ANGELA MOLLARD: If Harry is smart, he’ll jump on a plane. This is the moment he must grow up and be there for his family… or face becoming irrelevant
More than at any other time in his life, Prince Harry is at a crossroads.
His 75-year-old father goes to the hospital for surgery, his sister-in-law is in the middle of a health crisis that requires weeks of recovery, and his brother, William, has taken time away from work to care for those he needs. Loves.
Without a doubt, this is the moment where Harry becomes irrelevant – or proves himself to be the man of character we once knew him to be.
Will the Duke of Sussex step up and be the adult his family needs, or will he continue to sulk from afar?
Prince Harry was a much-loved man in Britain until the traumas of recent years
Harry and Meghan at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany, last September
Harry has been working on Harry for years.
Everything has been seen through the lens of his own widespread suffering.
But right now it’s not about him. It’s not about heir or reserve, but about a person with a heart. It’s up to him to show that he really cares.
We can expect a lot from this special family, but essentially we want from them what we want from each other: kindness and compassion.
It’s when the great equalizer that is disease comes calling that they are most like us.
Harry is a man with great feelings. And now, as he approaches his fortieth birthday, this is the time when he must channel his emotions outward instead of inward – perhaps for the first time since his mother’s death.
If he’s smart, he’ll jump on a plane and fly to Great Britain.
He will not complain about safety or where he might stay, but will be the man who – like thousands of people across the country every day – provides the means to be with his family in the midst of their challenges.
We know Harry has a big heart.
This is the young man who felt deeply the suffering he saw in Africa, the soldier who had the courage to fight in Afghanistan and the compassion to create the Invictus Games.
He was a much-loved man in Britain until the trauma of recent years.
Quietly and without an agenda, this is the moment when Prince Harry must grow up, put the past behind him and be there for the ones he loves.