{"id":416124,"date":"2025-09-11T15:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T15:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/416124\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T15:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T15:34:11","slug":"sorry-william-but-prince-harry-is-the-funnier-brother","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/416124\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry William, but Prince Harry is the funnier brother"},"content":{"rendered":"

There may have been some who were hoping for fireworks when Prince Harry<\/a> returned to the UK this week. Would he be papped wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the motto \u201cDad issues\u201d; or give an interview in which he slagged off his brother? Maybe he would turn up for a family appointment, only to pull a moony at Camilla, shout \u201cya boo sucks to you\u201d and run back to California at the double.<\/p>\n

The reality, however, has been considerably less histrionic. During a speech at a charity event, he made a passing reference to the challenges \u201cthrown our way\u201d. And in small talk with guests, he seemed to allude to the particularly challenging relationship that can exist between siblings. But it was hardly revelatory or even particularly pointed, compared to what we\u2019ve seen and heard in the past.<\/p>\n

There was also the inevitable question of whether there might be a meeting with the King. And, come Wednesday evening, there was a summit at Clarence House, a chance to start healing the rift<\/a> that has dominated monarchy discourse for the last six years. <\/p>\n

In fact, the last few days have almost given us a taste of what might have been. At the WellChild awards on Monday, Harry spoke passionately about a cause he clearly cares for deeply. Meanwhile, a few miles away, William and Kate were at a Women\u2019s Institute event, commemorating Queen Elizabeth on the third anniversary of her death. Earlier in the day, Harry had laid a wreath in her memory in Windsor.<\/p>\n

With the King in usual summer residence at Balmoral \u2013 attending church with the Queen and the Prime Minister, and seemingly in reasonable health as he continues his cancer treatment \u2013 you could squint a bit and imagine that all is well in the life of the Royal Family. Especially now that Prince Andrew has been firmly sidelined.<\/p>\n

The other thing you might have been reminded of during the last couple of days is that Harry is the fun one. Sure, he has had his share of angst \u2013 and hasn\u2019t been shy about sharing some of that with the rest of us. But when he was having a balloon sword fight with a child on Monday, there was the Harry we used to love: the guy who despite the tragedy of his childhood somehow seemed able to have a laugh, and show the kind of common touch that brought the Windsors closer to the people.<\/p>\n

Some of his younger antics might, as we now know, have come from a dark place \u2013 but there was, and is, plenty of evidence of his fun-loving credentials. The balloon sword-fight, rather like those dad-dancing videos released by Meghan earlier in the year, show Harry as we want him to be: the jolly younger prince who instinctively knows how to connect.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t to say his older brother doesn\u2019t try his best. As he showed last week in a trailer appearance with Eugene Levy, William can deliver a comedic line with relative aplomb. And he is more than decent at the endless small talk he has to engage in at the gazillion events he must attend.<\/p>\n

Ultimately though, William is the man who must one day be king. He can\u2019t be the fun one, or the naughty one \u2013 much as he might like to be. When he does offer a glimpse of his lighter side, you often get the impression that it is a little too scripted, or that his mind is probably on the bigger issues that he knows will dominate his future life.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is why the princes once seemed to be the perfect double act \u2013 until they weren\u2019t. There was the young one dragging the elder into some occasional nonsense; and the older one keeping his little bro just about in check. It was how we liked it.<\/p>\n

In Nottingham on Tuesday, as he announced a large donation to Children in Need, Harry once again pulled out his dance moves. Visiting the city\u2019s Community Recording Studio, it would not have been a surprise had he laid down some tracks too. If only the royals could find a way to all sing in harmony.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There may have been some who were hoping for fireworks when Prince Harry returned to the UK this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[7709,7714,7713,533,447,2832,532,2831,7710,519,7711,7712],"class_list":{"0":"post-416124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-british-royal-family","9":"tag-catherine","10":"tag-catherine-middleton","11":"tag-kate-middleton","12":"tag-prince-harry","13":"tag-prince-of-wales","14":"tag-prince-william","15":"tag-princess-of-wales","16":"tag-royal-families","17":"tag-royal-family","18":"tag-uk-royal-family","19":"tag-william"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115186399030105383","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}