By James Riswick
Assistant Opinions Editor
Last week while watching CNN and Fox News, I was horrified to hear that Great Britain’s Prince Harry had frequently smoked marijuana and gotten drunk during the summer.
The British media quickly and cleverly penned the youngest child of Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and the third in line to the throne “Harry Pot-head.”
I was horrified, though, not because of what Harry had done, but because of the reaction by both the British and American media.
Apparently, the good people at CNN and Fox (and who knows how many other networks) thought it newsworthy enough to devote over an hour each to the story. While it’s worthy of mention, it certainly didn’t deserve hours of coverage and commentary, or the front cover of People magazine.
On CNN, Larry King had a three-person panel, which included Kitty Kelley, the American who wrote the controversial book “The Royals” and who really needs to stop wasting her life in such a ridiculous way.
Both she and fellow author Robert Lacey criticized the media for prying into the Royal family’s lives. Yet, what do they both do for a living? Pry into the Royals’ lives.
Americans apparently find the concept of a monarchy fascinating, so I guess I can understand the fascination with the Royal family. Being curious is OK, but this level of attention is absurd. People should not care this much. Is Harry a bad role model? Absolutely, but that has barely been mentioned.
CNN, Fox News, BBC and News of the World (the British newspaper that broke the story) never even brought up the fact that Harry is now a bad influence on Britain’s youth.
Also, there has hardly been mention that by handling the situation as well as he did, Prince Charles showed parents everywhere a good way to deal with a child’s substance abuse.
By calmly talking to his 17 year old immediately, and by taking him to a drug rehab center to experience the dangers of drug abuse, Charles set a good example for parents everywhere.
Is anyone paying attention? Heck no. Instead, they are focusing on the personal story and the lives of the Royal family.
The fact that Harry likes to get high is his own family’s problem, not anyone else’s. All the speculation about how this was allowed to happen, and how Charles is as a father, and how Diana’s death had a role in Harry’s behavior is just that, speculation. And pointless speculation at that.
How are Kelley and others like her supposed to know what goes on in the Windsor’s lives when they don’t know them at all? In fact, after writing her book “The Royals,” Kelley probably wouldn’t be allowed to come within a mile of Buckingham Palace just to watch the changing of the guard, let alone sit down with the Queen and discuss her grandchildren over tea and crumpets.
During the Larry King interview, Kelley said: “One thing (Princes William and Harry) have learned and learned the hard way is that they have no friends.” Ouch.
Who does this woman think she is? How can she, or anyone for that matter outside of family and friends (although apparently Royals don’t have any), know this?
I’m sure Royal “journalists” fancy themselves as some sort of historians, recording the lives of the Royal family as they happen. But they’re not. Real historians don’t make baseless claims or come up with headlines such as “Harry Pot-head.” They’re just gossipers who like digging up trivial dirt.
For instance, during a polo match, Prince William was heard saying a “stream” of four- letter words toward a photographer. That’s it, throw the little bugger in the Tower of London.
As a country that along with most of Europe laughed at America for all the Lewinsky scandal hoopla (and rightfully so), the British media seem slightly hypocritical when nitpicking the Windsor’s every move and word.
At the same time, though, Americans aren’t exactly showing signs of moral superiority on the subject. CNN and Fox News were covering the story in the exact same manner the British media were: personal dirt instead of the bigger picture.
With parents in America, Britain and other countries dealing with their children’s substance abuse, it’s a shame we can’t use Harry’s experiences and Charles’ reaction to them as an example. If we don’t, then there’s no reason for people to care.
Sure, Harry could be considered a bad influence, but I doubt that has much of an affect, especially in America. As if some 12 year old in Boise is going to say, “Prince Harry’s smoking pot? That’s rad, I should do it too!”
What this whole mess has shown is that (duh!) there is a problem with drugs out there that needs to be dealt with, preferably by parents. Charles did an admirable job of dealing with the situation immediately, and the way he did it set a good precedent for parents everywhere.
The problem is that no one seems to be noticing that. Instead, people are enjoying watching the ongoing soap opera that the Royal family seems to embody.
Britain should really just go back to the good old days when monarchs had all the power. As a Canadian with ties to the Commonwealth, I know that could be a bad idea at times.
But on the upside, the Queen could resign her current duties of waving and drinking tea, and get medieval on these pathetic “journalists” who aren’t mentioning the big picture.
It would make all our lives a little less annoying.
January 24, 2002
