Letters: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex should stop whinging
SIR – I find myself wishing that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would stop whinging about their problems and expect us to be sorry for them.
We “ordinary folk” all have problems and need to cope as best we can without their wealth and privilege to help us do so. For sure, bereavement is traumatic, and we all deal with it in different ways.
Whilst we might not think so at the time, grief subsides and memories take over – it is up to us to put any unpleasant ones deliberately on the backburner and take some comfort from the good ones.
We keep ourselves busy and try to do what the person we’ve lost would wish us to do. There’s no point in wallowing in the sense of loss and self-pity.
My sister was in her very early teens when our dear father collapsed and died very suddenly at the age of just 48 (in fact, the day before my own 21st birthday). She didn’t actually walk behind his coffin but was fully immersed in all that went on during that dreadful time which left our mother quite literally speechless with severe shock for several weeks.
Was my so-young sister torn apart by that event to the extent that, in after-year, she fell apart and wept that it had damaged her life? Well, of course not.
At the time she continued with school and other studies, the family rallied round to support each other, and throughout her life she has cherished happy memories of her dad.
I think most of us have felt affection for the young, fun-loving, soldier-boy Prince Harry and I, for one, never dreamt that he might turn out to be a bit of a wimp, crying at the drop of a hat.
If he really is emotionally “fragile”, he needs the understanding support of, mainly, a wife who will encourage him to find peace, resilience and strength – not one who has her own agenda and, in turn, is moaning about how difficult it is to cope and life isn’t fair.
Harry found himself in the media spotlight, like it or not, from the day he was born. Meghan is an actress of some sort who’s been around the block a few times, is used to the camera, lights, publicity and the media attention that goes with being in the public eye.
Together, they need to decide whether they wish to lead the life of (a) celebrities or (b) royals.
If (a) then they must continue to use the limelight for their own ends (as, indeed, Diana did to a certain extent). If (b) they need look no further than the Queen for lessons on how to go on in return for their pampered existence.
If they can’t bear all the attention, let them hibernate somewhere to nurse their insecurities or emigrate to some foreign part where they can continue their efforts to change the world.
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