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So what do we have here on Prince Harry's birthday? It looks like olive branches are being given to him, but are these olive branches authentic or are they going to be snapped in half as soon as the branch is given to Harry?
Prince William recently came out to publicly wish Prince Harry a happy birthday on the Royal Family's social media accounts. This is noteworthy because it is the first time the royal family has shared such a public birthday greeting to Harry since he and Meghan accused unnamed royals of being hostile in their bombshell Oprah interview last year. Harry was celebrating his 40th birthday on Sunday with his family in California.
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For King Charles and Prince William to come out and wish him a happy birthday on the royal accounts, despite their clearly strained relations, is definitely interesting. Anything the royal members do in the UK is calculated - there is no element of coincidence among them. Everything is done deliberately, whether it makes sense or not. So for them to publicly reach out to Harry on his birthday like this was certainly a calculated move.
First of all, it's highly unlikely that William or Charles actually wrote the tweets themselves. Charles probably doesn't even know how to use Twitter! This was done by their social media team. Secondly, I think this "olive branch" extended to Harry is disingenuous and fake. And thirdly, Harry isn't naïve enough to fall for it.
While wishing someone a happy birthday may seem like a polite gesture, given William's ego and stubbornness, I don't believe his intentions are entirely genuine. The royal family is doing things like this to try and bring Harry back into the fold and be reassociated with them. But the truth is that they need Harry more than he needs them at this point.
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The reason for this calculated olive branch is that the royal family knows their days are numbered. Both Charles and Kate have faced health issues recently, and Charles is getting older. His reign so far has been underwhelming and the popularity of the monarchy is plummeting fast over the last two years. Everything from Charles' coronation to the tour of Kenya has been lackluster.
Meanwhile, Harry has had multiple successful tours and projects that have received great publicity. His trip to Columbia with Meghan where she spoke Spanish went viral. He has an engagement coming up in New York next month that will surely garner attention. So the royal family cannot compete with the positive press Harry receives. They realize Harry is only getting bigger and more popular since leaving their fold.
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They must know that trying to go against Harry directly would not work in their favor. Harry is the son of Diana and enormously popular in his own right. His loyalty to Meghan is also a trait not commonly seen among royal men. So this public display of unity is a calculated move to try and get Harry to boost their image by being seen with them. But I doubt it will work long term.
While Harry may want to remain cordial for the sake of polite relations, there is no way he will fully trust or believe in the royal family again after how he and Meghan were treated. He is too smart to fall for empty gestures. William wishing him happy birthday publicly is absolutely a strategic move rather than a genuine show of affection or goodwill.
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In the end, the royal family has no choice but to try charades like this. They cannot defeat Harry by continuing to oppose him. His popularity and success outside of their realm just continues to grow. So small gestures showing unity are the only cards they have left to play from a losing hand. But make no mistake, this is just a game to them - and it's checkmate as Harry is now beyond their control and influence.
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