Welcome to “The Scoop” — the ultimate back-to-the-office water cooler cheat sheet, your go-to source for all things everyone really wants to know! Get the latest on everything from the political swamp maneuvering in D.C. and Hollywood drama to jaw-dropping small-town shenanigans from Paula Froelich. Subscribe to her newsletter here.
While some in England (and America) scratch their heads at all the ill-informed and poor choices Harry has made since leaving the family, his old schoolmates from his days attending the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst aren’t that shocked.
“He loved being ordered about and told what to do,” one person who attended Sandhurst with Harry told me recently. “He was quite good at being in the military and really liked it. He especially liked being told what to do.”
Meghan Markle ‘wearing the pants’ in relationship with Prince Harry: Ex-classmate
As for his personality in school, the former classmate said: “He was a good guy actually. We all liked him. It was funny though – he did like to be the center of attention. If he wasn’t getting enough he would do something ‘wacky’ to get it until all eyes were back on him.”
FILE – Britain’s Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, waves during the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix auto race at Circuit of the Americas, on Oct. 22, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Nick Didlick, File) 
BOGOTA, COLOMBIA – AUGUST 15: Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Britain’s Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, visit Delia Zapata Art Center in Bogota, Colombia on August 15, 2024. (Photo by Juancho Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images) 
LONDON, ENGLAND – JUNE 03: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Friday, June 3, 2022 on the second of four days of celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee. The events over a long holiday weekend in the U.K. are meant to celebrate the monarch’s 70 years of service. (Photo by Matt Dunham – WPA Pool/Getty Images) 
Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry (R) and his wife, Meghan Markle embrace at The Invictus Games in The Hague on April 16, 2022. (Photo by REMKO DE WAAL/ANP/AFP via Getty Images) 
FILE – Britain’s Prince Harry leaves after attending an Invictus Games Foundation 10th Anniversary Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, on May 8, 2024. Prince Harry, actor Matt Damon, and World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres are set to speak at the 2024 Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting in New York on Sept. 23 and 24, the Clinton Foundation announced Thursday. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File) 
FILE – Prince Harry leaves the High Court after giving evidence in London, Tuesday, June 6, 2023. A judge ordered Prince Harry on Monday, Dec. 11, 2023, to pay nearly 50,000 pounds (over $60,000) in legal fees to the publisher of the Daily Mail tabloid for failing to knock out its defense in a libel lawsuit. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File) 
Prince Harry and Meghan visit children at the Lights Academy in Abuja, Nigeria, Friday, May 10, 2024. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have arrived in Nigeria to champion the Invictus Games, which he founded to aid the rehabilitation of wounded and sick servicemembers and veterans. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) 
DUSSELDORF, GERMANY – SEPTEMBER 16: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex are seen during the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games Düsseldorf 2023 at Merkur Spiel-Arena on September 16, 2023 in Duesseldorf, Germany. (Photo by Joshua Sammer/Getty Images)
“It’s sad he’s no longer talking to his family – but I can’t say I’m surprised. Again, he liked a firm hand and he found Meghan. She’s clearly wearing the pants in the family and is the driving force so, really, she’s perfect for him.”
The classmate’s assessment of Harry jibes with former Vanity Fair editor and friend of the Royals, Tina Brown told The Ankler last month: “In England, they’re going to constantly make a career out of trashing Harry. But actually, the thing about Harry is he’s very good at being Prince Harry. And that’s the tragedy of all of this, is that he is the most talented member of the royal family, without doubt, in terms of being a prince, which is all he does know how to do … he’s really sort of flawless at it… he’s so naïve and really unschooled in the ways of the world. Being Prince Harry means that I doubt if he ever booked a table in a restaurant. The army was great for him, and he was extremely good and competent in there. That really helped turn him into a real person.”
As for Markle, she added, “I think he’s pretty much in the thrall of Meghan. The trouble with Meghan is that she has the worst judgment of anyone in the entire world. She’s flawless about getting it all wrong. She really is.”
With Markle, “(Harry’s) the lamb to the slaughter in this situation,” Brown said. “He was terribly impressed by Meghan. He thought that she knew all, she persuaded him that she was the savvy Hollywood wheeler-dealer who could come in and make them stars and all the rest of it. And he just sort of blindly followed her like a child, really.”
