Prince Harry and Meghan arrive for an event in London. File/ AFP

Agnelo Rodrigues, Staff Reporter

At 35, has Prince Harry erred in leaving the abode of his ancestors to make a ‘better life’ with his wife and son? Seriously, has he? Isn’t 35 a good enough number to come of age to take a decision of that nature?

My friend Denzil is being hounded by his parents, merely a year into his marriage, to be a ‘man’ by finding his own abode. Perhaps Denzil could have used the example of the Queen’s benevolent attitude towards her extended royal family, to impress upon his parents that living under one roof is a ‘familial necessity’ that should be upheld. With Harry’s decision to step back from the royal family, Denzil has been partially denied from using the British monarchy for extending his stay indefinitely. However, Prince William is still there for the reckoning.

But aren’t there millions of Harrys and Denzils who are living life on their own terms and no one dare say a word to them? So why is Harry being singled out for making a decision that ordinary people make as part of their lives? If I would be permitted to speculate on one reason, I would go with the yet unrevealed postulation that Harry, Meghan and Archie cannot be left alone, because he, not she, doesn’t really understand what marriage is all about.

To start with, Prince Harry committed a royal error by getting ‘unequally yoked’ in marriage. Next, his stint as an Apache co-pilot/gunner in Afghanistan may have gotten him down in the dirt. But life is much more than a few months in fatigue and regimen. One comes face to face with life more vividly when he or she gets up from the ground and smells the coffee.

Meghan has had that feel, a harder brush with life before she shot to fame with the American TV serial ‘Suits’.

He surely needs help in handling the travails of married life. Meghan doesn’t; she has prior experience. And so the Sussexes can’t be left alone. And, with Archie onboard, surely not. They need to be Police(d). I mean as ‘Sting’ would: “Every move you make and every vow you break; Every smile you fake, every claim you stake, I’ll be watching you.”

Yes, their every move is watched like Harry’s mother’s was. But the plot thickened late last year. As Christmas neared, the 35-year-old and his family decided to follow the ‘star’ and it took them to far away Canada. Harry saw the light. He returned home but only to relinquish his royal title, public fundings and, of course, the Frogmore Cottage.

While the three wise men were advised to take a different route home so as to avoid King Herod and his punishment for seeing the ‘light’, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex actions invited a monetary penalty — the repayment of 2.4 million pounds spent renovating the Cottage for them.

While we are still on the ‘light’ issue, indulge me for a little longer as we look into the birth of creation as accounted in the book of Genesis. “God finally creates a suitable mate for Adam ... and brings her to Adam who says, ‘This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman for out of Man this one was taken. Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife and they become one flesh.”

The couple’s marriage in 2018 was a high profile celebration of love and though I don’t remember them taking the traditional marriage vows, Harry’s action resonates very much with the biblical writings.

It’s biblical, archaic and lost on most modern couples, I know. But it suits him, the significance of which many are yet to understand. And while the world focuses on what Prince Harry stands to lose, there is no mention on what he might eventually gain by upholding his love for his family. That would be hard to ascertain, as moral values cannot be quantified like the sum spent on refurbishing a Cottage. And that exactly may just be the greatness of Prince Harry’s decision.

Just a thought. What if Harry’s father, Prince Charles, had done something similar decades ago and moved along with his wife, Lady Diana, away from the media spotlight? Harry in all probability would be adored today for following in his father’s footsteps.