The Duke of Sussex has released a personal essay dedicated to life in Britain, despite living thousands of miles away in the US. And one expert has revealed a hidden message for wife Meghan in the statement
Prince Harry has raised eyebrows after penning a long personal essay about life in Britain – despite living thousands of miles away after self-exiling to the States.
The duke’s powerful statement, in which he expresses deep pride in fighting for his home country, comes just before Remembrance Day – a key event in the royal calendar where senior members will be out in full force to commemorate the fallen. Harry’s love letter to the UK also comes just hours after announcing his own ‘pseudo-royal’ tour in Canada – awkwardly clashing with Prince William’s biggest royal event to date in Brazil.
Former soldier Harry undertook two frontline tours to Afghanistan and describes the privilege of serving alongside men and women from all four corners of the UK. He calls on people to remember “not only the fallen, but the living” who carry the “weight of war” and urges them to knock on veterans’ doors and “join them for a cuppa…or a pint” to hear their stories and “remind them their service still matters”.
READ MORE: Prince Harry raises eyebrows as he issues controversial statement about BritainREAD MORE: Prince Harry offers fresh ‘olive branch’ to Prince William as pair go head-to-headREAD MORE: Sarah Ferguson blew £4MILLION on ‘coat hangers and watercress’ and is now homeless
In the 647-word piece, titled “The Bond, The Banter, The Bravery: What it means to be British – By Prince Harry”, he also discusses what it’s really like to live in Britain, and gushes over the charms, quirks and characteristics of his home country. He writes: “Though currently, I may live in the United States, Britain is, and always will be, the country I proudly served and fought for. The banter of the mess, the clubhouse, the pub, the stands ridiculous as it sounds, these are the things that make us British. I make no apology for it. I love it.”
And according to one expert, the astonishing address contains a hidden message for Harry’s wife, Meghan, and reveals his true desires. Analysing Harry’s choice of words, communications specialist Judi James told The Mirror: “Ex-pat Harry writes in a style of deep nostalgia for the country he left. He sounds like so many ex-pats that retain an unrealistic, idealised memory of the country they left too, as though it has been pickled and preserved in another era that might not reflect the modern reality.
“Despite his normally constant adherence to his love of his life in the US, Harry sounds like a man still yearning for what he calls the ‘Banter of the mess, clubhouse, pubs, the stands.’
Despite this ‘yearning,’ Judi notes that Harry appears to feel apologetic about his declaration of love for his country. She says: “He sounds embarrassed by this ‘reveal’. By adding ‘ridiculous as it sounds’ he seems to be apologising to his US audience, perhaps even to his own family for this admission of nostalgia and what sounds like a sense of longing. This is an important-sounding admission too.
“Most ex-pats yearn for jars of Marmite or English tea bags, but Harry is letting everyone know, including Meghan here, that he’s missing a kind of shared, intense, complex humour that he might not be able to get in the US.”
Meanwhile, in what could be perceived as an olive branch to estranged brother Prince William, it is understood Harry released the essay this morning, to avoid overshadowing his older sibling’s landmark speech at the COP30 summit in Brazil tomorrow.
And Judi believes that there’s even a pang of longing for Harry’s brother William in his personal essay. She says: “Harry was a man who grew up and cut his teeth on banter, especially with his brother William. Interviews back in the day show their banter together was relentless and there is a suggestion that in promoting the word so strongly and emphatically here Harry is implying (perhaps subconsciously) how much he misses his older brother.
“Montecito always looks like a banter-free zone, which is why we tend to see Harry so much in his element during Invictus when he has an endless supply of ex-military heroes to exchange banter with.”
The duke’s message came as he gears up to begin a two-day visit to Toronto on Wednesday, where he will meet Canadian veterans, members of the armed forces community and military charities to mark the ‘Remembrancetide’ period which spans the two-week period leading up to Remembrance Sunday.
