Poor Prince Harry. On Sunday night, he performed the most important official engagement of his life, representing the Queen at the Closing Ceremony of London 2012. Yet as he walked to his seat, he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights of the estimated one billion people watching.
Now 27, he has spent years playing the role of sideshow joker and playboy prince but this time he knew our eyes were fixed on him – and we saw that something was missing. No, not the trusty Locog lanyard that had hung around his neck for the previous two weeks. Not a tie – he looked dashing in a pale blue one – nor his brother, away on RAF duties in Anglesey. Not his father (although where was he?). No, what was missing from the VIP box at the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night was this: a girlfriend.