{"id":2249392,"date":"2026-01-25T07:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T07:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2249392"},"modified":"2026-01-25T07:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T07:39:22","slug":"the-millennial-prince-harrys-double-entitlement-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-millennial-prince-harrys-double-entitlement-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"The millennial Prince: Harry\u2019s double entitlement problem"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"main\">\n<p><span class=\"big-letter\">T<\/span>his week marked <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/royal-family\/harry-court-case-william-harry-b2903115.html\" title=\"Is Harry\u2019s return to the UK the real reason William and Kate have hired the woman known as \u2018bulletproof sunshine\u2019?\">Prince Harry<\/a>\u2019s third round of slogging it out in London\u2019s High Court, speaking his truth to the power that is the British press. With a win under his belt against the Mirror Group and an unprecedented apology and payoff from Murdoch\u2019s empire in 2025, the good money is on <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/royal-family\/news\/meghan-markle-prince-harry-vanity-fair-california-fire-b2682670.html\" title=\"There is good reason why Harry and Meghan are so bad at being \u2018good\u2019\">Harry<\/a> and his celebrity chums against the <em>Daily Mail\u2019s<\/em> parent company, Associated Newspapers Limited. <\/p>\n<p>There was an air of nonchalance as the designer-clad claimants sashayed into court on Monday: Liz Hurley and her doppelganger son, Damian, Sadie Frost behind large glasses, and Hazza, hand in pocket, familiar face, warm smile. \u201cMr Mischief\u201d, according to ANL\u2019s barrister. Not a bit of it, insisted <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/independentpremium\/features\/prince-harry-king-charles-meeting-william-b2824458.html\" title=\"The sad truth for stubborn William is it\u2019s him not Harry who is looking bad now\">the Duke<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And so to the serious business of rebuttal and counterclaim in the witness stand. Here, Harry has form; what he lacks in intellectual acumen he more than makes up for with self-possessed sincerity; there is no doubting the Duke\u2019s firm belief in his own righteousness, his own truth and his own slighted ego. <\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-awdjp1-2 cbpRGD sc-awdjp1-3 image align-center\">\n<figure class=\"sc-1cbdeug-0 cXcwgU\">\n<div data-gallery-length=\"5\" class=\"sc-awdjp1-0 cztisH\"><\/p>\n<p><button class=\"sc-1uf4o3q-0 dkRtZs inline-gallery-btn\" id=\"trigger-autogallery-255745\"><span class=\"sc-1uf4o3q-1 hwVecx\">open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"sc-1cbdeug-1 sc-1cbdeug-3 gtVitN hgzWpY\">Prince Harry\u2019s bottom lip wobbled in court<span class=\"sc-1cbdeug-7 exGSyR\"> <!-- -->(<!-- -->Reuters<!-- -->)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>He was deliciously emphatic: there were no leaky friends, just murky journalists, a royal family stymied by the mantra \u201cnever explain, never complain\u201d and a wife whose life was made \u201ca misery\u201d. Harry\u2019s bottom lip wobbled. The ultimate empath, he visibly wore <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/voices\/meghan-thomas-markle-father-cut-off-culture-problem-parent-b2878741.html\" title=\"I\u2019m with you, Meghan \u2013 no one should lecture you on how to deal with a problem parent\">Meghan<\/a>\u2019s pain in court; better still, he weaponised it to remind everyone of the evil tabloid juggernaut that almost struck twice. (Lest we forget, Harry believes his late mother, <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/royal-family\/althorp-house-charles-spencer-marriage-b2660226.html\" title=\"Charles and Diana and the curse of the House of Althorp\">Diana<\/a>, was killed by the paparazzi chasing her car into that infamous Parisian tunnel.) <\/p>\n<p>The Prince doesn\u2019t just hope for a third press scalp; he believes he is owed it. Freshly pressed from the Californian sunshine, this is a man born so rich and famous he wears his entitlement like a magic coat; one perfectly tailored to meet his princely needs as both the son of a king and the millennial spokesperson for a dispossessed generation who have taken refuge from a dangerous world in wellbeing and identity quests. If only they had Harry\u2019s money and Harry\u2019s chutzpah. <\/p>\n<p>The Duke of Sussex is not an intellect, nor is he particularly good-looking. He once managed to be brave and dutiful in a military story that is now old hat, but it does not matter. What Harry has can\u2019t be worked for; his asset is not a stripe on his arm or a grade in an exam. No, the Duke\u2019s secret weapon, the lightning rod that gives him the space to air the same grievances all over again, is his (God-given) right to service his own agenda. <\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-awdjp1-2 cbpRGD sc-awdjp1-3 image align-center\">\n<figure class=\"sc-1cbdeug-0 cXcwgU\">\n<div data-gallery-length=\"5\" class=\"sc-awdjp1-0 cCveNB\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/22\/19\/APTOPIX_Britain_Prince_Harry_10676.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/22\/19\/APTOPIX_Britain_Prince_Harry_10676.jpg?quality=75&amp;width=320&amp;auto=webp 320w, https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/22\/19\/APTOPIX_Britain_Prince_Harry_10676.jpg?quality=75&amp;width=640&amp;auto=webp 640w\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\u2018The Duke of Sussex is not an intellect, nor is he particularly good-looking\u2019\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p><button class=\"sc-1uf4o3q-0 dkRtZs inline-gallery-btn\" id=\"trigger-autogallery-255746\"><span class=\"sc-1uf4o3q-1 hwVecx\">open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"sc-1cbdeug-1 sc-1cbdeug-3 gtVitN hgzWpY\">\u2018The Duke of Sussex is not an intellect, nor is he particularly good-looking\u2019<span class=\"sc-1cbdeug-7 exGSyR\"> <!-- -->(<!-- -->AP<!-- -->)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>He does not symbolically rule like <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/royal-family\/king-charles-royal-family-wealth-tax-prince-william-b2875940.html\" title=\"Our first billionaire king has some tough questions to answer\">his father<\/a>, and forgets the \u201chard-working royal\u201d shtick that Anne goes in for, ditto any save-the-planet efforts from the Prince of Wales. Harry understands that to save others, he has to save himself. Cue the archetypal millennial prince. A man-child who leans into an annual, voluble overshare on the condition that we all watch and someone else pays for it. Eye-wateringly entitled? Yes. But what did we expect? After all, Harry is a homegrown heady combination of hereditary principle and generational grievance. <\/p>\n<p>The bilious articles that have spewed from the right-wing press over the last few days are yet more evidence that the Duke of Sussex retains the capacity to trigger established British opinion like no one else. Meanwhile, his sense of self remains unwavering, his wife\u2019s overpriced jam flies off Californian shelves, and secretly, almost every underwhelmed, marginalised, debt-ridden young person cheers him on for charging ahead on his own pain-ridden mission. <\/p>\n<p>In 1997, the death of Harry\u2019s mother saw an extraordinary outpouring of national grief; the sudden demise of <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/life-style\/royal-family\/princess-diana-dodi-al-fayed-true-story-b2471206.html\" title=\"I was there for Diana and Dodi\u2019s summer of love \u2013 it wasn\u2019t like The Crown\">Diana <\/a>turned the tide on ideas of the British stiff upper lip. Thirty years on, her second son charges ahead, recasting that legacy for a new dawn and a very different generation. Cue the flame-haired knight, the campaigning prince whose righteous fight speaks to a millennial mindset, fed up with ideas of duty, deference, and privilege in a system that does not work for them.<\/p>\n<p>Be in no doubt that Harry is a pioneer. In the High Court the Duke\u2019s fame and fortune overshadowed his illustrious co-complaints; Liz Hurley\u2019s tears were but a footnote in a greater game, one small battle in a war for the truth cast in Prince Harry\u2019s name. It is no surprise that the same week Harry took to the stand in London, across the Atlantic, another \u201ctruth bomb\u201d was detonated \u2013 six Instagram stories from his new friend and Gen-Z counterpart, Brooklyn Beckham rocked the showbiz world. Sir David\u2019s unhappy first-born took down his uber-establishment celebrity family with various allegations in a move that was directly out of Prince Harry\u2019s playbook. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family. The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The words might have been written in <em>Spare<\/em>, and the parental response, when it came, had overtones of \u201crecollections may vary\u201d. <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/people\/news\/brand-beckham-brooklyn-peltz-victoria-david-b2904135.html\" title=\"I have seen behind the scenes of Brand Beckham \u2013 it wasn\u2019t always pretty\">Sir David Beckham<\/a> neatly opined to CNBC\u2019s Squawk Box on the dangers of social media, insisting that: \u201cchildren are allowed to make mistakes. That\u2019s how they learn&#8230; but you know, you have to sometimes let them make those mistakes as well.\u201d How very wise, how very patronising. To steal Harry\u2019s courtroom quote: how very \u201cnever complain, never explain\u201d.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-awdjp1-2 cbpRGD sc-awdjp1-3 image align-center\">\n<figure class=\"sc-1cbdeug-0 cXcwgU\">\n<div data-gallery-length=\"5\" class=\"sc-awdjp1-0 kfihIn\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/08\/18\/1909c079fcfccf81b03e0c26dc64b2a9Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY3OTgzMzUz-2.78992683.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/08\/18\/1909c079fcfccf81b03e0c26dc64b2a9Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY3OTgzMzUz-2.78992683.jpg?quality=75&amp;width=320&amp;auto=webp 320w, https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/08\/18\/1909c079fcfccf81b03e0c26dc64b2a9Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY3OTgzMzUz-2.78992683.jpg?quality=75&amp;width=640&amp;auto=webp 640w\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Meghan and Harry putting on a united front\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p><button class=\"sc-1uf4o3q-0 dkRtZs inline-gallery-btn\" id=\"trigger-autogallery-255747\"><span class=\"sc-1uf4o3q-1 hwVecx\">open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"sc-1cbdeug-1 sc-1cbdeug-3 gtVitN hgzWpY\">Meghan and Harry putting on a united front<span class=\"sc-1cbdeug-7 exGSyR\"> <!-- -->(<!-- -->PA Archive<!-- -->)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Reams of column inches have been consumed demeaning Brooklyn, the nepo-baby who threw his footballing father and pop-star-cum-designer mother under a bus. But most of it missed the point: possibly emboldened by his Californian mentor Harry, Brooklyn does not seem to care what the mainstream media thinks, he is entirely focused on his own truth, his own agenda and his (fluctuating) identity, independent of (but entirely dependent on) the Beckham Brand. <\/p>\n<p>Cue exasperated side-eyes and waspish comments about snowflakes and hypocritical spoilt brats, but the cynics who roll their eyes today are not the future. As we enter the brave new world of unaccountable individual platforms facilitated by remote Tech Bros, it is precisely those disaffected millennials and Gen Zs who will have their hand on the tiller. This cohort is on track for the first time since the Second World War to be poorer and less healthy than those who gave birth to them. Their myopic focus on self-help and wellbeing is explained by the increasingly fragile world they are about to inherit. <\/p>\n<p>With 13 fireplaces in a Montecito mansion and wealth beyond almost anyone\u2019s wildest dream, Harry\u2019s reality does not match his millennial peers, but his sense of grievance does. And there\u2019s the rub. For royalists and old school thinkers, it is infuriating that a man with so much, a Duke who flaunts his titles and privilege, simultaneously weaponises that entitlement to attack the very source of his good fortune \u2013 the House of Windsor and the press that has so doggedly emboldened its modern brand. <\/p>\n<div class=\"sc-awdjp1-2 cbpRGD sc-awdjp1-3 image align-center\">\n<figure class=\"sc-1cbdeug-0 cXcwgU\">\n<div data-gallery-length=\"5\" class=\"sc-awdjp1-0 gsNrUD\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/22\/12\/ab5a56e35f3c05fd512e5c85c471b448Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY5MTYzNTcw-2.81355873.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/22\/12\/ab5a56e35f3c05fd512e5c85c471b448Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY5MTYzNTcw-2.81355873.jpg?quality=75&amp;width=320&amp;auto=webp 320w, https:\/\/static.independent.co.uk\/2026\/01\/22\/12\/ab5a56e35f3c05fd512e5c85c471b448Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzY5MTYzNTcw-2.81355873.jpg?quality=75&amp;width=640&amp;auto=webp 640w\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"With 13 fireplaces in a Montecito mansion and wealth beyond almost anyone\u2019s wildest dream, Harry\u2019s reality does not match his millennial peers\" class=\"sc-1mc30lb-0 ggpMaE inline-gallery-btn\"\/><\/p>\n<p><button class=\"sc-1uf4o3q-0 dkRtZs inline-gallery-btn\" id=\"trigger-autogallery-255748\"><span class=\"sc-1uf4o3q-1 hwVecx\">open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"sc-1cbdeug-1 sc-1cbdeug-3 gtVitN hgzWpY\">With 13 fireplaces in a Montecito mansion and wealth beyond almost anyone\u2019s wildest dream, Harry\u2019s reality does not match his millennial peers<span class=\"sc-1cbdeug-7 exGSyR\"> <!-- -->(<!-- -->Netflix<!-- -->)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Only someone with Harry\u2019s level of wealth and security could burn down the house he was born into, secure in the knowledge he has another one, and in doing so speak for a generation who feel his anger but don\u2019t enjoy his agency. <\/p>\n<p>Despite all the Duke\u2019s many contradictions, the zeitgeist sits with Harry; that is why he\u2019s so compelling to watch. With a zealotry rarely found in secular society, the Duke relieved his pain this week to prove a point: to be attacked by the press is \u201ca horrible experience, and the worst of it is that by sitting up here and taking a stand against them, they continue to come after me\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201dHypocrite!\u201d Well may you cry. This is the man who trounced his family! But that family doubles as an institution of the state, and Harry as the millennial freedom fighter. In a post-truth world without a rule book, one overwhelmed by influencers and strongmen, the royal spare is simply sticking up for the underdog, much to the delight of his own misunderstood and maligned generation. <\/p>\n<p><em>Tessa Dunlop is the author <\/em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/buy.geni.us\/Proxy.ashx?tsid=3658&amp;platform=independentcouk_web&amp;GR_URL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.co.uk%2FElizabeth-Philip-Story-Marriage-Monarchy%2Fdp%2F1035402424%3Fascsubtag%3DIN%7C2906615%7C1035402424%7Cindependentcouk_web\"><em>of \u2018Elizabeth and Philip, the Story of Young Love, Marriage and Monarchy\u2019<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.independent.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week marked Prince Harry\u2019s third round of slogging it out in London\u2019s High Court, speaking his truth to the power that is the British press. With a win under his belt against the Mirror Group and an unprecedented apology and payoff from Murdoch\u2019s empire in 2025, the good money is on Harry and his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2249393,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2249392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/The-millennial-Prince-Harrys-double-entitlement-problem.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2249392"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2249394,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249392\/revisions\/2249394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2249392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2249392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2249392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}