He was once regarded as the ‘royal family joker’.
But since his notorious departure, Prince Harry‘s happy-go-lucky personality traits have been pulled into question.
It is well known that Harry was allowed greater licence than William as he was not expected to inherit the throne.
He was often spotted sticking his tongue out in photos and previously led the family’s tradition of exchanging humorous gifts.
But royal expert Ingrid Seward claims even Harry’s mother got some of his traits wrong.
Seward, who has spent the last 40 years following the Firm, wrote that Princess Diana once told her William was ‘very sensitive’ and Harry was ‘very lively’.
At the age of nine, Harry reportedly turned to his brother and declared: ‘You’re going to be King; it doesn’t matter what I do.’
Put another way, according to Seward, he saw this as a licence to do almost whatever he wanted.
Since his famous departure, Prince Harry’s happy-go-lucky personality traits have been pulled into question
Ingrid Seward wrote that Princess Diana once told her William was ‘very sensitive’ and Harry was ‘very lively’. Diana is pictured with a young William and Harry in 1991 on a visit to Canada
According to Seward Harry saw his ‘spare’ title as a licence to do almost whatever he wanted. A young Harry and Diana are seen smiling together
The young royal was even said to have given the late Queen a shower cap emblazoned with ‘Ain’t life a b****’ in a comical gift exchange.
But the editor of Majesty magazine said: ‘When he married Meghan and left his homeland for America, instead of being happy with his increasingly luxurious lifestyle, his life and children, he became hell-bent on alerting the world to what he considered were failings within the monarchy.
‘The “joker” Harry appeared to be a thing of the past and he revealed he had inherited some of his father’s more unattractive characteristics.’
Among these characteristics picked up from his father is his ‘self-pitying approach to life’.
It appears Diana may not have recognised this self-pity in his personality or perhaps it is a characteristic he acquired after her death.
As a child Harry was doted on by his mother who described him as ‘her little baby’.
But he often struggled in the shadow of William, being the younger and less academically gifted brother.
Harry was just 12 years old when his mother died and he was forced to grieve in public with the world watching him closely.
He admitted suppressing a lot of his feelings and ‘bouncing off the walls’ when it all came ‘fizzling out’.
In her most recent book My Mother And I, Seward wrote that Harry had trouble articulating himself and being taken seriously by his family.
As a child Harry was doted on by his mother who described him as ‘her little baby’. Diana is pictured with Sarah, Duchess of York (left) and Harry in 1990
Ingrid Seward has spent decades covering The Firm and its highs and lows – from the War of the Waleses, to Toegate to Megxit and beyond
Diana is captured helping Harry put on his shoes on the steps of Marivent Palace on in 1987 in Palma, Majorca
Seward, 77, has spent decades covering The Firm and its highs and lows – from the War of the Waleses, to Toegate to Megxit and beyond.
She wrote: ‘His relationship with the Queen was very much characterised by Harry being the joker, and when he had something serious to say to her, he had very little idea how to go about it, like his father before him.’
Perhaps this was why he felt the need to reveal ‘the truth’ about the royal family in his and Meghan’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Many bombshell allegations were made by the Sussexes, including that Meghan was not given any royal advice and they had their security unfairly revoked.
In the interview Harry said he was ‘trapped’ and ‘didn’t see a way out’, adding his brother and father were in the same position.
Writing in his book, Charles III: The Inside Story, Mail columnist Robert Hardman described the interview as ‘the most astonishing unburdening of family secrets since the late Princess of Wales sat down with the BBC’s Martin Bashir in 1995’.
After the interview Harry’s cousins Beatrice and Eugenie spoke out to ‘sympathise’ with him, adding that his ‘voice was rarely heard within the royal family’.
A source told the Mail on Sunday the cousins felt Harry never had the opportunity to speak his mind.
They went on to add that Harry was viewed as the ‘resident joker’, adding that ‘eyes would roll’ when he ventured to discuss more serious matters.
Harry often felt jealous of his brother, which gained him the nickname ‘spare’. Diana and Harry are pictured in 1992 on the Depth Charge ride at Thorpe Park
Harry sticks his tongue out while being held by his mother in 1988
At the age of nine, Harry reportedly turned to his brother and declared: ‘You’re going to be King; it doesn’t matter what I do.’ Diana is pictured with her sons in 1995
Harry waves to the crowds as he travels in an open carriage with Diana, William and the Queen Mother during Trooping the Colour in 1989
Later, in his memoir Spare, Harry aired his grievances and bitterness with the family, describing himself as the ‘spare’.
He wrote: ‘I was the shadow, the support, the Plan B. I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy.
‘I was summoned to provide back-up, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow.’
Seward claims Harry had a good relationship with his father until he moved to America, ‘unlocked his inner self and started using his position as the spare to make a noise’.
She said: ‘He had discovered a way of making himself the centre of attention and that was by dissing his family, about whom he felt increasingly bitter.’
Put another way, Harry found the way to be heard was by speaking with a platform.
Despite his ‘joker’ status being pulled into question, Harry has been seen attempting to channel some of this humour in recent appearances.
In 2022 he released a video for bereaved military children at Christmas disguised in a Spiderman costume, urging the youngsters to have fun in footage for Scotty’s Little Soldiers.
In his memoir, Spare, Harry aired his grievances and bitterness with the family
Harry was just 12 years old when Diana died and was forced to grieve in public with the world watching him closely. He is pictured with Diana in 1994 in Northampton
William was reportedly more reserved than his brother. Diana smiles as William shares a joke with a young girl, pictured in 1990
At the end of the video he pulled off the mask to reveal his face and smiled as he wished the children a Merry Christmas.
He was also seen at the King’s Coronation joking and laughing with his cousins, even miming Eugenie’s heavily pregnant bump to make her and husband Jack laugh.
In a 2023 interview with Stephen Colbert he made the host laugh at the start of the show by labelling the extra chair next to him in the studio as ‘the spare’.
He even appeared to use an expletive which was bleeped out by the show when describing a piece of equipment he did not have on his expedition to the North Pole.
But others claim the ‘family joker’ role has been taken by Charles or even Mike Tindall, who have both been known to crack a joke in otherwise formal royal occasions.
It is believed Charles, who is known for favouring a fun tie, is the one carrying on the family joke Christmas gift tradition and has even shown his light-hearted side by appearing in an episode of Coronation Street.
In recent years, the King’s private character has come under fire from the disillusioned Harry, who claimed that the ‘older generation’ of royals had a ‘nearly zero-tolerance prohibition on all physical contact’.
However Penny Junor in the 1998 book Charles: Victim or Villain? said Charles’s private persona is ‘completely different from his public one’.
The book claimed Charles built his sons a ‘massive’ tree house in a holly tree, which became affectionately known as Holyroodhouse after Holyroodhouse Palace, the Queen’s official residence in Edinburgh.
In recent years, the King’s private character has come under fire from the disillusioned Harry. Charles and Diana are pictured at home in Kensington Palace with William and Harry in 1986
A young Harry holds the family pet rabbit with Charles and Diana at Highgrove House
Seward claims Harry had a good relationship with his father until he moved to America, ‘unlocked his inner self and started using his position as the spare to make a noise’. William and Harry share a joke with Prince Charles on the ski slopes in Switzerland
Mike Tindall has also long been known as a joker, famously telling his camp mates in the reality show I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! that he once ripped his trousers in front of his mother-in-law, the Princess Royal, while dancing.
Of Harry, Seward wrote: ‘The anger aimed at the monarchy, the British people, his father and stepmother, was totally unnecessary.
‘His anger eventually destroyed his credibility in other areas of his life, and his grandmother the late Queen found herself in an impossible position.
‘However much she loved Harry – and she did – she couldn’t condone the way he was speaking about the institution of the monarchy that she had spent seventy years preserving.’
Perhaps being the ‘spare’ allowed Harry greater licence to show his light-hearted side, but the opportunity to speak frankly also caused indisputable damage to both his reputation and that of the Firm.
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