By Sheila Mckenzie-
In addition to attracting criticism for comments detracting from the big occasion of the unveiling of Princess Diana’s statue, Piers Morgan has also said the late princess’s two sons inherited some of her other less appealing traits, like implacable stubbornness and a refusal to give an inch in an argument.
Describing Princess Diana as sometimes ”ruthlessly brutal” when she felt let down by somebody, including family, the former television presenter connected stubborn traits of the late princess to her two surviving sons, Prince Harry and Prince William. Morgan recounted incidences involving Sir Elton John, and the Duchess Of York, both of whom he said were summarily ostracized for incurring the wrath of Diana.
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”She could be unbelievably charming but also utterly impossible and infuriating”, Morgan said, casting a dark shadow over a statement from her two sons who in a joint statement at the statue unveiling, said: ‘Today, on what would have been our Mother’s 60th birthday, remember her love, strength and character – qualities that made her a force for good around the world, changing countless lives for the better’.
Prince Harry himself spoke about breaking the cycle of genetic pain, and it a well established fact that people can inherit character traits from their parents, positive and negative. Morgan went as far as stating that the two brothers had resulted to physical fighting on some occasions, adding that ”now they live on separate continents, scrapping out their differences isn’t really an option.
Instead, they’re going to have to find it in themselves to do what their mother found so very hard to do herself – back down and show forgiveness”, Morgan said.
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Expressing the inevitability of the feud between the two brothers, Morgan said: ”if one of my brothers suddenly went rogue and appeared on TV with his wife to spray-gun the rest of the Morgans as a bunch of nasty uncaring racists, he wouldn’t be getting a Christmas card any time soon. But the one thing that may bring them back together, and it would be the same in my family, is their mother”.
Morgan is correct that the allegation of racism made by Prince Harry runs deep, and really puts logical pressure on Prince William and the rest of the royal family to convince Harry that his perception was mistaken. No allegation of racism is light, and the natural reaction from a misunderstood party caught up in such allegations should be clarity and explanation. A false allegation of racism made against one’s family publicly would be very hurtful to take, but will also call for a confrontation of that allegation. Bad blood between the two brothers won’t disappear overnight, but require a process of healing through candid discussions.
Hiding Feelings
In one of his more compelling articles for The Daily Mail, which will put no smiles on either of the feuding brother’s face, Piers Morgan said the two men ”have had decades to practice hiding their real feelings from the public, and trust me, it’s easy”, he wrote.
Dubbing it ‘not great’, the former Good Morning Britain host reacted to the anticipated monument, which was unveiled on Thursday by Diana’s sons, Princes William and Harry, in front of the world’s press on what would have been the late Princess’ 60th birthday.
As fans shared their thoughts on the statue, which showed the princess flanked by three children – with Lorraine Kelly believing it ‘didn’t do her justice’ – Piers couldn’t resist criticizing its likeness to the royal.
He wrote on Twitter yesterday: ‘Let’s be honest – it’s not a great statue of Diana.’ His criticism attracted criticism from other twitter users, the comment was somewhat insensitive, but was Morgan’s true opinion of the statue. Morgan is not one for keeping his opinions quiet.
His criticism would have carried more weight had he suggested with confidence that stronger likeness of princess Diana was achievable, questioning the skill level of those who made it in the process. Even better, would be if he vowed to finance a more accurate likeness of the former Princess, and actually went through with it, producing a statue agreed by the public to be a stronger likeness of the former icon. Morgan expressed memories of princess Diana that gave two sides of the late princess whom he said he got to know very well in the last 18 months of her life.
He expressed the positive and the negative before stating how saddened princess Diana would have been to see her two sons in such a rift before the whole world.
Addressing the rift between the brothers, Diana’s birthday and how she would have wanted them to ‘bury the hatchet by being less stubborn, uncompromising and more forgiving than their fabulously feisty mother ever was’.
‘… it’s not so hard to guess what she would have wanted most for her big birthday: peace and harmony between her sons.
‘William and Harry’s feud would have broken Diana’s heart.
‘She lived for those boys and showered them in constant love and affection, and she’d have been devastated to see them shower each other in vitriol and hatred these past few years.
Late Princess Diana would have been heart broken at brother’s rift Image: BETTMAN/GETTY IMAGES
Morgan is right, but his comments miss out the high likelihood that Princess Diana would have actively sort to get to the bottom of the feud and correct each of their errors in the pursuit of a reconciliation. Its the only way harmony of any sort can be achieved in such a high tension dramatic fall out between two high profile brothers.
That’s a difficult task when dealing with individuals who may be bent on being convinced the other is completely wrong in the fall out, as could be the case in theory. The effect of hard words spoken do not disappear from emotions so quickly. Prince William will struggle to erase the memory of his brother telling the world that he was trapped in the royal family, words that showed just how hard negative feelings between them had become.
The idea of being trapped is not perceived in complimentary terms in any context and can be particularly hurtful and embarrassing in the context expressed by Prince Harry. It would have gone down very badly with Prince William and the entire royal family- this was the impact Prince Harry wanted his words to have at the time. That’s how hurt he felt about the complaints he made openly.
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