The drama around Prince Harry is taking on an almost tragic air

The saga around Harry and Meghan has taken another grim twist.

Prince Harry has issued more damaging revelations.

He claims that his older brother, the Duke of Cambridge, attacked him in Kensington Palace. He also is reported to have given details as to how he lost his virginity in a field.

These grisly revelations shed light on the most private moments of him and his family. If it was a warts and all autobiography by a film or rock star it would be one thing. But it isn’t, it is the public outpourings of the second son to the king.

In a sense Prince Harry is free to say what he wants. After all he has walked away from the royal family to pursue his own path in life.

But he can hardly be unaware of how lopsided has become the narrative on his bitter dispute with his brother and father. The royal family adopt a policy of never complain, never explain. It is greatly to Prince William’s credit that he has stuck unwaveringly by this rule, and shown discretion and restraint. He must be feeling immense strain at the moment, and wanting badly to give his side to the story, but it would be profoundly damaging for the royal family if he did.

But what are the royals to do? The claims keep coming from a couple who have shown mind boggling hypocrisy. Harry and Meghan want to be free of royalty yet have made millions by giving interviews in which no-one would be interested if they weren’t in fact royal.

A couple with blessings from wealth to beauty proclaim sorrow for themselves. And a couple who take legal action to protect their privacy and who rail against invasions of it not only destroy the privacy of others but strip away the veil around their own most private moments.

With Harry now seeming deeply troubled, this is becoming a poignant, almost tragic, episode.