{"id":847590,"date":"2026-08-08T05:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/847590\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T05:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T05:00:10","slug":"egg-on-prince-harrys-face-over-new-royal-baby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/847590\/","title":{"rendered":"Egg on Prince Harry\u2019s face over new royal baby"},"content":{"rendered":"

OPINION
Breakfast, August 20, 1992 was the most awkward meal in royal history. <\/p>\n

Sarah Ferguson<\/a> was staying with Queen Elizabeth at Balmoral when photos of her toes sucked by her \u2018financial adviser\u2019 were slathered across the front page and she had to front her mother-in-law over the marmalade. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s not in quite the same league, but you have to wonder if there might be any reddish faces the next time that Prince Harry<\/a> breaks bread with his cousin Princess Eugenie<\/a>. <\/p>\n

This week the royal family grew by one teeny weeny member with the arrival of Eugenie\u2019s third child, a so far unnamed daughter, who is now 15th in line to the throne. (Sorry Princess Anne, it\u2019s measly 19th spot for you now.) <\/p>\n

\"Princess<\/p>\n

MORE: King\u2019s shock act after Harry eviction fallout<\/a><\/p>\n

The princess and husband Jack Brooksbank were jubilant, Buckingham Palace was so excited they deigned to use two whole emojis and the sweltering UK took a break from standing sweatily in front of the fan to collectively go, awwww. <\/p>\n

MORE: \u2018Lonely\u2019: Insiders lift lid on Harry\u2019s sad life<\/a>
Where things get sticky is when we cast our minds back to 2019 and Harry had a go at being a cub reporter. <\/p>\n

At the time, he and wife Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex<\/a> were still in the royal tent, if clearly chaffing against their part in the three-ring circus. Meghan, being a woman of indomitable energy and disinclined to spend her days drudgily opening Women\u2019s Institute morning teas, was offered the chance to guest edit British Vogue. Who better to interview legendary ethologist Dame Jane Goodall for the issue than passionate environmentalist Harry? <\/p>\n

Only when Vogue hit the newsstand there was one exchange between the two that immediately made headlines. During the duke and Dame Jane\u2019s conversation things had turned to the subject of having children when she interjected (supposedly with a laugh) \u201cNot too many!\u201d To which Harry replied, \u201cTwo, maximum<\/a>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Given that, at that time, Prince William and Kate, The Prince and Princess of Wales had only recently welcomed third child Prince Louis, much hay was made of this foot-in-gob situation. <\/p>\n

Now, this week, Eugenie, the Sussexes\u2019 biggest ally inside the royal family, has become the latest member of the royal family to decide to have a bigger family. <\/p>\n

Eugenie and husband Jack are the only relatives who have visited the Sussexes in the US and stayed with them in Montecito, during which the princess attended the Superbowl with Harry. Also, Eugenie was the only one of his family to appear in the Sussexes Netflix series. <\/p>\n

That cousinly closeness has even seen Harry and Meghan go so far as to buy a holiday house in the same luxury development in Portugal where the York-Brooksbanks live and where Jack is marketing chief. <\/p>\n

In 2023, the duke and duchess first stayed at the 300-home community on the Melides coast (it\u2019s supposedly the \u2018Iberian Hamptons\u2019) where the York-Brooksbanks spend much of the year before Harry and Meghan purchased their own $11 million-plus home there the following year. <\/p>\n

For the Sussexes, it gave them not only a European bolthole, an easy hop, skip and a jump from the motherland, but meant they could spend time with Eugenie and her family. For devoted parents Harry and Meghan, to be able to offer their kids, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, the chance to enjoy sandy beach breaks with their Brooksbanks cousins must have been a particular lure. <\/p>\n

Only in July, the Duchess of Sussex posted a series of photos of the family\u2019s trip to Europe which included a number showing them enjoying A-grade family time at their Portuguese place, all frolicking in the waves and sun-soaked joie de vivre. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, back in the UK, larger families have become the royal order of the day. <\/p>\n

There are of course the Waleses, with three sprogs, but added to that we have Zara and Mike Tindall, with Mia, Lena and Lucas, and Princess Beatrice and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, with his Wolfie and their daughters Sienna and Athena. When Peter Phillips married his second wife Harriet in June, they created a blended family with three daughters.<\/p>\n

The \u201ctoo many\u201d conversation hardly compares in the awkward department for Harry and the Windsors when you remember the grubbiest of laundry he flapped about for the world to see via Netflix and Spare, but this all comes at a time when the Sussexes appear to be inching their way back towards Britain. <\/p>\n

In July the whole family was in the UK where the Sussexes were invited to King Charles\u2019 private Highgrove estate to do some making nice over finger sandwiches and Darjeeling. <\/p>\n

Since then the mood music has been that a gently, gently, tentative reconciliation between London and Montecito is afoot, a father intent on rebuilding bridges with his adored son, one hand-hewn plank at a time. <\/p>\n

Helping the pro-Sussex cause is the departure of Sir Clive Alderton, Charles\u2019 outgoing private secretary who was reportedly far \u2013 far \u2013 from a supporter of the King putting out the welcome mat for his son and daughter-in-law. Harry, for his part, made no bones about his feelings about Sir Clive in Spare, calling him \u2018The Wasp\u2019 and writing that he would \u201cstab with his outsized stinger\u201d. <\/p>\n

Sir Clive also sat on Ravec, the Royal and VIP Executive Committee, the ten-person Metropolitan Police body that makes decisions about which public figures get official protection. It was Ravec in 2020 who stripped the Sussexes of their bodyguards, a decision Harry has been fighting for years. <\/p>\n

Further helping the Sussexes\u2019 case is that the hot money is on former diplomat and deputy private secretary Theo Rycroft to take the reins, and Rycroft is reportedly dead keen on helping patch things up between not only Harry and Charles but William too. How long until the trio are doing trust falls in the new Sandringham yew maze and authentically sharing their feelings round the corner from Queen Camilla\u2019s go-to summertime G & T gazebo? <\/p>\n

Because what is family, really, but people who will always not only love you but forgive you? And forgive you even when you do something embarrassing, say the wrong thing, or make a six -art series about how rubbish being royal can be? Europe might be on fire this summer, but there have never been more green shoots for Harry and the royal family. <\/p>\n

Daniela Elser is an editor and commentator with more than 15 years\u2019 experience working with a number of Australia\u2019s leading media titles. <\/p>\n

Read related topics:Prince Harry<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OPINIONBreakfast, August 20, 1992 was the most awkward meal in royal history. 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