FOR years, Prince Harry was the most loved member of the Royal Family.

Why does he insist in throwing that love back in our faces?

Everyone wanted to take his American wife Meghan — and baby son Archie — to their hearts, but everything he does now seems engineered to push us away.

After restricting pictures of Archie since his birth in May, it is now rumoured that the royal couple will not even allow photos of him arriving in South Africa later this month.

All this comes on top of a fallout with William and Kate, excessive spending of public money on their Frogmore House and the hypocrisy of zooming around the world in private jets, pausing only to deliver a barefoot lecture at Google’s eco camp in Sicily, where Harry piously moralised about climate-harming behaviour.

Now, hot on the heels of the couple hiring a firm of Hollywood publicists, Harry has pulled off an almost unimaginable feat by shoving his tarnished uncle Prince Andrew off the news pages with an embarrassing press conference in the Netherlands on Tuesday where he claimed he took all these private jets to protect his family.

Looking at the endless criticism, he probably cursed the people he now sees as his enemy — the British media.

But Harry should follow his mother Diana’s mantra and keep your enemies close.

That is how I came to spend time with her shortly before her death in 1997.

I had written an article she considered wrong and inaccurate so she invited me to her apartment at Kensington Palace for what she called, “a girlie chat”.

Looking at the endless criticism, he probably cursed the people he now sees as his enemy — the British media. But Harry should follow his mother Diana’s mantra and keep your enemies close.

Her way of dealing with “the enemy” was to invite them into her home, flatter them and make them your supporter.

Diana was one of the most media savvy women in the world and she knew no one would be able to resist one of her invitations.

She knew we would feel obliged to put her opinion across if we had spent some time with her.

SIMPLY LUDICROUS

I was not the only one to enjoy this privilege. In the years after her separation from Prince Charles she invited Piers Morgan, Jeremy Paxman and a host of others to lunch at KP.

It always worked. We were all charmed by Diana and her disarming way of putting her point across.

Contrast that to how Harry fell into a trap this week when he tried to explain his use of private jets.

He should have realised the first question from journalists, who have become hostile because of his own attitude, would be how he had travelled to the Netherlands to launch his latest green project.

Rather stupidly, he did not take one of the ten or so trains that go from London to Amsterdam every day but instead went by air.

No doubt he imperiously overruled his well-paid advisers who suggested he took take the Eurostar.

A bit of humility in Holland would have gone some way to making him the brave, popular prince he once was.

If the Duke of Sussex had apologised for using private jets like other people use taxis, and said it was unwise in the circumstances, he could have diffused the situation.

But to claim he used them to protect his family was simply ludicrous.

A bit of humility in Holland would have gone some way to making him the brave, popular prince he once was.

Princess Diana regularly used commercial flights and Prince Charles still does — accompanied by royal protection officers.

It was only when Diana made the decision to dump her royal protection and relied on Mohamed Al Fayed’s security teams that her life was put in mortal danger.

What’s more, I’m sure Diana would tell him to stop using LA speak, rambling on in interminable paragraphs, and to be plain and come to the point.

Above all, be humble. Don’t take the moral high ground.

Yet Harry has always rushed in without considering the consequences, unlike his brother William, who is now regarded as someone with statesmanlike qualities.

If Harry and Meghan slowed down and took things more gently — instead of this frantic grappling for approval and attention — they might win public support.

Their new office at Buckingham Palace, where their latest charitable foundation is now based, has started to send out long missives about what and how they are doing things, instead of issuing a simple “ops note” like the rest of the royals do.

MAKE FRIENDS

As Prince Charles has said, Harry and Meghan have the whole of their lives to help the world. It doesn’t have to be achieved all at once.

The Prince of Wales always said we would get to know and like Camilla if he didn’t force her down our throats, and he was right.

We have not seen enough of this from Meghan. She can’t resist telling us what she thinks and how she is going to lead her life, and all the while hanging on to Harry as if she is about to fall into an abyss.

Where did it all go so wrong so quickly? Harry was never going to bow to convention, but he keeps putting his neck in the noose.

MOST READ IN OPINION

Later this month Harry, Meghan and Archie will travel to Africa with a big Press corps.

They should heed Diana’s example, and despite Harry’s obvious dislike of the media, he should smile and make friends with the main protagonists, however distasteful he might find it.

After all, the public reserve of goodwill towards this pair may be enormously generous — but it is also finite.

• Ingrid Seward is editor in chief of Majesty Magazine

Source: Read Full Article