PLATELL’S PEOPLE: Don’t let your obsession with vengeance destroy your future, Harry

How devastating for Prince Harry that his phone-hacking claim against The Sun newspaper has been thrown out by the High Court.

The judge decreed there was a ‘lack of credibility’ about the Duke’s claims and he had signed two ‘statements of truth’ that were ‘inconsistent’. Mr Justice Fancourt’s conclusion that Harry’s case ‘had not reached the necessary threshold of plausibility and cogency’ was withering and must have cut the Prince to the quick.

After all, Harry has spent the three and a half years since he left these shores thirsting for revenge against his sworn enemies — the Royal Family and the Press.

He’s been perpetually aggrieved — a far cry from the joker of old we knew and loved. Brooding away in his multi-million dollar home in Montecito, he has done his best to wreak vengeance for slights and injustices he claims to have suffered.

Whether it’s through the Oprah Winfrey interview, his and Meghan’s Netflix docu-series (for which they took 30 pieces of silver to betray his family), his memoir Spare or the courts, Harry’s always the victim who deserves reparation.

How devastating for Prince Harry that his phone-hacking claim against The Sun newspaper has been thrown out by the High Court (File Photo)

This High Court setback won’t stop him demanding it. In January, he is due back in court for other aspects of the case against News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun. He’s also pursuing the publisher of the Mail in the courts.

What I fear is that Harry is being consumed by this obsession with revenge. Why can’t he be happy living with the woman of his dreams, raising their two adorable children Archie and Lilibet, forging a life and identity for himself and his family.

Harry often cites his mother Princess Diana as his inspiration, so perhaps he should learn from her example. After her prolonged and painful divorce from Charles, she carved a new, free and independent role championing the causes she cherished — removing land mines, promoting awareness of mental health, homelessness and HIV Aids in Africa.

She was driven not by revenge but a desire to do good. And, unlike Harry, she was quick to acknowledge the privilege being an ex-HRH gave her.

The Prince’s troubled soul needs healing and peace. But vengeance is messy and can destroy lives. Don’t let it dictate your future, Harry.

Why did Camila ever plump for DiCaprio?

Seeing portly Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio, 48, jumping off his luxury yacht in St Tropez got me wondering what his sublimely fit, on-off (more off at the moment) girlfriend Camila Morrone, 26, ever saw in a bloke with a man-gut that could have sunk the Titanic all on its own. 

Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire spend some time with girls on a yacht during holidays in St Tropez on July 20, 2023

Leonardo Dicaprio’s girlfriend Camila Morrone relaxing at the beach in Saint-Tropez 

As ITV chef James Martin is named as the bullying cook who verbally abused staff on his show with a volley of expletives, he explains his outburst.

His grandfather died, his home was burgled, adding: ‘I was diagnosed with cancer on my face and had to have surgery . . . since then it has returned and I have regular treatments.’

All sad to hear James, but I’ve had so much surgery on my face to remove cancers that it looks like a jigsaw puzzle without make-up — yet I’ve never taken it out on people who worked with me.

Barbie balderdash

Self-appointed feminist influencer Brittney Garcia-Dumas, 34, says a moment in the Barbie film will empower a generation of gals.

It’s when the Barbies accept awards and instead of saying ‘thank you’ say ‘I deserve it’. So Barbie is now a feminist icon!

To think we feminists spent decades smashing through glass ceilings for this self-regarding, delusional twaddle.

Westminster wars

Tony Blair insists that a ‘future generation’ will take us back into the European Union as Brexit is a ‘constant sadness’.

What about the sadness of the illegal Iraq War he took us into, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of UK troops and slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians?

Having insisted women can have a penis, Keir Starmer finally comes out to say a woman is an ‘adult female’. Still rather ambiguous, as any adult man can self-identify as an adult woman. The bit Keir leaves out is whether an adult female can, er, still have male bits.

Bank on a scandal

I’m cancelling my NatWest bank account after the Farage fiasco.

First, because its woke CEO Dame Alison Rose disclosed private information about him to the BBC. Second because she earned more than £5 million a year at a bank nearly 39 per cent owned by taxpayers. Now she could pocket a multi-million- pound payout, even though nearly £1 billion has been wiped off NatWest’s shares.

It’s one way to wipe the smiles off of customers’ faces.

‘Wallace’ pie gives King a chuckle

King Charles and Queen Camilla creased up laughing when they saw a specially made royal-themed pie, complete with big ears and a wonky crown at the 140th annual Sandringham Flower Show, baked in honour of our new Sovereign. 

Charles quipped, a tad churlishly, that it made him look like something out of Wallace and Gromit. Maybe when you’re King, no one tells you that you actually do. 

When King Charles and Queen Camilla saw a specially made royal-themed pie, complete with big ears and a wonky crown at the 140th annual Sandringham Flower Show, Charles quipped that it made him look like something out of Wallace and Gromit

Angelina Jolie has agreed to mediation to settle the dispute over her and ex Brad Pitt’s Miraval vineyard in Provence. While he has moved on, starring in movies, she seems stuck in the past. The only one laughing now is Jennifer Aniston, the wife Brad dumped for Ange. Perhaps raising a glass of chilled Miraval rosé. . . 

Much cheering in Tory HQ as Sadiq Khan wins a High Court appeal to expand the hated Ulez charge, ignoring Sir Keir Starmer’s pleas to delay it. That’s another couple of dozen seats for Rishi in the next election. 

Sorry Meg, it’s a no-mow area 

The Duchess of Sussex nobly backs a campaign calling for the media to ‘break the gender binary’ portraying men and women in stereotypical roles. They should instead show men cooking and cleaning, women plumbing and mowing the lawn. I don’t know about you, but I have never seen a man voluntarily grab the Hoover, nor in my entire life, a woman mow the lawn. 

What is not to admire about seeing Mick Jagger celebrate his 80th birthday with friends, children and ex Jerry Hall, especially when so many of his contemporary rockers have died? David Bowie, John Lennon, Bob Marley, George Harrison and Christine McVie are no longer with us, to name a few. Rolling Stone Mick’s gathering no moss but plenty of wrinkles — gracefully. 

Defending his £10 million deal as the face of the Qatar World Cup, David Beckham says ‘anything I go into I do every kind of check’ to make sure it is the ‘right thing morally’. The soft lad must have missed the bit about Qatar imprisoning gay people and its appalling human rights record. Perhaps the ‘check’ he’s interested in is in a Qatari cheque book. 

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