The Reluctant Royals

Prince Harry has cast doubt over the willingness of his generation of Windsors to follow in the queen’s footsteps

- Kirstin Buick

THEY’RE candid, vulnerable and not afraid to admit their own in securities – so much so, it seems barely a week can pass without one of the British royal trio digging deep to reveal the turmoil of their soul.

And in so doing Prince Harry (32) and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate (both 35), are changing a British institution long mired in musty tradition and stiff-upper-lip

The three know that being royal comes with responsibility and they’re determined to drag what’s good about the royal family into the 21st century.

“We don’t want to dilute the magic,” Prince Harry said in a recent no-holds barred interview with Newsweek. “The British public and the whole world need institutions like it.

“The monarchy is a force for good – and we want to carry on the positive atmosphere the queen has achieved for over 60 years. But we won’t be trying to fill her boots.”

Here’s what’s come out of the once stuffy House of Windsor lately.

HEAVY IS THE HEAD

Anyone who watched the award-winning TV series The Crown will know the weighty bejewelled headdress is hardly something to covet. A British monarch has to give up practically everything they once loved, along with any semblance of a normal life.

The crown is as much a weight on the spirit of a king or queen as it is on the head – and yet no one has actually said as much. Until Harry, that is.

“Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be king or queen?” he said in the Newsweek interview. “I don’t think so, but we’ll carry out our duties at the right time.”

Smart move, observers said: he assured the public the royals would do the right thing and take up the mantle when the time came.