectionately called his wife – but then not bothering to bring the child to meet her namesake. Lilibet is nine months old now, and no one’s seen hide nor hair of her.

Some are even starting to wonder whether she will ever visit the UK during the Queen’s lifetime. It’s almost as though they chose that name less as a gesture of genuine affection and more because it suited their purposes.

Given Harry’s latest craven decision, I really wouldn’t put that past him.