King Charles should let Harry back into the fold

First, it was a flagpole. Back in 1997, inside the Windsor bubble based at Balmoral – where the priority was two princes whose mother had just died – it made complete and utter sense for no flag to fly at Buckingham Palace. Protocol dictated one didn’t have the Union Jack at half-mast at the institution’s headquarters.

Those mourning Diana, Princess of Wales, and those writing the newspaper headlines didn’t give a fig for protocol. The passions being displayed on the streets of London prompted headlines such as ‘Show Us You Care’ and ‘Where Is Our Queen? Where Is Her Flag’? And in the end the tabloid keyboard warriors delivered a visible Queen and a flagpole that was bare no longer.

Twenty-five years on, King Charles has demonstrated he’s learnt some of the lessons from that very difficult week in the Queen’s life. He’s already ushered in a more emotionally literate reign.