JENNI MURRAY: I know why Charles is said to be less irritated by Harry than William. It’s so clear what must change

What a pleasure it was to see Prince Harry coming home, his familiar glum look gone and, instead, the lovely, cheeky, bright smile we all remember from the pre-Meghan days.

It felt like the old Harry was back. I have a feeling he’s bored to tears in America, seemingly doing very little apart from making brief appearances in his wife’s far from impressive lifestyle show.

Things seem to have gone well with his father and he’s managed to keep whatever was said between him and King Charles at their ‘private tea’ at Clarence House to himself so far. I suspect he’s learned the hard lesson that telling stories that make your family feel you can’t be trusted leads to anger, disappointment and further separation.

He’s intimated that he wants to come home more often and bring his children with him. It suggests he wants them to know their grandfather and their cousins. He wants his family and his friends to be back in his life.

Compared to the misery guts his older brother, William, can sometimes be, Harry felt like a breath of fresh air. But clearly not fresh enough to blow away the deep resentment William feels about the way Harry told tales in his memoir, Spare – personal information that should have remained private.

There’s no denying Harry crossed the line when he wrote about his family for financial gain, but he has the easy manner and more relaxed attitude to life that is typical of the second child.

As a mother of two sons, Ed and Charlie, contemporaries of William and Harry, I’m fascinated by the royal brothers and the way they seem to typify the first and second son syndrome with which I’m all too familiar.

From a young age, the older boy knows what he wants to be when he grows up – or in William’s case has to be. While the younger one has no such concerns.

Compared to the misery guts his older brother, William, can sometimes be, Harry felt like a breath of fresh air. But clearly not fresh enough to blow away the deep resentment William feels about the way Harry told tales in his memoir, writes Jenni Murray

William is the conscientious, diligent one who worked hard at school, did well at university and takes his future as king extremely seriously, much as his father did when he was Prince of Wales. Even with his wife smiling supportively beside him, William’s smile always seems a little tight.

He even managed to make last week’s light-hearted visit to the WI look as though he was inspecting troops. Serious and a little dull is William’s go-to demeanour.

I reckon it starts with the parents. First time around the responsibility of a new baby is awesome. You worry about getting it right. Are you in tune with their moods and needs? How best can you encourage their development into sensible, hardworking adults? It’s serious stuff.

The second time around you know what you’re doing. The atmosphere in the house is more relaxed. Number two smiles and laughs more – and gets away with picking tulips from a neighbour’s garden because he brought them home as a present for Mum.

He can’t be bothered with sums and spelling, has no idea what he wants to be as a grown-up and, as a teenager, prefers sport to A-level French class, yet somehow manages to get through the final exam. He grows up to be a natural charmer, always breezing in with good humour.

Charm is what the new Harry had in bucketloads when he came to England last week. He checked in on all his charitable concerns, armed with a radiant smile and a witty quip, even balloon sword fighting with a child. And he made it all look so easy, whether it was the Diana Award charity, the wounded of Invictus or the exhausted in war-torn Ukraine. If it was all a pre-planned charm offensive, it worked.

It may not have convinced William, but it seems to have softened his father. The Royal author, Tina Brown, said last week that Charles is currently less irritated with Harry than with William, and I would argue that, after Harry’s burst of cheeriness, Britain is too.

Of course, William has had a very tough time as both his father and his wife are suffering from cancer, but, as Brown observed, the huge success of Harry’s return to the UK is ‘bad news for the Prince of Wales’.

I doubt I’m alone in being won over by this new Harry, who was cheered when he went to Nottingham and managed to find a spare £1.1million for Children in Need.

It seems at last he’s learned that whingeing and pouring out Californian therapy speak does not endear him to the British people, whereas trotting around being playful and helpful will go a long way to fixing things.

Whether William can find a way to forgive his brother remains to be seen, but it’s sad to see siblings who were once so close and supportive of each other, trapped in anger and resentment.

If the same chasm opened up between my boys, what would I do to repair the damage?

First, get an apology from the youngest. I’d point out to Harry that he was a fool to say in an interview this weekend that he had ‘no conscience’ about sharing so many family secrets in Spare. It was a huge mistake and he should admit it. Writers always upset their families if they allow them to be the subject of their work, as I know to my cost.

He must beg to visit William and Catherine in person and, on bended knee, apologise for all the slights he and Meghan have slung at them. Then he should bring in the kids. I’m sure Archie and Lilibet would be delighted to get to know their cousins, George, Charlotte and Louis. I can imagine Louis, at seven, and Archie, six, being as thick as thieves.

Then the King must let them both know how much, during his illness, he needs William and Harry.

My boys could not have been more loving and attentive when I was laid low by my broken back. The royal boys need to share responsibility. Harry can ease some of William’s worries and William can then cheer up a bit while not making Harry feel like a spare.

They need each other. They’re family. It’s love that counts. And perhaps most importantly, it’s what their mother would have wanted.

This pumpkin would be a giant squash

The estimated weight of the impressive gourd is 390 kilos – equivalent to around three baby elephants

What is the point of growing a pumpkin that weighs as much as three baby elephants – as one Surrey couple succeeded in doing this week?

How would you carry it to the kitchen – and surely there’s only so much pumpkin soup you can stomach.

What a waste.

To the theatre earlier in the week for the first night of The Producers. I knew the story from the 1967 Mel Brooks film – the jaded old Broadway producer, the young accountant, the plot to make lots of money by seducing rich old ladies and putting on a sure-fire flop.

Springtime for Hitler becomes an unexpected hit. I confess to feeling occasionally uncomfortable at the proliferation of swastikas, but the script is clever, the dancing brilliant and the performances so delightful, I laughed until it hurt.

It’s brilliant. Do whatever you can to get a ticket.

No, Erin doesn’t look like a tea cosy

What a triumph for the drama Adolescence with eight wins at the Emmys – three for the British actors young Owen Cooper, Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty.

Erin Doherty in her Louis Vuitton frock with her Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress which she won for her role in Adolescence

Six months after it came out, the impact of the story examining the dangers of social media and toxic masculinity is still resonating around the world. Erin looked lovely in her Louis Vuitton frock, above, and it was rude of Stephen to tell her it looked like a tea cosy.

At least she was respectably covered up – unlike so many on the red carpet at the moment.

The real face of British pride

Last Saturday I watched two groups supposedly declare their pride in Britain.

Tommy Robinson’s rally ended in violence and dozens of injured police officers. The Last Night of the Proms was a joyful triumph.

Members of the audience at the Last Night of the Proms wave their Union flags at the Royal Albert Hall in London

My parents once went and waved their union flags proudly and delighted in Jerusalem, Land of Hope and Glory and Rule Britannia as the audience did on Saturday in the Royal Albert Hall.

I know which group I’d be proud to be a part of.