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Prince Harry is merely following in the footsteps of royal princes down the ages Prince Harry is merely following in the footsteps of royal princes down the ages
(40 minutes later)
If Prince Charles is half as cross as reported about his younger son's latest scrape, he will do well to ponder that his own conduct has provided the tabloids with plenty to gossip about over the years, as have royal princes down the ages. In that respect they are not so different from other testosterone-fuelled young men, merely of greater interests to censorious monkish chroniclers, clucking courtiers and paparazzi, nowadays to YouTube addicts too. If Prince Charles is half as cross as reported about his younger son's latest scrape, he will do well to ponder that his own conduct has provided the tabloids with plenty to gossip about over the years, as have royal princes down the ages. In that respect they are not so different from other testosterone-fuelled young men, merely of greater interest to censorious monkish chroniclers, clucking courtiers and paparazzi, nowadays to YouTube addicts too.
When royals ruled as well as reigned before 1689, sexual and financial scandal could easily shake the state to its foundations, whereas today only the monarchy itself is put at risk. Edward II and his male favourites were deposed and murdered by his wife, Isabella, and her lover in 1327, only to be deposed themselves by testosterone-charged Edward III as soon as he was old enough (18). When royals ruled as well as reigned before 1689, sexual and financial scandal could easily shake the state to its foundations, whereas today only the monarchy itself is put at risk. Edward II and his male favourites were deposed and murdered by his wife, Isabella, and her lover in 1327, only to be deposed themselves by Edward III as soon as he was old enough (18).
Edward IV, Henry VIII, James I – their rackety private lives and personal conduct cast shadows over their public reputations, then and since. As for Charles II's (reigned 1660-1685) fabled love life, lacking nothing except a legitimate heir, it far outstripped the imagination of Sun readers and gave rise to one of the best one-liners in the genre. When in 1681 her coach was attacked in mistake for her Catholic rival's, the spirited Nell Gwyn – a born Page 3 girl – put her head out of the window and cried: " Good people, you are mistaken. I am the Protestant whore." The heirs to Nell's bastard children by the king are still Dukes of St Albans. Edward IV, Henry VIII, James I – their rackety private lives and personal conduct cast shadows over their public reputations, then and since. As for Charles II's (reigned 1660-1685) fabled love life, lacking nothing except a legitimate heir, it far outstripped the imagination of Sun readers and gave rise to one of the best one-liners in the genre. When in 1681 her coach was attacked in mistake for that of her Catholic rival, the spirited Nell Gwyn – a born Page 3 girl – put her head out of the window and cried: "Good people, you are mistaken. I am the Protestant whore." The heirs to Nell's bastard children by the king are still Dukes of St Albans.
So there is nothing new, except that it is now all rather tamer. In June 1963 the future Prince of Wales was a 14-year-old Gordonstoun schoolboy when, cornered by a crowd in Stornoway, he dived into a public bar to escape and ordered the first drink he could think of. Only the previous year the tabloids had promised to respect Buckingham Palace's plea for the royal adolescent's privacy. But the "cherry brandy incident" proved impossible to resist. With rare pre-Leveson exceptions such incidents usually did. So there is nothing new, except that it is now all rather tamer. In June 1963, the future Prince of Wales was a 14-year-old Gordonstoun schoolboy when, cornered by a crowd in Stornoway, he dived into a public bar to escape and ordered the first drink he could think of. Only the previous year the tabloids had promised to respect Buckingham Palace's plea for the royal adolescent's privacy. But the "cherry brandy incident" proved impossible to resist. With rare pre-Leveson exceptions such incidents usually did.
Thirty years later Charles was caught in a grainy long lens shot, standing with only a towel draped over his shoulder at a window in the Chateau Barroux near Avignon. The European press – but not Britain's – had a field day: "Hunky like a Greek statue," said the man from Bild, the German tabloid. "You English can be proud of him," purred Paris Match while Buck House protested in vain at intrusion.Thirty years later Charles was caught in a grainy long lens shot, standing with only a towel draped over his shoulder at a window in the Chateau Barroux near Avignon. The European press – but not Britain's – had a field day: "Hunky like a Greek statue," said the man from Bild, the German tabloid. "You English can be proud of him," purred Paris Match while Buck House protested in vain at intrusion.
By that stage Charles was 45, had separated from his first wife, Diana, and suffered the acute humiliation in having toe-curling sweet-talk with his mistress, Camilla Parker-Bowles (now his second wife), intercepted (by whom?) and published alongside the audiotape. Prince and Princess slugged out their betrayals and disappointments in rival TV interviews. Three years later, ever more brazen paparazzi with their global market to feed chased Diana to her death in Paris. By that stage Charles was 45, had separated from his first wife, Diana, and suffered the acute humiliation in having toe-curling sweet-talk with his mistress, Camilla Parker-Bowles (now his second wife), intercepted (by whom?) and published alongside the audio tape. Prince and princess slugged out their betrayals and disappointments in rival TV interviews. Three years later, ever more brazen paparazzi with their global market to feed chased Diana to her death in Paris.
It was the Windsors' strong desire to protect the young princes – representing as they did future of "the firm" which led to pressure on the police to prosecute the News of the World's royal reporter, Clive Goodman, and his hacker, Glenn Mulcaire, rather than ignore such activity as they hoped to do for hundreds on non-royal hacking victims. The Leveson inquiry is currently passing judgment on that cover-up, with potentially incalculable consequences for publication of the kind of "Naked Harry" shots now on the internet. It was the Windsors' strong desire to protect the young princes – representing as they did the future of "the firm" – which led to pressure on the police to prosecute the News of the World's royal reporter, Clive Goodman, and his hacker, Glenn Mulcaire, rather than ignore such activity as they hoped to do for hundreds of non-royal hacking victims. The Leveson inquiry is currently passing judgment on that cover-up, with potentially incalculable consequences for publication of the kind of "Naked Harry" shots now on the internet.
Licentious royal behaviour prompting a hostile public reaction and a censorious press is a recurring pattern. When the press overdoes it – as in the years since the Charles and Diana rift – public sympathy swings back the other way. The pattern was most evident in the 19th century. After the seven surviving sons of the uxorious George III (king between 1760-1820) disgraced themselves in all ways imaginable, the only legitimate child they managed to produce between them, Queen Victoria (1837-1901), turned the royal family into the epitome of high minded respectability. Licentious royal behaviour prompting a hostile public reaction and a censorious press is a recurring pattern. When the press overdoes it – as in the years since the Charles and Diana rift – public sympathy swings back the other way. The pattern was most evident in the 19th century. After the seven surviving sons of the uxorious George III (king between 1760-1820) disgraced themselves in all ways imaginable, the only legitimate child they managed to produce between them, Queen Victoria (1837-1901), turned the royal family into the epitome of high-minded respectability.
Much like Prince Charles, her eldest son, Bertie, the future Edward VII, spent most of his life waiting for the job, like Charles a moderniser with some progressive views. Much more than Charles he turned his back on Victorian respectability: a womaniser from his youth, his high-living mixed up in gambling scandals, country sports and racing, his sex life was kept out of the press (as was his ill-health), though it was touch and go.Much like Prince Charles, her eldest son, Bertie, the future Edward VII, spent most of his life waiting for the job, like Charles a moderniser with some progressive views. Much more than Charles he turned his back on Victorian respectability: a womaniser from his youth, his high-living mixed up in gambling scandals, country sports and racing, his sex life was kept out of the press (as was his ill-health), though it was touch and go.
When he finally became King (1901-10), his waist measured 48 inches and had a coronation box set aside for a clutch of mistresses. A Paris brothel boasted a siège d'amour, a love chair that allowed the portly prince to be serviced by two women at once. Voters knew nothing of this and when his second son succeeded as George V (his elder brother, the Duke of Clarence, had died in 1892 surrounded by sexual gossip and alleged imbecility, linked wrongly with the Jack the Ripper murders) the palace reverted again to dull respectability.When he finally became King (1901-10), his waist measured 48 inches and had a coronation box set aside for a clutch of mistresses. A Paris brothel boasted a siège d'amour, a love chair that allowed the portly prince to be serviced by two women at once. Voters knew nothing of this and when his second son succeeded as George V (his elder brother, the Duke of Clarence, had died in 1892 surrounded by sexual gossip and alleged imbecility, linked wrongly with the Jack the Ripper murders) the palace reverted again to dull respectability.
By the time the new heir to the throne, the future Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor, started going off the rails the modern media existed in recognisable form, not least free market radio across the United States. Edward's fatal dalliance with the twice-divorced American, Mrs Simpson, was widely reported there, but hushed up by the Fleet Street press lords until a bishop broke the silence, triggering the crisis that swept the new king away in 1936. By the time the new heir to the throne, the future Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor, started going off the rails, the modern media existed in recognisable form, not least free market radio across the US. Edward's fatal dalliance with the twice-divorced American, Wallace Simpson, was widely reported there, but hushed up by the Fleet Street press lords until a bishop broke the silence, triggering the crisis that swept the new king away in 1936.
Ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth grew up in the shadow of that crisis, her mother blamed Edward for the strains of war-time kingship that (along with heavy smoking) helped push her husband, George VI, to an early grave in 1952. Even without her own sister Princess Margaret's exotic love life and her children's divorces, Elizabeth II may not relish Prince Harry's high jinks in Las Vegas. But she has seen a lot worse. Ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth grew up in the shadow of that crisis, her mother blamed Edward for the strains of wartime kingship that (along with heavy smoking) helped push her husband, George VI, to an early grave in 1952. Even without her own sister Princess Margaret's exotic love life and her children's divorces, Elizabeth II may not relish Prince Harry's high jinks in Las Vegas. But she has seen a lot worse.