Taking the Flack: Prince Harry and the Royal Press Machine
The papers have been full of Prince Harry’s new girlfriend Caroline Flack, the presenter of Gladiators and, it has become clear, a full throttle Alpha Female and a hedonist of the first order.
But now The Sun has announced that Harry’s dumped Flack because he misses Chelsy Davy, quoting him – through a friend – as saying: “I lost the best thing that ever happened to me and I’m paying for it.”
I wonder if this is the true voice of the Prince, who has proved time and again that you can’t keep a young, rich and eligible man from seeking out trouble in one form or another, or the voice of the Royal press machine.
It seems more likely that the Royal press machine is helping to distance Harry from his troublesomely party-friendly girl before things get out of hand. They’re clearly very good at talking sense into the Prince and have an excellent relationship with the editors of the tabloids. Seeding the line that Harry is heartsick for Chelsy is an immaculate piece of flackery in action – and the Sun’s source also tellingly insists that Caroline Flack is “just not the Royal Family’s type”.
One thing is for certain, the press are not going to be able to feast on the headline “The Prince and the Showgirl” for much longer. Whether this volte face is followed up by Harry returning to the girl he is said to miss remains to be seen; having been discovered in the wrong part of a nightclub indulging in a dose of the forbidden, Harry will no doubt have to settle for a nice girl from a good school who adores men in tight polo kit. Someone more country set than metropolitan uber-babe.