The Daily Mail’s columnists are reveling in the opportunity for a summer storyline of “attacking and insulting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.” Their opening, if they even needed one, is the secret peace summit between representatives of the Sussexes and King Charles last week. It’s all anyone can talk about, and by “anyone,” I mean Prince William and his courtiers, who have been panic-briefing since the summit news dropped. Mail columnist Sarah Vine had a particularly galling piece this week: “The difference between William and Harry is that one has Kate to soothe his mental anguish… the other has Meghan to rub salt into his wounds.” It’s interesting though – there are some coded messages to King Charles AND William in this piece, as well as a huge amount of projection.

Vine agrees that the terrible Sussexes need to come back: As A. N. Wilson argued so cogently in yesterday’s Daily Mail, ‘fractured dynasties do not survive’, and when the crown eventually passes to Prince William, it would be infinitely better if Harry and Meghan were inside the tent rather than on the outside causing mayhem.

Charles inflicted more institutional damage than Harry?? At 76, Charles may now be the very personification of royal respectability, but as a prince he was, to put it bluntly, a hot mess.No one likes to mention it any more because, well, he’s the King, but in his day he arguably inflicted as much damage – if not more – on the reputation of the Royal Family as his younger son has in recent years. Charles in the 1990s and 2000s did not exactly cover himself in glory. There was his flagrant infidelity (including that unfortunate telephone conversation in which he expressed a desire to be reincarnated as a sanitary product); his infamous, meddling ‘black spider’ letters to ministers and others; and his frankly cruel treatment of Princess Diana, who had been little more than a child when he married her.

Harry has deep psychological wounds: That’s why, fundamentally, taking steps to welcome the wayward duke back into the family is the right thing. When someone is in as much pain as Harry clearly is, they lash out at anyone within reach, especially those tied to them by blood. But if you can grab them and hold them to your heart, show them the love and understanding they need, soothe their hurt with the balm of forgiveness, you can perhaps help them begin to move forwards.

William knows how to marshal his emotions: Prince William is arguably the real injured party for the simple reason that, while some of Harry’s anger towards his father may be justified because of what happened with his late mother, he has no earthly right to resent his brother – or, for that matter, his poor sister-in-law. The Prince of Wales is just as scarred as Prince Harry – possibly more so since, when they were both boys, William was famously protective of his younger sibling, while also dealing with his own loss. And yet William has it in him, I’m sure, for the simple reason that, like his late grandmother, he does understand how to marshal his emotions. Instead of indulging his pain, feeding off it even, as Harry has done, he seems to have mastered it, channelling it into his royal roles and his family.

Kate is better than Meghan, apparently: Then again, William had slightly better luck – or judgment – than his brother, in that he had the good sense to marry the Princess of Wales. Without her stabilising and steadfast presence, who knows where he might be? As the late Queen said of Prince Philip, Kate has, quite simply, been William’s strength and stay. Which is possibly why he is so furious with his brother for all that he has said and done to undermine her, especially given her cancer diagnosis. Sadly, the Duchess of Sussex seems to have had the opposite effect on Prince Harry. Instead of helping him heal his emotional wounds, she seems to have re-opened them – or even rubbed salt in them, some might say. Instead of encouraging him to shape his own identity within the Royal Family, she has helped him turn his back on it. Which might have been fine if together they had embarked on something truly life-affirming. But they didn’t.

[From The Daily Mail]

The projection has been off the charts in recent weeks, right? Everything they accuse Meghan of, they’re really talking about Kate. Kate, and not Meghan, manipulated a weak and dumb prince into marriage. Kate, and not Meghan, is bad at being a public figure. Kate, and not Meghan, has havoc and drama with her husband. And describing William as someone who knows how to “marshal his emotions” is pure fantasy – even William’s own biographers and allies plainly state that he’s a violently emotional man, prone to screaming, rage and tantrums. I appreciate that Vine at least admitted that Charles has done much more reputational damage to the monarchy than Harry has ever done though!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images.