AMANDA PLATELL: A rare glimpse of the warm hearted Harry of yore makes us want more

This week as his wife Meghan was flogging her jams and his father King Charles was juggling his cancer treatment appointments with royal duties, a sullen Prince Harry made a fleeting visit to the High Court in London.

He was there to demand the reinstatement of full protection when he comes to Britain – protection removed in 2020 after his split from the Royal Family.

His KC Shaheed Fatima told the court dramatically: ‘There is a person sitting behind me whose safety, whose security and whose life is at stake.’

How pitiful to see Harry whining about ‘inferior treatment’ after he decided to up sticks and live in California, then cast his vitriol at the family he left behind.

While he was in court, the King and Queen were on their visit to Italy, where Camilla revealed the secret of their 20-year marriage was the ability to laugh together.

Well, the laugh was on ludicrous Prince Harry, so imbued with his own sanctimony that he’s prepared to risk the multi-million pound costs of this court case.

But then, suddenly, hot out of the High Court, the old prince reappeared, the one full of caring who created the Invictus Games for wounded soldiers, now making a surprise visit to Ukraine to meet war victims.

He flew to the Superhumans Centre in Lviv, a clinic that treats injured soldiers and civilians.

What is not to love about the Harry of yore, talking to the victims of that ruthless war? His face full of compassion is that of a fellow traveller, a man who has seen war and the brutality of it.

If only we could see more of that Harry, please. Not the entitled victim prince, but the warm-hearted man he was born to be.

Prince Harry at the High Court to appeal the Home Office’s decision to stop his police protection 

The Lousy Lotus

The stand out star from The White Lotus has to be Aimee Lou Wood, she of the buck teeth.

But now the third series is over someone has to say it – the show was horrible. Not just because of the humid set in Thailand but also in its portrayal of women such as Chelsea, played by Aimee. Living off sleazy, rich guy Rick – twice her age – it was repulsive. Not one of the female characters was convincing and the sex scenes were tawdry.

Creator Mike White, who has spoken about his struggles being gay, should learn how real women live and make love.

Aimee Lou Wood at the Los Angeles premiere of HBO’s The White Lotus Season 3

Mickey’s Big Brother

Oscar-nominated actor Mickey Rourke is irresistible on Celebrity Big Brother – where’s he’s being paid £500,000 – as he lumbers around like a weathered dinosaur making deeply inappropriate comments about gay housemates for which he has been given an official warning.

And so honest of the 9½ Weeks star to admit his life’s imploded now he’s on a minor TV show: ‘I’ve nobody to blame for my ship sinking except myself. I put my finger on the button at 14 and I never took it off.’

Hollywood actor Mickey Rourke, who is being paid £500,000 to be on Big Brother, has made several inappropriate comments abut gay housemates during his time on the show

Much excitement as fashion houses Prada and Versace merge, a triumph for designers to the stars, Donatella Versace and Miuccia Prada. Although given Miuccia’s clothes made her look like a cross between a leprechaun and a dwarf from a Snow White movie, why would any woman with thousands want to fork out on them?

Miuccia Prada attends the 2023 Costume Institute Benefit celebrating ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’ at Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was announced this week that fashion houses Prada and Versace are merging

Seven police officers were hurt after five of their vehicles pursuing a BMW being driven ‘suspiciously’ caused a pile-up, closing the A1. Five cop cars to chase a driver? A laugh-out-loud moment for any of us who’ve had our homes burgled only to find the police turn up two days later, or not at all.

 Medical Miracle

After becoming the first British woman with a transplanted womb to give birth, Grace Davidson, 36, is planning a second child.

Wonderful news for all concerned – not least her sister Amy who donated the womb. 

Yet, while celebrating this miracle which involved 20 doctors, nurses and specialists funded by charity Womb Transplant UK at unimaginable cost, we should not lose sight of the thousands of women also desperate for a child who have been waiting years for IVF treatment on the NHS, longing for their own little miracle.

Now that almost everyone is on slimming drugs such as Wegovy, the old-fashioned ‘eat less and don’t stuff your face’ franchise WeightWatchers has reportedly filed for bankruptcy. A premature decision, surely, as each person I know who’s been on a slimming drug put on half a stone the moment they stopped taking it. 

 I’m delighted my magician friend Steven Frayne, formerly known as Dynamo, is getting rave reviews for his show Up Close And Magical. But I declined his invite to a preview, as the last time I went to one of his shows someone shouted: ‘Hey Dynamo, can you please make Amanda Platell disappear . . .’

 Staunch monarchist that I am, I’m bewildered that King Charles and Queen Camilla had a private audience with the Pope in Italy. They’re both divorcees who remarried and haven’t exactly lived a chaste life together.

 Despite saying she had only four days to live after a car crash, Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre is miraculously out of hospital in Australia claiming her husband is a violent abuser. If she’s right, why did Perth’s courts put a restraining order on her, not her husband? Why do their children live with him not her? There’s something about all this that makes even me feel a little sorry for Andrew.

 Westminster Wars

Obsequious ex-minister Michael Gove, who betrayed Boris Johnson, is expected to receive a peerage in Rishi Sunak’s honours list – no doubt for services to treachery.

SO much for Labour’s vow to stop the small boat gangmasters. Only five have been convicted this year with a record 6,642 migrants arriving on Channel crossings – a higher rate than under any Tory government.

Meanwhile, our Net Zero civil servants spent more than £700,000 on businessclass and premium economy flights helping to save the planet. The carbon footprint of business class flights is three times higher than economy, used by us plebs who pay their salaries.

WAG Rebekah Vardy has lost once more against Coleen Rooney in the latest round of the Wagatha trials. She must now pay £1.6million towards her rival’s court costs. The ridiculous vacuity of these women married to rich footballers beggars belief. Why should they be allowed to clog up our courts with their witless vanities? 

 The bottom line for Trump

Rather grotesquely given the global economic turbulence, Donald Trump boasts that nations are clamouring to speak to him. ‘These countries are calling me up, kissing my a**, dying to make a deal.’

Which must remind the Orange One of the days he was entertained by his former mistress Marla Maples.