King must learn from mother... and cut Sussexes out

THE late, great Queen Elizabeth II had a huge love for her family but always, in the last resort, placed her duty to her country above it.

- Patrick O’Flynn

Hence it was that she chopped her favourite son, Andrew, out of the ranks of frontline royals as scandal engulfed him and then torpedoed her favourite grandson Harry’s wish to be half-in, halfout of the royal firm – a proposal that would have seen him enjoying most of the privileges but accepting few of the attendant responsibilities.

King Charles III is clearly an equally doting head of the family and even Spare, the distinctly unsparing memoir of Prince Harry which generally depicts the King as a poor father, contains references to him seeking to do his best for his “darling boy”.

So clearly an agonising decision is looming for Charles in regard to his coronation in early May: does he put Harry and Meghan on the guest list despite their repeated breaches of confidence and predilection for turning a royal ringside seat into media riches?

An agonising decision but not, in the end, a difficult one: for the answer must be “no”. The Coronation will be a great moment for Charles – a date with destiny and the culmination of an apprenticeship lasting more than 70 years.