Prince Harry’s clunky Mandela day address

Every time that a picture of the Duchess of Sussex arriving at the United Nations is beamed around the world, it gets harder to avoid thinking the words: ‘she’s running’. Rumours of Meghan Markle’s presidential ambitions have been growing over the past few years, and she has done little to assuage them. Meghan’s every public utterance and appearance is carefully stage-managed in order to give the impression she has Something Important To Say, and that she may, yet, be the all-encompassing saviour an anxious America needs.

But today, for once, she was not the star attraction. Instead, her husband-cum-cavaliere Prince Harry was thrust into the spotlight, with a high-profile address to the UN on Nelson Mandela day. For those of us who remain sceptical about Harry’s intelligence and public speaking credentials, it’s an event we have been eagerly anticipating for the past week. Would he crash and burn? Accidentally cause a diplomatic fracas? Forget his speech and insult his hosts? Or deliver a statesmanlike, powerful and righteous address that causes his detractors to eat their words?

In the event, Harry’s speech was much the same as his other recent offerings, combining a sense of self-righteous anger with a clunking reminder of his (and his family’s) right-on credentials.