Prince Harry faces up to ‘saddest part of exile’, says royal expert
As he turns 40, a leading expert looks at why fatherhood has been the making of Prince Harry and the struggles he must face with Archie and Lilibet
As Prince Harry gears up for his 40th birthday on the 15th of September, he’s bound to feel a wave of appreciation for the idyllic life he’s carved out post-royalty – complete with a loving wife and their two young royals, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Despite the choppy waters that Harry and Meghan have navigated since stepping down from frontline royal duties, a top pundit has shed light on how fatherhood has utterly transformed the Duke. “I think he is relishing his role as a parent and playing the fullest part he can in the lives of his two tots,” former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond told OK!
“He’s lucky enough to be able to share most of their lives so I’m sure Harry is a devoted dad and no stranger to nappy changing or school runs. I think he finds the security and anchor in his little family that was sadly missing in his own broken childhood home.”
There’s no denying the rocky road Harry and William faced growing up, marred by ongoing strife from their parents highly turbulent split and the resulting public fallouts. “It’s hard to know exactly when the damage wrought by his parents’ broken marriage began to make its mark on Harry,” Jennie ponders. “He was only eight when Charles and Diana officially separated, but he had witnessed the marital difficulties long before that.
“I’m sure the insecurity of his own childhood has made him all the more determined to give his kids the perfect upbringing and to have them wrapped in a bubble of love and awareness of the love between their parents.”
In an attempt to break this cycle, Archie and Lilibet, due to the family’s departure, have spent minimal time with relatives on both sides of their family – a situation made even more complex given their connection to the world’s most famous family and their positions as sixth and seventh in line to the throne.
“This is the saddest part of their exile,” Jennie comments. “At the moment, the children don’t know any difference, but as they grow up Harry and Meghan will have some delicate manoeuvring to negotiate to explain the situation. It must be something that troubles Harry as a dad.”
