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So far, he has poured out his feelings in 416 pages of often harrowing memoirs, as well as in periodic public statements.
So is it too much to hope that Prince Harry will heed the words (and the warning they contain) of one of his father’s most devoted fans, Three Degrees star Valerie Holiday?
I ask because Holiday, who performed regularly for King Charles, has broken her silence on why she believes the group stopped receiving invitations to perform at private royal parties after the mid-1980s.
It was, he tells me, because of the perceived indiscretions of Sheila Ferguson, the member of the group who really caught Charles’ attention.
“I thought the relationship should have been kept private because it was so sensitive,” reflects Holiday, 76, who is touring Britain with band members Freddie Pool and Jessie Wagner.
‘I didn’t like the idea of that being put down on paper. It’s about the image of a country and that’s not nice to me.
“I did not agree with what he did. It was in bad taste.”
The Three Degrees meet Prince Charles after a charity show in Eastbourne, Sussex, in July 1978. Left to right: Sheila Ferguson, Helen Scott and Valerie Holiday
Charles dances with The Three Degrees at the charity event. The group performed at his 30th birthday party and later at his wedding.
Ferguson certainly seemed to be the young prince’s favourite, but she did not want, she said many years later, “to be an object of desire for him”, describing Charles as “a womaniser”.
Holiday prefers to dwell on the innocence of her first encounter with the future King.
“We were asked to do a charity event for Prince Charles in Eastbourne,” she says. “He came on stage and danced with us.”
Such was their charm that the trio performed at her 30th birthday party at Buckingham Palace and later at her wedding party.
Holiday adds that there is no prospect of a reunion, artistic or otherwise, with Ferguson: “Sometimes it’s better to leave things as they are.”
“Sheila wanted to pursue a solo career. We didn’t realise she was going to leave until it was already in the early stages. It was a very traumatic time, like a messy divorce.”
Annie Mac meets Madonna
Annie Mac may be considered royalty on the airwaves, but she felt like a spare part when she met Madonna last year.
On her podcast Sidetracked With Annie And Nick, the DJ says: ‘I got a text from my friend, who knows Madonna, saying, “She’s having a private party.”
“When she walked in, we all stood up, like she was the queen. She looked at me without looking at me, then she looked at my friend and said, ‘Oh, it’s you,’ so she started talking to my friend.
‘It was a ten-minute period where I felt really uncomfortable.’
Lucky Laura has found her own place in the sun
Laura Hamilton has been showing Britons holiday homes for more than a decade as presenter of A Place In The Sun, but it’s only now that she’s taken the plunge and bought her own property abroad.
“I’ve just bought a house in Mallorca,” she tells me at the National Television Awards at London’s O2 Arena, where she wore a jewel-encrusted tulle dress by Isabell Kristensen.
Laura Hamilton in a jewel-encrusted tulle dress by Isabell Kristensen at the National Television Awards at the O2 Arena in London
“It’s my first overseas property and it’s quite daunting, but I have to practice what I preach… so now that I’m doing it myself I can give that first-hand experience to the people I help, holding their hand through the process.”
The Spanish property, in Pollensa, is currently being renovated and Hamilton, 42, who lives in Surrey, reveals: ‘I’ve learnt that no matter how much experience you have, you’re always going to make a mistake.’
The Bishop of Motorcycling Travels to New Zealand
The Book of Proverbs speaks of the “desire of the lazy man,” but Queen Camilla’s favorite priest is leaving for the Antipodes for a quarter of next year.
Richard Jackson, the motorcycling bishop of Hereford, has told his parishioners he will be leaving for New Zealand on sabbatical from January to April. He said he hopes to “catch up on his reading”.
Jackson, 63, who accompanied Camilla to the coronation, is the Clerk of the Wardrobe (senior clergyman) in the royal household.
The Queen is said to admire his preaching, which must be stronger than his work ethic.
Suchet against Beethoven
Classic FM presenter John Suchet has subjected Beethoven to an investigation worthy of his brother David’s interpretation of Poirot for his latest book.
“Beethoven’s music has been my companion in the best and worst of times, but I find it difficult to forgive him for the pain he caused those around him,” she says.
‘This book includes some truly surprising and not entirely welcome discoveries.’
All will be revealed when In Search of Beethoven is published next month.
French passports for Davina and her son
Davina McCall revealed last year that she was trying to come to terms with her past by applying to become French like her late mother, Florence.
Having acquired dual citizenship, he says his 17-year-old son Chester has also been accepted. “We’ll keep it in the family,” he tells me.
Davina McCall at the NTA Awards at the O2 Arena on September 11
“It’s the best feeling to have a French passport, and now my son is about to get his.”
The Long Lost Family presenter, 56, has two other children, Holly, 22, and Tilly, 20, with ex Matthew Robertson.
McCall, who was 12 when she first used drugs with her mother, was left living with her grandparents at age three when Florence returned to her native France.
