Whatever else might be said about Prince Harry, he got to pull the sword from the stone. He got his day in court, his longed-for legal vindication, winning phone hacking rulings against the Mirror group. The hacked-off royal even got to witness arch-enemy Piers Morgan’s head roll into the executioner’s basket (though, characteristically, the former Daily Mirror editor failed to go quietly, accusing Harry and wife Meghan of scheming to bring down the monarchy).
For Harry, there must also be the sense of ethical, almost biblical, restoration, not least of his reputation. You felt it thrumming behind the statement read out by his lawyer outside court, hailing the ruling as a “great day for truth”. He’s been awarded £140,600 in damages. Scotland Yard hasn’t ruled out a criminal inquiry. So, what now for Harry, self-styled “dragon slayer” and would-be reformer of the British media?
Few could deny that Harry has been the most tarnished British prince of the modern era, which is saying something (two words: “Prince” and “Andrew”). First the upbringing in the regal Truman Show of pomp and privilege, and the loss of his mother, Diana (12-year-old Harry walking behind her coffin with his brother, William, in what now registers as globally televised child abuse).
Then, of course, Meghan Markle, AKA misogyny-bingo made flesh (entitled starlet, wily gold-digger – take your pick). Followed by Megxit (The Great Escape) to celebrity-stuffed Montecito, California. The exhaustively reported details of their departure (including race and mental health) don’t technically apply here: the rulings relate to earlier intrusion, and only Harry. But when it comes to Harry’s fall from media grace (his transformation to reputational roadkill; the industrial victim-blaming) the smart money is on him and Meghan.
I was among those who were wishing the Sussexes well when they left Britain, but here’s where it got tricky for their supporters. Too often, Harry came across as a thin-skinned, paranoid hot mess.
Cue the large-scale erosion of public goodwill, prompted by the Sussexes’ own actions. Delivering what amounted to Through The Buckingham Palace Keyhole to Oprah Winfrey from upmarket Californian garden furniture. The dull Netflix series (from a deal worth a reported £88m) that mainly consisted of complaining, self-soothing and monitoring their fame on his-and-hers laptops. Signing up to Spotify (another reported £16m), then losing that deal and getting labelled “grifters” by an executive.
Since then, their personal ratings have been in freefall. Even Harry’s memoir, Spare, the fastest-selling non-fiction book ever, seemed a grimy, petty read. Cast as the Prince of Wails, selling out his family for a quick buck, he was constantly savaged by bad press (sometimes deserved, but – let’s face it – it was in certain people’s interests to discredit him). Worst of all, there was the South Park episode lampooning the Sussexes’ “Worldwide Privacy Tour”, which arguably they never fully recovered from. Even now, in Harry’s moment of glory, the court threw out 18 of the 33 sample cases, pointing out his “tendency to assume” that every story written about him was obtained illegally.
So, it’s complicated. For all that, here the runaway royal is: battered, bruised, but triumphant after succeeding where so many others didn’t have the energy, will (or indeed the funds) to try. For Harry, this should be appreciated for what it is: the hard-won restoration of his good name, a reputational cleansing on a global scale.
For all the mistakes that have been made, for all the human blunders and missteps, some important things can’t be denied. He stuck to his guns. He was true to his word. He said he would fight for justice, and he did. He said he would take it all the way, and he has. It’s reported his chief aim is to reform the British media, and for now, for what may be a brief golden moment, certain sectors of the press have abruptly stopped laughing.
By anyone’s reckoning, it has been a courageous and audacious stand and, despite his wealth and privilege, one taken at great personal risk. As a royal prince, Harry, Duke of Sussex, was born into automatic status and prestige. Now not only is his reputation restored, but this time, he actually earned it.
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