The duke got the game renamed the Heads Up FA Cup Final in honour of his mental health partnership between the FA and his Heads Together campaign.
‘It’s not a weakness to talk about mental health,’ said William to England manager Gareth Southgate. ‘The idea of being able to be open about your emotions and fix a problem is a positive – it’s a strength not a weakness.’
Southgate talked candidly of his own mental health problems after famously missing a penalty in the semi-finals of Euro 96, eliminating England from that year’s tournament.
‘When you’ve messed up as badly as I have,’ he recalled, ‘and you’ve realised that’s the worst you’re going to face, professionally that liberates you to say, “Right, let’s just attack life” … But the inner voice in your head, which is such a key to well-being … can be running away with itself and catastrophising.’
‘I think emotions, feelings are kind of like a bit alien over here,’ responded William. ‘We don’t really want to touch them too much … I think men find that very difficult to talk about, talk about stuff that really bothers them.’
William’s aim with Heads Up was to ‘harness the influence and popularity of football to help show the nation that we all have mental health, and it is just as important as physical health … As president of the FA, I saw an opportunity to bring the sport I love … to help lead the next phase of the conversation … to harness the power of football to really change the way men think about mental health.’
‘Wonderful initiative,’ declared one fan, ‘helping people talk about their feelings … Great work! Your mother would be so proud of the work you and your wife do, William. Keep up the fantastic work.’
On Tuesday 4 August, Kate wore a face mask for the first time in public when she visited Baby Basics UK, the Sheffield-based baby clothing bank, where she helped unpack donations from over nineteen British brands and retailers that had chipped in to donate supplies for ten thousand of the nation’s most vulnerable families.
‘Future king’s interests in his nation’s well-being,’ wrote another fan approvingly.
‘Future best king,’ said a third. ‘Very intelligent man, well-deserved to be king … Using sport is a great idea because of the amount of people that watch and take part.’
As it turned out there was nobody to watch on Saturday 1 August 2020. The Heads Up FA Cup Final was played in a deserted stadium and Arsenal beat Chelsea 2–1. But William presented the trophy to the winners – doubtless through gritted teeth – and he got his mental health message across while doing his job as the future king.
When the royal family were trying not to shout too hard at each other in January 2020 over Harry and Meghan’s departure, Prince Harry himself was not receptive to the idea of the separation being only for a year’s ‘trial’. But as this book went to press, the conclusion of that trial period was only six months distant – ending on 31 March 2021. So will Harry and Meghan ever come home again?
It is easy to forget how the couple’s plan was always for some sort of ‘come-and-go’ transatlantic existence. Without the intervention of COVID-19, Harry, Meghan and Archie were planning to return to Frogmore Cottage in the summer of 2020, and they were due to be shuttling back to Britain for a further visit over Christmas and New Year – in curious contradiction of their ecological disapproval of excessive transcontinental travel. Somehow, the acquisition of an £11 million mansion on the California coast has changed all that.
The previous pages have described how Meghan Markle has spectacularly taken brother William’s place in the direction of Harry’s life and dreams – not just in his heart. Finding Freedom was the evocative title of the book that told their side of the story in August 2020, and whether or not the rebel couple did collaborate with the authors, the book’s dramatic title sums up the cultural and personal issues at stake.
Americans totally ‘get it’. They empathise with what they see as Meghan’s rejection of British royal stuffiness and they welcome her husband as a recruit to that cause. They see Prince Harry as a new American.
Brits are taking longer to get the message that the once-close pair of brothers are close no more. But Harry’s rapid purchase of his Pacific Coast palace would seem his definitive answer to the question posed by one of the cartoons in this book – why on earth should William’s younger brother want to be the next Prince Andrew? Harry has found himself a better way.
It is not the cosy stereotype of Diana’s two sons that once brought warm smiles to our faces. But it is definitely a positive and thought-through alternative to the old ‘heir and spare’ syndrome that has so frequently failed both the nation and the individuals ensnared.
A friend of the boys has compared them facetiously to slices of pizza separating – both slowly moving apart but with strands of cheese still stretching between them. Why should we be surprised that two brothers have grown in different styles towards their radically differing destinies? Is not that the very nature of brotherhood – until time and reflection bring them back together in fashions we cannot yet imagine?
The die was clearly cast in January 2020 when William stepped back personally from the battle and left his brother to face the officials alone – that rage again. William could have played the peacemaker at that point – and perhaps he still may? Will the day come when the heir temporarily forgets being a future king, extends his arm again and resumes being an elder brother? For if there is one person who could have intervened to correct the settlement imposed by the elderly monarch and the over-strict courtier at the start of 2020, it was surely William. That was
