One of The Guardian daily media’s columnists is Arwa Mahdawi, who regularly contributes articles. I don’t always read them, and I do not always agree with some of what she says, but I often read her column. She always presents a topic with a sense of humor.
So, the other day, she wrote about her four-year-old inviting King Charles of England for ice cream. Among many humorous passages, she was asking if there was anybody out there with a connection to the King to pull some favors! Among the culprits for her daughter’s infatuation with the royalty, is apparently the animated film Frozen from 2013.
Reading the article, took me back to an event when my own daughter was very young. It was the end of summer of 1997, when Princess Diana passed away. My daughter had just moved to Paris to live with me and was inftuated with Lady Di; How she was so pretty, so young, and so on and so on.
So, when Diana passed away so suddenly and tragically, I was worried about a trauma when she finds out. Conequently, I hid the news from her as long as possible (no popular internet yet), but finally I had to bring her onboard. And her reaction was so eye-opening for me!
As soon as she heard that Diana was no longer alive, she turned and said “Oh, no! Who is going to be our princess now ?!” It was not a cry or tears or trauma. Just a factual statement: she and many little girls had been deprived of their pretty princess for ever. And they were looking for the next one to fill the shoes. Yes, even then, what Mahdawi said about ‘the princess industrial complex’ was holding strong and carrying countless young girls in its spiral.
Coming back to Arwa Mahdawi’s problem of her daughter’s expectation to host King Charles for an ice cream, I suggest Prince Harry may be a better bet : Given that he has been quiet for some time now, he may be ready to get in the limelight again and thus is more amenable to a receptive reply to an invitation for ice cream. Furthermore, since he cannot have UK secret service protection nor the use of any of the traditional logistics that accompany the King travels, it will be easier to host him. And last but not the least, Harry’s wife, Meaghan Markle, is such a lovely young lady that may even excite her daughter, which apparently was not how the little girl felt about Queen Camilla.
Oh, I forgot, there is one last advantage to inviting the Duke of Sussex, instead of the King of England: residing in the US legally with his papers properly on hand, the Duke is exempt from visa requirements and potential ICE attacks, so no risks of the little girl being ‘Frozen.’
Paris, July 24, 2025
Zeejay