Ross Clark

Harry, Meghan and the absurdity of the awards industry

Is the prince really a ‘legend’ of aviation?

  • From Spectator Life

Can I have a Legend of Aviation award please? I deserve it for the time I flew Aeroflot and lived to tell the tale. Then there was the time I flew from Denmark to Amsterdam, taking off from a snowbound runway in a twin-propped plane which looked like something out of Biggles; that was pretty hairy, too. But alas, I guess there wasn’t enough room on the list of this year’s honours, to be presented in a Beverley Hills ceremony compered by John Travolta. Prince Harry made the cut, along with Buzz Aldrin, but it seems I’ll have to wait until next year.

Harry and Meghan have achieved something useful: they have exposed once and for all the sheer vacuity of the awards industry

Yes, Prince Harry really is on the list – much to my puzzlement. I am sure that his two helicopter tours of Afghanistan were noble, but does he really deserve to be honoured along with the man who was second to walk out of the small capsule onto the surface of the moon?   

Harry and Meghan have become like Idi Amin with his chestful of spurious medals – they are weighed down with meaningless gongs that have been bestowed upon them by friendly organisations.

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