Larcombe: Prince Harry is ‘only relevant because he’s a member of the royal family’

For the past decade, royalists have tried in vain to create “wedge issues” to tear apart Prince Harry and Meghan. These people truly built an entire hate industry against the Duke and Duchess of Sussex so they wouldn’t have to accept Harry and Meghan’s marriage and happiness. In recent years, one of the wedge issues they’ve been trying to force is “Harry is stuck in the past, which is bad for Meghan’s brand, and they’re constantly at odds about the royal family.” First off, Meghan cut those people off years ago. On the rare occasions she references them at all, she calls them “my husband’s family.” She’s done with them. She’s been done with them. But she doesn’t interfere with what Harry’s doing, and she’s not going to stand in his way as he tries to have a relationship with his only living parent, nor does she care one way or the other about Harry’s relationships with his cousins. Well, royal commentator Duncan Larcombe has some odd thoughts about Harry, Meghan and… Peter Phillips.

Prince Harry may have been trying to build bridges with his father ahead of next year’s Invictus Games, but reports that he’s not been invited to his cousin Peter Phillips’ wedding suggest the royal rift is far from healed. What’s more, it’s claimed wife Meghan is increasingly keen to distance herself from the drama as she tries to build her lifestyle brand, with a royal source telling the Mirror she wants to steer clear of Harry’s “chaos”.

Peter will tie the knot with NHS nurse Harriet Sperling in the Cotswolds on 6 June, with senior royals including King Charles, Queen Camilla and the Prince and Princess of Wales attending. But Palace sources say the Duke of Sussex, 41, has been left out in the cold again, as his decision to step back from royal duties continues to have repercussions.

Royal author Duncan Larcombe says that even if Harry had received an invitation, he would most likely have declined due to his ongoing rift with his brother, Prince William, who is due to attend alongside Peter’s mother, Princess Anne, and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence.

“The sticking point is William’s attendance,” says Duncan. “Harry’s not going to agree to go to an event where he’s going to be forced to come face to face with his brother, who is absolutely still livid with him.” And while groom Peter may not have any “beef” with his cousin personally, Duncan believes that even if he had extended an invitation to Harry and Meghan, “it would have been in the full knowledge that he wouldn’t turn up”.

But while it’s understandable the happy couple, who first went public with their relationship in May 2024, might not want Harry to put a negative spin on their big day, it’s perhaps more surprising that Harry’s own wife is now reportedly tiring of the controversy surrounding her husband and his family. Even more striking is Harry’s apparent embracing of a celebrity-style lifestyle, which Duncan says is wholly at odds with his previous claims about loathing life in the spotlight as a youngster.

“Meghan’s keeping very busy building her brand, while Harry’s busy coping with his worst nightmare – living life as a pseudo-celebrity royal, which brings with it all the things he hated growing up,” says Duncan. “He’s stuck in the world of red carpets and camera flashes, which as a child never sat easy with him. Whereas with Meghan, the red carpets and cameras are part of her brand building, so she needs to protect herself from Harry’s chaos in order to achieve what she wants. The fallout with Harry’s family has, without doubt, caused drama throughout their marriage.”

“Whenever Harry does any speech at an event, like he did in Australia, it turns into a sort of soap opera, with everyone talking about his family feuds and his relationship with his father and brother,” explains Duncan. “But of course, he keeps bringing his family into virtually everything he does, because that’s literally the only thing about Harry that’s important. He’s only relevant because he’s a member of the royal family, but his relationships with them are so strained that any time he mentions them, it creates speculation and more talk of fallouts and feuds.”

With Meghan focused on establishing her lifestyle brand, As Ever, it’s believed the drama surrounding Harry and his family clashes with the feel-good, aspirational image she wants her products to project.

“Meghan is very determined, very ambitious, very focused and very driven in her pursuit of building her brand and businesses,” says Duncan. “So I’m not surprised that she is maybe trying to carve her own path.”

[From The Daily Mirror]

I’ve said many times before that I believe Meghan is more business-oriented and more commercially inclined than Harry. And that’s fine – they’ve gotten to the point where they aren’t joined at the hip for every project, and they’re both following their own interests. As I said, I think Meghan just lets Harry deal with all of the family stuff and she’s not worried about it affecting her business. That’s not a wedge issue, is what I’m saying.

In Harry’s recent trip to Ukraine, we got his perspective on his royal status, which is basically that he’ll always be part of the royal family and he’ll always work. Which is what upsets them most of all! “He’s only relevant because he’s a member of the royal family…” Sure. That’s why Harry’s name is being constantly dragged into every single story about the left-behinds, right? It’s not that the left-behinds need a connection to Harry & Meghan for their own relevance, right?? It’s not like Peter Phillips is getting married and the biggest storyline is all about whether Harry and Meghan will send jam??

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.

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43 Responses to “Larcombe: Prince Harry is ‘only relevant because he’s a member of the royal family’”

  1. Booboochile says:

    All the royals are irrelevant except they were born from the right vagina or married someone born from the right vagina. This dude!🙄

    • DK says:

      Absolutely what I came here to say as well: they are ALL only relevant because they were born to (or married into) the royal family. None of them seem to be particularly intelligent, talented, or charismatic in their own right in a way that would attract the kind of celebrity, power and influence they hold, it is simply their literal birth right.

      And the royalists and haters can’t have it both ways: you can’t argue that Charles and William and the rest are special because they were birthed from some divinely-blessed family and their genes literally make them better than everyone else…and then argue that doesn’t apply to Prince Harry, who spent the majority of his life qualified by that same birthright to be next in line to throne after William, as well.

      This line of criticism is NOT the flex they seem to think it is, and if they are truly pro-royal family, they will drop it before everyone starts asking too many questions about any of their relevance!

    • Blubb says:

      And how irrelevant and unknown this so called royal author would be without the royals.

    • StillDouchesOfCambridge says:

      Tell me lazy mediocre unemployed kate middleton would be relevant if not married to william. Tell me mediocre lazy scooted william would be relevant without being a royal 😂
      Makes no sense.

      • Emm1 says:

        Who would even notice the rest of that irrelevant family except that their ancestors pillaged and fought and murdered their way to the British throne?

        If Republic managed to oust the lot of them who would even notice?

  2. Ameerah M says:

    And to that I say….AND?? Because guess what? That’s true for ALL of them. ESPECIALLY the two snooze-fest heir apparents. No one would care about those boring a$$ people if they weren’t royal.

    • Jais says:

      Exactly. And? Harry is a member of the RF. People are going to talk about him bc he’s been raised in a royal fishbowl for most of his life. And? He can’t go back and erase his birth.

      • Brassy Rebel says:

        I don’t think they meant to raise the question, is the royal family even relevant anymore? 🤔

      • Becks1 says:

        exactly. the reason we know Harry’s name and he’s not just random dude from Berkshire is because of his family.

        But at this point, his relevance has gone above and beyond that – and we know that because no other working royal gets talked about as much as he does. When was the last time Larcombe talked about Edward?

  3. the Robinsons says:

    May H&M always exceed expectations and prosper.

  4. Seaside says:

    Isn’t he the one who felt that Invictus would fail because Harry left the family and didn’t have their backing?
    So wrong then and so wrong now….

  5. Allyn says:

    Realistically, isn’t that true of all of the Windsors? They’re only “relevant” — ie., notable — because of their lineage?

    Public indifference would end them.

    • Where'sMyTiara says:

      Public indifference *is* ending them.

      It’s why they have to fake their emotional support polls.

      It’s why the streets are empty of cheering throngs any time the left behinds try to stage a walkabout. Only people showing up are folks just going about their business and getting forcibly crowd kettled for royal photo ops, people being deliberately bused in for ditto, or jeering protesters.

      None of these groups actually gaf about the BRF.

    • lucy10 says:

      “Public indifference would end them”. Actually, public indifference has already grown…which is why they have to drag H & M’s names into every story about the left-behnds. The slow fading into obscurity is already evident as W & K are so charisma -free, it’s hard for the press to sustain interest in their lives & activities.

  6. Mario says:

    Yes, and that’s how celebrity and influence works. Everyone who is famous or influential became so because of some angle that made people interested or pay attention in the first place.

    But it’s the mix of talent, charisma, and results that drive whether people stay interested and how intensely, they drive how long you matter and what you’re able to do with it or not (and how much of that is your choice and what you want to be doing with it).

    Harry happens to have all three in spades which means only one correction is warranted:

    Harry only became relevant because he is a royal. He stays relevant for myriad reasons, positive and negative (unfortunately) and as a result stays famous and influential and largely gets to do and not do what he wants.

    Ironically, he’d be exponentially less prominent if they didn’t write stories and headlines about his wife and him on a daily basis and insert his name into every tangentially related story…

    • Chrissie T says:

      I agree 100% This was my take exactly. Of course he is famous because he is a member of the royal family. He was famous literally from birth, before he had any say in the matter. He is even more relevant because of the events since he met and married Meghan and everything he has accomplished since. Every time people put out stuff to say he is irrelevant just emphasises his relevance.

    • bisynaptic says:

      These people are going to make him more famous than the Queen.

  7. Monlette says:

    More like the other way around. Otherwise they wouldn’t to put the Sussex’s in the headlines to get clicks.

  8. CM says:

    And the Royal Family is only relevant because they are the Royal Family.

  9. Weatherby says:

    Literally the only reason *any* of them is relevant. They tell on themselves quite a bit, don’t they?

    But at least we get to see how much Prince William is still raging and fuming and obsessing about events that happened six years ago. The man is so utterly pathetic and I think he must know it. How perfectly wonderful.

  10. CatGotMyTongue says:

    I’ve been married before. My policy is always that I will deal with my relatives and you can deal with yours.

    Scheduling, everything. I’m not going to manage that. And you don’t have to worry about dealing with mine!

    Figuring that out was a big improvement!

  11. Smices says:

    I read that as: “Prince Harry is the only relevant member of the royal family.” Which honestly? Yeah.

  12. IdlesAtCranky says:

    As usual, reality is a funhouse mirror with these people.

    At this point, the few remaining “working” members of the BRF are only relevant to the press, and increasingly the public, so far as they can link themselves to Harry and Meghan.

    As for whether Harry would attract the public’s interest if he were not a member of the Firm: who knows? It’s literally impossible to say. But he’s smart, capable, driven, loving, charismatic, and devoted to public service.

    I think he would have led an elevated life regardless, as Meghan was already doing when they met.

    • Mel says:

      The firm has been riding Harry’s coattails for years; they need him or QE2 to be interesting and she’s gone so it’s him. They’ve been exploiting him since his mother’s funeral to make themselves look good and to give the rota something to do, now that he’s gone….. oh well. Nice try though..

  13. Me at home says:

    All these articles are about clout chasing…. the Sussexes. It’s the other way around, obviously. Best wishes to the happy couple, but nobody would click on a month of articles about this wedding unless the tabloids managed to drag the Sussexes into the story.

  14. cws says:

    I think Meghan’s goal at this point is to put money away in saving/investments so they can support their and their kids’ protection details amd lifestyles. Then it’s saving for their grandkids and on and on.
    Creating generational wealth and to keep their families safe.
    Discussing Harry’s relevance is ridiculous as the only reason to discuss him is because he is still relevant

  15. Lady Digby says:

    Will is relevant because he is going to be King but I was thinking how employable is he? Unreliable, binge drinker, won’t show up before noon and won’t be staying late and overtime is out of the question. Patchy CV, poor work figure over a decade, no studying to gain language skills, no significant impactful projects, a mansion full of excuses, no practical skills or commonsense . Reacts badly to every day tasks as a HUGE imposition and slags off his boss and more successful co workers ( brother and SIL) rather than being effective and fully present at work. Honestly would anybody faced with Will at interview and with his CV if he wasn’t PoW but simply Mr Smith, employ him?

  16. Nerd says:

    That’s true for all of the royals. None of them, with exception of Meghan to some degree, is well known outside of being born or married into that family. I would say that Harry being the more popular royal for a long period of time is what helped the Royal family maintain relevance, especially in the past 12 to 15 years. The others need Harry’s name in every article in order for the Royal family to remain relevant. It seems obvious to me that the royal family has used the popularity of weddings as their main source of focus and they know that no one really knows or cares who Harry’s cousin is so they have been inserting Harry and Meghan into every article about this wedding to give it more attention. Without mention of Harry, no one outside of the UK would really care.

  17. Becks1 says:

    I mean really the only reason we’re talking about Peter Phillips’ second wedding is because of the debate over Harry’s attendance. Besides that it would be like the Westminster wedding, where the only thing interesting was…..harry’s attendance or lack thereof, and then we just said “oh nice dress” and moved on.

    the other royals – even Kate – don’t garner international headlines. Meghan goes to the farmers market and the British press talks about it for a month.

    And re “Harry’s chaos” – I DO think Meghan wants things settled with his family. I think she wishes that either harry cut ties completely or that there was a relationship at least with Charles. I do think she’s “tired” of the “chaos” because that can be emotionally draining, for Harry if not for both of them. I think her primary wish is for Harry to be happy, however that looks. If that means never talking to his brother again, she supports that. If that means talking to his father, she supports that.

    she’s not worried about her brand or anything like that. Harry and her kids are her primary focus.

  18. Jan says:

    Sophie in Switzerland is a snooze fest, did the press leave with Meghan.

  19. Mel says:

    Yes, the one who gets invited everywhere is irrelevant. They love telling on themselves.

  20. Amy Bee says:

    This is very different to what they were saying about a year ago. The royal commentators were saying Meghan had to make up with the Royal Family for her business to succeed. Plus the DM always brings out her father everytime she has a new project or has a successful trip. These people will say anything for money.

  21. Lurker says:

    “He’s stuck in the world of red carpets and camera flashes, which as a child never sat easy with him. Whereas with Meghan, the red carpets and cameras are part of her brand building, so she needs to protect herself from Harry’s chaos in order to achieve what she wants.”

    One question: Which red carpets? They don’t show up for red carpet events. They visit charity events or support friends. Usually not together. In which world of red carpets is Harry stuck?

    • Blubb says:

      And it weren’t the flashes at red carpet events that Harry hated in his childhood.
      The press and fotographer invaded every aspect of the Wales private life. His mother didn’t have a single day of freedom in til her death.

  22. jferber says:

    The jealousy and fury just never ends. No, Prince Harry is not so special because he is a royal, but because he is his own inimitable and heroic Prince Harry. He doesn’t need the royals, but they sure do need him or think they do.

  23. jferber says:

    Lurker, and what, exactly is “chaotic” about Harry? He always looks happy, healthy, confident. What’s the frigging problem?

  24. Catherine says:

    His entree is that he is Diana’s son, then made a name for himself, not that he is related to those bores. So delusional.

  25. Lover says:

    The only two Royals to be truly world famous today (and therefore relevant, I guess) are both dead: QEII and Diana. QEII because her tenure was historic (female and the longest duration). Diana because she was a charismatic, dynamic, beautiful woman who suffered the horrible scandal of her husband’s infidelity, befriended huge celebrities, and brought attention to the most important issues of the day. Diana became relevant because of who she married, but remained relevant after divorce because of who she was and who she associated with. The rest of the Royals, and I include Charles, Will, and Harry in this, are not nearly as relevant or famous. I would bet most young people outside the Commonwealth could not name the King of England, far less his two sons. And even those who know who Charles is are not keeping up with his day-to-day or have much of an opinion of him at all, I would bet. He is best known as Diana’s ex-husband. The saga of Harry and Meghan, Will and Kate is fascinating to me, but it is very much a niche interest outside of Britain. So Will and Kate should not feel comfortable in their “relevance” because it is threadbare and completely relies on Will‘s birth circumstance, not anything to do with them personally. threatening I appreciate that Harry and Meghan want to be relevant for their own selves, which is why both throw themselves into public service, why Harry is so passionate about Invictus, why Meghan started a business and why both occasionally hang out with other famous, relevant people. They are earning their relevance honestly, unlike any of the Royals, though I think Charles does try, but probably only Charles.

    I would add that Will and Harry are probably more famous and relevant for being Diana’s sons than for being Charles’s. because who even knows who Princess Anne and Prince Edward are, the children of Queen Elizabeth II? And people only care about Andrew because he’s a pedo who hung out with Epstein.

  26. LRB says:

    Harry will be remembered for being Diana’s son, Invictus and I hope the new improved version of Sentebale – I am sure he has not given up on that part of his life.

  27. phlyfiremama says:

    Time to face facts: no one GAS about the “royal family”. We love him because he is PRINCESS DIANA’s son.

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