New Year blues have hit the Royals with Prince Harry in the firing line

Air travel at this time of year is not my thing – really I don’t like it any time – I’m much happier in boats but there is no direct ferry from Belfast to Holland now or at any time of the year.

So I have to be content and that’s not easy.

It’s the weather you see. What gremlin decided we should be battered by storms, heavy rain and ice cold temperatures at this time of year when we’re still on a high from Christmas? I’ve been awakened twice this week by storms pounding my home, overflowing the guttering, and leaving me an unwelcome lake at the front gate.

The family won’t visit in bad weather, shopping is a hazard without wellies and that extra space in the garden I dug over last autumn to devote to growing vegetables is under water too.

It would take a succession of heat waves to dry out my garden and unwanted ponds around the place.

The saga of Prince Harry - once spare to the heir – saw me reading more newspapers than is usual and, surprisingly, I ended up feeling a bit sorry for him. He needs the Mum he lost when barely into his teens. Maybe our other Royals are not all they seem and then I wondered do the Royals really need an army of press officers to speak for them when Harry does the job so well.

Couldn’t Megan have been the voice for the Commonwealth nations with the wise Princess Beatrice making sure they did the job properly?

Just think of the situation the people are in: half of our health service workers are on strike or would like to be, teachers definitely think their job should be better paid, rail workers all across the land are oblivious to the fact their strike actions could mean their jobs would become obsolete sooner than they think, and home working of staff in various organisations has left the rest of us fuming at the declining service we the public have to endure.

And I suspect that’s only the half of it.

Do we need the Royals bickering amongst themselves whilst the people struggle to keep money coming in and food on the table? Indeed what has Prince Harry started as he reveals, consciously or not, that The Firm should embrace change to ensure the respect of the people.

This is my week for getting last year’s tax returns completed. Working with figures is a personal nightmare as I don’t get on well with gadgets such as calculators and I’m not great at filing papers.

Prince Harry’s battles have been a welcome distraction. I’m on his side.