Is Prince Harry’s Caribbean tour coming across as sort of decadent & silly?

Here are some photos from Prince Harry’s tour of Caribbean commonwealth nations. Can I just say? Harry needs to NOT tuck his shirt into his boxers. I think the issue here is that Harry has lost some weight in the past few months especially, and his old clothes are sort of slouchy on him. But the shirt-tucked-into-boxers thing makes me think Harry has sex with his socks on. Maybe this new, thinned-out look was sort of inevitable – many people lose the “baby fat” in their faces once they hit their 30s, and that seems to be happening with Harry as well. His face looks so thin all of a sudden! And in half of the photos from this trip, you can see how much hair he’s lost. Yikes. Maybe that’s why he’s rushing things with Meghan Markle: Harry wants to make it down the aisle while he’s still sort of pretty.

Meanwhile, this tour is sort of coming at a bad time. Harry left England on the heels of the news that taxpayers would be footing the bill for the $460 million renovation of Buckingham Palace. Seeing as how Harry’s Caribbean tour was billed as a “fun” tour with the most likeable royal figure, the whole thing is coming across as rather superficial and decadent. Harry is actually encountering some bad press and there are negative op-eds being written in Britain, although most of it is really just because of the bad news about Buckingham Palace.

There is one thing that Prince Harry is being hammered on though. There are several op-eds and stories about how Harry needs to offer a formal apology – from the royal family – for the royal family’s participation in the slave trade. That’s not the kind of thing Harry can just decide to do on his own though – it would be a choice of the government and about a million advisors, and there would have to be a choice made that Harry is the right person to deliver the apology. So, no, I don’t think it’s going to happen.

In lighter news, Harry apparently turned bright red when an official in Antigua made a joke about how Harry should return to the country on his honeymoon with Meghan Markle.

Photos courtesy of Getty.

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72 Responses to “Is Prince Harry’s Caribbean tour coming across as sort of decadent & silly?”

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  1. Pri says:

    I see he resembles Charles a lot more now.

  2. Joy says:

    He looks like a ginger Prince Charles in that last pic.

  3. G says:

    I don’t think it’s silly or decadent. Harry is doing a great job, he is likeable as always, is not afraid to try things like gutting a fish. What I don’t like is the press focus.
    His hair has been thinning for years, hardly News.

  4. Melly says:

    He’s so cute and charming. How can he get bad press but Kate and Will can still get good press? After W&K’s 500,000 trip to Canada, this trip is going to be much cheaper by comparison.

  5. amanda says:

    He is looking very much like Charles and Philip. Bummer.

  6. minx says:

    I think the whole idea of “royalty” is completely decadent and silly anyway.

    • addie says:

      It is, and unjustifiable in any society purporting to be a meritocracy. Harry plays a good game and is more convincing than his sulky brother, but ultimately, what do these tours achieve? Not much. There seem to be a succession of staged events for no apparent reason. They cost the host countries money that could be better spent on their citizens. The ‘royals’ (what a silly term) need to be retired. If we are to look up to anyone, surely it should be to people of real achievement, not those who are unexceptional and have earned nothing.

  7. littlemissnaughty says:

    Well, aren’t many of these tours sort of unnecessary? I get that people are riled up over the crazy renovation costs (I would lose it, frankly) but come one. Also, no, he cannot apologize on behalf of anyone for the slave trade. An apology needs to come from the top, anything else is just embarrassing.

    • Hazel says:

      ITA. And on a superficial note, he’s gotten awfully skinny. Might have resulted from his recent trip to Africa, working with the elephants. Or he’s adopted his crazy SIL’s eating habits.

  8. Kate says:

    Harry looks thinner lately, but he also looks healthier. Last year he looked bloated around his SA tour. Harry’s charm is not affected by his hair so no worries.

  9. Casey says:

    Yeah, this trip has been…different. The trending #NotMyPrince, the lack of respect shown by the PM of Antigua, the dodgy press, residual bad feeling from the Meghan letter. Though I am a fan of Harkle (Harry+ Meghan Markle).

    Here’s hoping he can turn it around and let the Ginger-shine lit up a tricky time.

    • Kitty says:

      I agree this tour hasn’t been that good at all has it. I think The Queen is not amused with the whole Meghan thing overshadowing this tour. I think they will break up.

    • notasugarhere says:

      I think HM would be thrilled about a possible granddaughter-in-law who is interested in charity work and knows how to work for a living. Don’t suspect she has any problem with Markle or her profession.

      Tour is two days in. I don’t think the final call on whether or not it will be successful can be known yet.

      Harry is losing out right now for several reasons.

      The press is mad at him because he hid Markle for 6 months and they’re playing catch-up.

      A pile of Harry fans are mad because he’s dating someone besides them.

      The people at large are furious about the BP renovations, and Harry always makes a good target for general royal-related spleen venting.

      7 countries, 2 weeks, 40+ engagements. Not as good as Charles, but a lot more than W&K do on their tours. Like his brother, he needs to put away the casual pants and baggy shirt, and start dressing like a grown-up doing business. Charles could have recommended a good tailor for some nice summer-weight suits.

      • Alix says:

        Much as I do love HM, she is of the generation that I don’t think (yes, even in 2016) would look kindly on a granddaughter-in-law who is biracial and, most scandalously, divorced. Clearly she has no big problem with family members who are lazy and chronically work-averse, so Meghan’s get-up-and-go attitude probably wouldn’t win her many points.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Most of HM’s family work at their jobs, so I imagine she’d like someone of Harry’s generation to actually work. Goodness knows, W&K never will.

        Three of HM’s children are divorced; she doesn’t get to be miffed about Markle’s divorce when she lets her kids go on their merry ways after divorcing. The two who remarried? They married the people they were having affairs with while they were married to their first spouses. The third openly keeps around the most embarrassing, hanger-on former royal spouse on record.

        Whenever he chooses to marry, whomever it is, he’ll get a title. She’ll get a title. Their kids will be titled and in the succession. HM is 90. Philip is 95. Whatever imagined problems people think up about Harry’s choice and his grandparents? It isn’t going to matter for much longer as they won’t be with us.

      • Lady D says:

        The Queen Mother (is that a title?) lived to be 101. Elizabeth could conceivably reign for another 5-6 years or more. Poor Charles might be 73 and ready for retirement before he gets the crown.

      • notasugarhere says:

        Queen Mum was a soused-much-of-the-time merry widow. Bless her heart, she was mostly pickled by the end. I don’t think HM will last long beyond Philip, and I do not expect Philip to live many more years.

        “Wouldn’t it be terrible if you’d spent all your life doing everything you were supposed to do, didn’t drink, didn’t smoke, didn’t eat things, took lots of exercise, all the things you didn’t want to do, and suddenly one day you were run over by a big red bus, and as the wheels were crunching into you you’d say ‘Oh my god, I could have got so drunk last night!’ That’s the way you should live your life, as if tomorrow you’ll be run over by a big red bus. ” Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

      • Lady D says:

        Didn’t know that about the Queen Mum. Good for her, glad she enjoyed herself.

  10. Sixer says:

    I haven’t bought a newspaper other than the FT in ages and am boycotting the Fail’s website. This means if it isn’t on the Channel 4 or BBC news bulletins and it isn’t in the FT, which royal stories aren’t, I won’t see it.

    No Harry tour on the TV news. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Usually, we’d have endless, puke-inducing sycophantic coverage, at least from Auntie. But of course, if he’s getting a hard time over post-colonial reparations and the like, I suddenly realise why nobody’s mentioning it on television!

    Tough cookies Harry. You’ll just have to suck it up.

    • Digital Unicorn (aka Betti) says:

      To be fair – Willy’s Vietnam trip last week got even less.

      • Sixer says:

        He did make it onto a BBC clip lasting about 30 seconds. (I have BBC News on in the background when I’m working).

        But yes: not much unctuosity about that either.

    • Alix says:

      Forgive my ignorance, Sixer: what’s the FT?

      • Solanacaea (Nighty) says:

        FT – Financial Times

      • Sixer says:

        Yes, Financial Times. Best newspaper left in Britain since the tabloids went bonkers and the broadsheets decided comment rather than investigative or date-driven reporting was the answer to falling circulation.

        You guys on here often point out that UK TV news is better than American TV news. But certainly American newspapers are better than British ones.

      • Lady D says:

        Just checked the FT out, Sixer. Thanks for the info, I’m always interested in new papers to read. Some time ago, back when the war on Iraq started, I was reading The Stars and Stripes, Iraqi edition, but I had to stop after awhile. The classified ads were full of soldiers looking for a home for their dogs. They were being shipped home and for whatever reason, weren’t taking their pets with them. It was heartbreaking the amount of pets being abandoned.

      • TotallyBiased says:

        Lady D–it’s because officially those legs didn’t exist. We weren’t authorised to have pets of any kind, and troops were especially instructed to not adopt any of the many stray dogs around.
        But asking Joe to NOT feed and adopt dogs that are cuddling them, cheering them up, and in some cases saving their lives, would be like asking them not to breathe.

  11. JA says:

    I have never been atttacted to gingers mainly due to limited interactions/viewing of them but OHH MY GOD that beard and basically everything about him. Even skinny with less hair ..lay your weary head HERE Harry!!! 😉

  12. Catherine says:

    Honestly, I think we are all in terrible moods due to the election. It’s hard to watch other people laugh and have fun right now. If my beloved Prince Harry can’t cheer me up? We are in bad shape. Don’t worry, boo! We will be back in formation after four years or so. After I work my fingers to the bone filing suits on behalf of the ACLU.

    Also. I think it was very generous of the Queen to order up renovations now rather than leaving them for unpopular Charles to do. She’s taking the hit. Just my opinion.

    • addie says:

      The Queen has been allocated money for decades to keep BP in good repair; she diverted the funds to undisclosed, personal accounts. There was a scathing Treasury report from 2012, taking her ‘advisors’ to task for not seeing this money spent on what was meant to be done. So, no, Queenie is not being generous. She has seen the place go to ruin and could not care less. it’s just reached a pivotal point now. Effectively, the British public is paying twice for the renovation work – millions now, with millions over decades diverted. Incredibly corrupt and no transparency.

  13. Ladyhands says:

    Lol to the socks on during sex comment. A friend of mine was on the security team during the invictus games and she said he never takes his socks off from what she saw.

  14. joannie says:

    Wow! I didnt realize how much hair he has lost. Too bad! I think its really hard for some guys when they lose their hair. I was the go to wig person in the cancer clinic where I volunteered. Some of the men had a harder time with going bald than the diagnosis itself. Women too. Fucking cancer!

    • Alix says:

      But Harry’s still keeping his looks. When William went bald, his hotness immediately went down the drain. (And lest ye forget, he was HAWT back in the day; check out his official 21st-birthday pix.)

    • lol says:

      I thought it was worse for women.

  15. Em' says:

    Prince Hot Ginge has lost his mojo with his kilos.

    WTF happened ? Last time I checked he was making me feel all sorts of wonderful things. It makes me sad.

  16. rose says:

    I don’t know about you guys But I still would!

  17. Sage says:

    He looks more and more like Charles as he ages…That’s not good thing.

    I wish he took care of his hair situation the minute he started balding. I’m also over the beard. He just looks unkept.

  18. ClaireB says:

    Harry is not doing it for me, this time, I’m afraid. He’s been Trumped.

    I’m sure he could have afforded some new shirts and trousers that fit properly, so he didn’t look like he was coming off a two-day bender and just threw on whatever clothes he found on the floor. Sorry, Harry, apparently I’m not in the mood.

    • notasugarhere says:

      I’m of the same opinion with the clothes. He did better today, giving a speech in a nice suit. He needs better “working casual” clothing. It is either a suit or grubby wrinkled pants and shirt. There has to be a happy medium, like taking off the suit coat but keeping the dress shirt and tie for things like visiting the ecology center.

  19. thaliasghost says:

    “There are several op-eds and stories about how Harry needs to offer a formal apology – from the royal family – for the royal family’s participation in the slave trade. ”

    That actually made me think of something though. Why have none of the members of the family studied something useful in the area of the culture of their country? Say, postcolonial studies or poverty studies or gender studies? Something that would give them the ability to know the issues when they do these tours?

    They have to be useful for something and right now, they are not quite cutting it. This is their one and only job.

  20. Twinkies says:

    Holy hamburgers! I’ve always thought that he looked like a fatter, ginger Philip but in that picture he looks so much like a Charles/Philip ginger mash up. Dare I say that I think he is going to end up looking more and more like the Duke of Kent as he ages.

  21. kibbles says:

    Michael K might need to find a new ginger to crush on very soon. Harry looks alright but he’s losing the hot very quickly. I have no idea what happens in this family. The men age very badly around the time they hit their 30s. William started losing his looks maybe around his mid-20s, unfortunately. I never thought Harry looked like Charles until these photos. Maybe weight loss isn’t a good look for Harry. Maybe he needs to find a balance between his looks and maintaining a healthy weight that will allow him to have more fat on his face. The thinner he gets the more he looks like Charles which is not good at all.

  22. Dawn says:

    Harry, keeping colonialism alive in 2016..

  23. suze says:

    Wait, when did he get old? He looks like his dad and grandpa.

    The Windsor curse is hitting. All hotness will be gone in five years, I guarantee.

    Meghan, I want you to think about this very, very seriously, my friend.

    • FrostedFlakes says:

      I have a different take on things… he has lost a lot of weight over the past month or so. He actually looks drawn, haggard, tired, weary. He seems to have literally aged overnight. Even after he returned after his elephant project, he did not look this old and tired.
      And its looking more obvious, at least to me, on this tour. He does not look his usual self.
      IMO, I think he is coming under a LOT of pressure, and will go out on a limb here to say it could be Meghan related

      Given the anger and the sentiments expressed in his official declaration, I will even go as far as saying that he is either

      a) pining for her, or
      b) catching heat from within the Firm to end things with her

      • suze says:

        He didn’t look this ragged when he dragged his a** to the North or South Poles.

        Maybe this relationship is draining him. Don’t know what else is different in his life.

  24. Rae says:

    I’m still honking for Harry.

    I’ve noticed the subdued coverage of the tour, a far cry from his last visit to the area, and put it down to how much the world seems on edge at the moment.

    Like the reaction to BP getting the green light for renovations (essential electrical and plumbing), using money it earned by itself and NOT being taken away from the tax payer, being treated as if the world is coming to an end.

    It’s such a shame.

    • notasugarhere says:

      Rae, where on earth did you come up with that fiction?

      To sum up with LAK, Sixer, and others have shared. Taxpayer money has been allocated for decades, millions of taxpayer money, for essential repairs. The Windsors diverted it and did not do the repairs. Now they’re getting 10 percent additional in taxpayer monies earmarked for the repairs they were already paid to do.

      Are you under the impression that the Sovereign Grant money belongs to the Windsors and not the people?

      • Rae says:

        Eh?

        The funds for the BP refit came from the Crown treasury, which gets its money from the crown estate holdings revenue. Aka BP and its cohorts.

        People are acting like the money was snatched from the mouths of starving children to personal hand to the Royals for personal use. It’s to do the essential maintenance of a Crown estate building, a building which has made far more money than it’s costing to bring it up to safety standards.

      • notasugarhere says:

        The building doesn’t make money, because HM refuses to open it up for public viewing more than a handful of days. If it was open to the public, instead of reserved as a massive private home, your case might make sense. As it is, they diverted funds for decades and are now receiving 400 million+ more. And once the renovations are over? They legally get to keep the 10 percent increase in the Sovereign Grant, when they will have 1/3 of the working royals they have now to support.

        They have already been paid the money to do the maintenance. They were paid to do it for decades. Instead the money went where? Nobody knows. Now they getting even more money, diverted away from other places, to do the work they were already paid to do. How can anyone defend this behavior?

        Go back and check the original post about Buckingham Palace, to see the excellent timelines provided by LAK and Sixer about this issue.

    • Kitty says:

      I think its getting lack of coverage because its being overshadowed by Meghan Markle thing.

  25. Oatmeal says:

    Isnt the entire concept of royal families decadent and silly?

  26. Cerys says:

    Most royal tours are decadent and silly. They tend to be glorified vacations. Charles and Camilla do pack in a lot of events compared to everyone else but they generate very little publicity which defeats the whole point of going. Harry’s trip is very low-key in the media just now. maybe KP are a bit sensitive because it is the Caribbean which is usually associated with luxury holidays.
    However, at least Harry looks interested in the people and events he attends unlike the Dolittles. And I agree that he is starting to resemble Charles more as he matures.

  27. Granger says:

    Plenty of men still look hot with thinning hair or a bald head. I think Harry should shave his head and grow a ginger goatee. He’d look amazing.