Another day, another unexpected missive from Prince Harry. As his father the King hosted the Sultan of Oman at Windsor, honouring a key defence alliance between our two nations, the Duke of Sussex's latest interview landed.
This one, with GQ, sees him acknowledge that there are things that he, his family and the press would want to "draw a line" under as he reiterates his desire to reconcile with his family, while also saying that "some people don't want it to work out". "I want it to work out. With everything else that is going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile."
He goes on to encourage people to "let go of the past," saying that "there's enough drama in the world and enough drama in people's lives to continue with issues with family."
But there is one key point missing.
Most people with knowledge of the events that led to the Sussexes' 2020 departure from royal life would acknowledge that mistakes were made on both sides. But that was before the split was compounded by the very public airing of private family business in interviews with Oprah Winfrey, on Netflix and in Spare, among others.
Harry's plea to build bridges avoids any acknowledgement of his own part in his estrangement from his family.
Indeed the fact that his spokesman has felt the need to clarify that "it was absolutely not intended as a swipe at his brother or any other member of the family," suggests that his comments were open to interpretation.
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Maybe he is ready to "draw a line". He may, as he says, have "done the work" over the past six years, but how much more powerful would his argument be if he conceded that he and Meghan had got things wrong too?
Reconciliation is a two–way process and Harry cannot decide for the rest of the family when it is time to move on. After everything that has been said and written, who could blame them for wanting some reassurance that private conversations will remain that way?
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Meanwhile, for the royal family, who have today stood through a rain–soaked ceremonial welcome for their guest and who will continue their diplomatic duties late into the evening, the priority remains unchanged.
Whatever the latest headlines, they must rise above the noise and get on with the job.
Elsewhere in the interview, Harry speaks movingly about how he misses his mother Diana, Princess of Wales and shares that the King is "getting better", but also talks about coming from a "broken home" and how "you start to look back at your past and your parents as to what you have carried from them, what they've handed over to you, what you want to take on and what you don't".
He is, of course, entitled to reflect on his own childhood and the impact it has had on him. But if those reflections concern family members with whom he is hoping to rebuild relationships, they are perhaps best shared with a friend, rather than the wider world.
It's hard to see how Harry's latest very public comments can possibly serve as an olive branch.
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His intention, according to sources close to him, may not have been to stir the pot, but the publication of the interview, recorded in New York last month, on the day of a key State Visit, has once again risked distracting from the important work his family are doing.
Whatever his aim – and this was an interview about the impact of grief – it has once again put his family's private relationships under public scrutiny.
He may be ready to draw a line under the past, but reconciliation cannot happen on his terms alone.
And if he is genuine in his desire to build bridges, surely the best place to start is by restoring trust, rather than making another public declaration of his desire to make peace.
