Might the King’s cancer diagnosis lead the Royals to put aside the squabbles that have torn the family apart and come together, having seen the bigger picture of life and death? It is quite touching that the prodigal son, Prince Harry, rocked up, however briefly, in London to visit his dad, though it’s hoped he’s not ‘wired for sound’ and that the heartfelt expressions from the King on how much he’s missed his ‘darling boy’ don’t turn up on any future Netflix documentaries. After all, Harry has ‘previous’ when it comes to spilling the beans; his hiss-and-tell memoir includes details of a supremely solemn event, the funeral of our late queen: ‘We agreed to meet a few hours after the funeral. I got there first. I looked around, saw no one. I checked my phone, no texts, no voicemails’ – before crashing straight into a Led Zeppeliny-subtle riff about what rotters his living blood relatives are.

Harry has ‘previous’ when it comes to spilling the beans

But while understanding Charles’ decision, I can’t deny that upon hearing that Prince William had ‘no plans’ to meet his brother, my disgraceful reaction was ‘YESSS!’ Though I believe that monarchy is a mistake, I have affection for the Diana-faced Heir Apparent (whether glad-handing Big Issue vendors or manhandling man-necklaces) and his well-groomed, well-meaning wife (great-great-granddaughter of a miner, daughter of a trolly dolly, portrayed by her errant bro-in-law as both a dress-up doll – ‘carefree, sweet…she loved clothes’ – and a Nazi-uniform-approver, which is pretty niche.) This late-flowering ‘feminist’ paints his stepmother as a treacherous vamp (‘Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she was happy’), though it’s hard to picture Camilla ‘vamping’ some poor victim, complete with feather boa. There was ridicule of his father, too, in Spare; the king is apparently over-generous with the Eau Sauvage and carries a ‘pitiful’ teddy bear everywhere.