Why does everyone regard Prince Harry as *young* ?

[DottyHarmer]

I was pondering this whilst washing up…

Both his supporters and critics all talk about him as if he were a young and innocent chap, finding his way in the world, but he is 36. I could list any number of other 36-year-olds who are viewed, quite rightly, as fully-adult males, and are judged as such, yet Harry for some reason has this Peter Pan cloak on.

As I said, both sides take this view. His critics are of the “clown prince” opinion and his supporters always call him and Meghan “a young couple” or talk about his family not financially supporting him or about his issues as if he is a good 15 years at least younger than he is.

Going off the point here but the other day I saw a photograph, online, of Archie and Lilibet. Lilibet was asleep, completely wrapped up and there was no sign of her having any limbs, she just looked sort of - round. I couldn't imagine anything more uncomfortable for a baby. She was asleep but when she wakes up she will be wanting to move her arms and legs about, all babies do.

I didn't dream the photograph, I definitely saw it but can't find it now.

I think there was a fake photo with an anne geddes baby cut and pasted in. Was it that one by any chance?

I think it’s because hr has only recently married and was a bit of a playboy.

Well he's a lot younger than his granny, isn't he?

I suppose he and everyone else of his generation in the Royal family, are the youngest generation. So are seen as comparatively young. But yes, in the real world, he would be seen as a moaning manchild if he pulled this shit.

Why do you care? The obsession with H&M on this board is wierd.

@Plumtree391

Going off the point here but the other day I saw a photograph, online, of Archie and Lilibet. Lilibet was asleep, completely wrapped up and there was no sign of her having any limbs, she just looked sort of - round. I couldn't imagine anything more uncomfortable for a baby. She was asleep but when she wakes up she will be wanting to move her arms and legs about, all babies do.

I didn't dream the photograph, I definitely saw it but can't find it now.

Hilarious Plum, haven't you heard of swaddling before? Are you 5?

I started this thread because both "sides" view him as young. It doesn't really matter what my personal opinion is, I just thought it one thing that both camps agree on. Unless I've got it wrong, and some actually see him as the average 36-year-old man.

Because he behaves like a spoilt child?

@ThatsNotMyPinkUnicorn

I think a lot of people will always see him as the eleven year old walking behind Diana’s coffin, tbh.

Exactly this. I don't think either of them will ever be able to get away from being those two children.

Because he comes across as immature tbh.

He's the youngest that's old enough to be interesting on an adult level. If William had married and had children shortly after meeting Kate, and George was now 18 rather than 8, Harry wouldn't be seen as "young." It would be all about young George, just like it was all about William and Harry at that age rather than Charles's siblings at that time. When Harry was 18, Edward was mid-30s and newly married (just like Harry now), but we still rarely heard about him, because the media focus was all on William and Harry.

I've criticized him a lot, but I have to say I don't think it's fair to regard him as an average 36-year-old. Nothing about his upbringing was normal, and he never had the chance to develop many of the basic life skills that most 30-somethings master in adolescence or young adulthood. I rolled my eyes along with many of the rest of you at his complaints that his father "cut him off," but remember, this is someone who was raised with no expectation of ever needing to pay his own way or have any sort of conventional career. If we're to believe their version of events, he perceived that he had no choice but to quickly figure something out because his wife threatened suicide if he didn't quit the only job he knew how to do. If he had it to do over again, he'd probably have made different decisions about what education and career training to pursue earlier in life. But once things got to that point, his options were either 1) quickly find a way to make a lot of money without really knowing how to do anything useful, or 2) dramatically scale back their lifestyle. I'd have chosen 2, personally, but if Meghan vetoed that and he wanted to keep her happy, he didn't really have any better options. For whatever reason, he chose 1, and is now reduced to profiteering from family gossip because it's the most lucrative thing he has to offer.

@ThatsNotMyPinkUnicorn

I think a lot of people will always see him as the eleven year old walking behind Diana’s coffin, tbh.

Yes, this is an important factor

Plus of course those of us in our 50s are just about old enough to be his mother, so he is younger generation from that perspective.

@MaMelon

I think they’re conflating young with immature.

or possibly dim...

I think it suits the media narrative for harry to be portrayed as young. It's a ploy to pull at our heartstrings as we remember that vulnerable little son of Diana following in the way of his mum's coffin, consumed by grief and overwhelmed by all the ghoulish well-wishers bellyaching down Pall Mall. I suppose he is still quite young considering the experiences he's had - he's served in the forces, set up Sentebale and Invictus and worked as a much-loved patron for lots of organisations. That's quite a bit to have achieved by your mid thirties.

Tbf, the one that is infantilized the most is Kate. She's always being described as 'coming into her own', 'blossoming into a future queen in waiting' and 'finding her voice' and other such saccharine nonsense. Bleurgh. She's pushing forty!

The whole way the British press covers the RF is bloody weird; I don't know how they can stand it. I suppose Harry couldn't and so buggered off - good luck to him and his young family!

@MinesAMassiveSalad

Because he comes across as immature tbh.

Not now, surely and to address a previous post, he's not spoilt. I was say he is quite unspoiled as is his brother, William.

I don't get it either. I saw a post on here weeks ago on here saying they were a young couple who had just had a new baby.

I would class a young couple as in their early 20s.

He is nearly 37 and she just turned 40. They are actually older parents.

It's bizarre.

When Diana died at 36 she had a 15 year old and a 12 year old I think.

That was a young parent. Harry and Meghan certainly are not young parents

Immature. The way he went off the rails at one point shows he’s a loose canon, unpredictable and not thinking about his actions.

@Longdistance

Immature. The way he went off the rails at one point shows he’s a loose canon, unpredictable and not thinking about his actions.

He didn't go off the rails any more than a lot of other young lads. If he hadn't been Prince Harry we'd have heard nothing about it and it really wasn't much.

@Darker

1) Prince Harry’s dad hasn’t even started his job yet.

2. ‘Young’ is anyone a decade younger than me.

His future job.

He works as royal right now, and has for decades.

I think it's because time flies by and it doesn't seem long since he was that 12 year old famously walking in Diana's funeral procession.

@DogFoodPie

I think it's because time flies by and it doesn't seem long since he was that 12 year old famously walking in Diana's funeral procession.

Rubbish. It was a lifetime ago. I was at school then. It doesn't feel like yesterday. It's nearly 25 years ffs

@DogFoodPie

I think it's because time flies by and it doesn't seem long since he was that 12 year old famously walking in Diana's funeral procession.

What bollocks. It's was decades ago.

Perhaps it's just "young" as in William Pitt the Younger, or Young Mr Grace.

Rubbish. It was a lifetime ago. I was at school then. It doesn't feel like yesterday. It's nearly 25 years ffs

Sorry but there are a lot of us convinced the 90s was only 10 years ago. You are clearly only in your early 20s the same as Harry.