OPRAH WINFREY has defended the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s right to demand greater privacy while simultaneously courting publicity.
Well she would say that, wouldn’t she? Her feet are wedged firmly under the sustainable oak table at Sussex Towers and she is going to milk that cash cow dry.
Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest updates
Which shouldn’t take long because if episode one of her series The Me (Me Me) You Can’t See is anything to go by, Prince Harry is churning out the same old story which, in a nutshell, boils down to him feeling hard done by.
Einstein he ain’t, but he’s bright enough to know that the law of diminishing returns dictates he can’t keep saying exactly the same thing, so this time he’s upped the rhetoric and sung like a canary for his Netflix-funded supper.
Speaking about his father Prince Charles’s upbringing, he said: “I also know that is connected to his parents, so that means he’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?”
Wow. His 95-year-old grandmother has just lost her husband of 73 years yet her angry man-child of a grandson has opted to criticise her for the parenting skills she supposedly passed on to Prince Charles.
The same Charles, I might add, who showed Harry’s wife Meghan great kindness and walked her down the aisle in the absence of her own father who, as we know, has been ostracised by the hyper-sensitive couple for the crime of, er, courting publicity.
If the Sussexes don’t yet have a family crest for their Montecito mansion, then surely “Do As I Say, Not As I Do” is a strong contender?
Let’s compare and contrast Sussex with Essex.
Joey Essex, an original star of The Only Way Is Essex and, subsequently, a regular on anything with “Celebrity” in the title, has always been happy to portray himself as a bit of a buffoon.
But the first time I saw a glimpse of something deeper was when he took part in the celebrity version of TV’s SAS: Who Dares Wins and spoke about his mother, Tina, who took her own life when he was just ten years old.
Now he has gone one step further and delved in to the trauma it caused via a documentary called Joey Essex: Grief And Me on BBC iPlayer from June 3.
In it, he uses therapy to get to the bottom of the trust issues associated with his loss, despite the loving family life he had with his father Don, elder sister Frankie and his cherished nan.
“My mum loved me, but she left me . . . I’m trying to fill a gap. I’ve tried everything, I’ve done everything. Nothing seems to make me happy.
“I would throw everything away to spend one hour with her. I want to be one of those people that says, ‘This therapy changed my life’.”
He struggled to open up at first, but ultimately confronts his past and feels a “massive weight lifted off my shoulders. I can live with it now.”
Good therapy, I’m led to believe, isn’t about apportioning blame. It’s about trying to understand how what happened to you has shaped your behaviour and learn the tools to try to change it.
Mr Essex is well on his way to achieving that, but Mr Sussex appears to be stuck in the rut of projecting the anger he clearly feels at his mother’s death towards the living members of his family who are probably still grieving in their own way too.
Those with a commercial interest in making compelling TV that generates headlines are all too happy to film him doing it.
Class? Prince Charles is real deal
ANYONE who has seen the American versions of the Real Housewives franchise will know that social status in the US is primarily based on money.
And the “American rich” sustain that status by wearing the latest designer clothes, living in a pristine McMansion with 84 bathrooms and driving a supercar.
So imagine the surprise when they encounter the supposed pinnacle of the UK class system – the aristocracy.
Draughty stately homes where the heating (if any) is rarely on, rickety furniture dating back to the Tudors, a labyrinth of unoccupied rooms full of dust sheets, a dented runaround car, cracked crockery, peeling wallpaper and one ancient TV that shows only terrestrial channels.
Then there’s the leather repair patches on everything from overcoats to pyjamas.
If proof is needed that a true sign of social status is that you don’t wear it like a badge, look no further than Prince Charles, photographed in Country Life this week in his trusty old, distinctly threadbare, gardening jacket.
Now that’s class.
Kim top for job
JO Cox’s sister Kim Leadbeater is the Labour candidate in the forthcoming by-election for Batley and Spen, West Yorks, the seat held by her sibling when she was murdered.
Having interviewed Kim a couple of times, I cannot think of anyone I would rather vote for.
She’s unassuming, straight-talking, passionate about improving people’s lives and wholly committed to whatever she sets her mind to.
“This community picked me up when I needed it most and I will be forever grateful,” she says.
And I have no doubt that, if she wins, Kim will repay that help in spades.
