Passage: Prince Harry on the royals' future
It happened this past week -- a headline-making admission by a member of the British Royal family.
Prince Harry, fifth in line to the throne, posed a provocative rhetorical question during an interview with Newsweek:
To quote the Prince: "Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be king or queen? I don't think so" -- immediately adding, stiff upper lip at the ready, that "We will carry out our duties at the right time."
Prince Harry recalled the trauma of the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and the terrible public role he was called upon to play at her funeral when he was just 12 years old:
"I don't think any child should be asked to do that under any circumstances."
In life, Harry says, Diana taught him important lessons: "My mother took a huge part in showing me an ordinary life, including taking me and my brother to see homeless people. Thank goodness I'm not completely cut off from reality."
Following a young manhood that included both tabloid-worthy misbehavior and army service in Afghanistan, Harry says he now finds pleasure in trying to live an ordinary life, including, he says, doing his own food shopping.
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Together with brother William and sister-in-law Kate, Prince Harry says they are trying to modernize the monarchy -- but not too much.
"It's a tricky balancing act," he says. "We don't want to dilute the magic."
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