What’s motivating Prince Harry to follow in the ill-fated footsteps of Edward VIII? Like the disgraced monarch, the Duke of Sussex was once beloved before he stepped down from royal duties and married an American divorcée, writes Christopher Wilson.

What’s driving Prince Harry to increasingly follow in the Duke of Windsor’s ill-fated footsteps? The two men, each in their genera…

What’s driving Prince Harry to increasingly follow in the Duke of Windsor’s ill-fated footsteps?

The two men, each in their generation the pin-up boys of the Royal Family, both fled the country when duty called.

In the case of David – the famously glamorous Prince of Wales before his short reign as King Edward VIII – it could be said he didn’t know what he was doing.

But Harry? Just a peek into the pages of any royal history book would have warned him of the disorientation, despair, and loss of status that comes to a senior royal who runs away.

His great-great uncle endured it after his 1936 abdication, and now with the news that Harry may be wanting a partial return to the royal fold, we see history repeating itself.

Maybe it’s no surprise – the two royals share too much in common, even though one was born to be king and the other just a spare.

Both adored, both wayward, both under the spell of an American divorcee, Harry, Duke of Sussex and David, Duke of Windsor, are separated by almost 100 years of history but their stories have an eerie similarity.