Listen, Harry – here’s how other royal ‘spares’ are coping with not being number one

Also in the category of workers, not crooks, is Princess Astrid of Belgium, 60, second child of King Albert II, and little sister and replacement of the current king, his brother Philippe. She, having devoted herself to a life of public duty and representing the king on the international stage, never took a wrong turn.

In fact, Astrid did it so well that there was talk of changing the law to allow her to usurp her less-than-admired brother and take the throne of Belgium. The same has sometimes been suggested about Princess Caroline of Monaco.

The 65-year-old’s current working status – including her public support for shouldering her younger brother, Albert, with his mysteriously so often absent South African wife Princess Charlene – only came, however, after a title – captivating youth. For many years as second in line to her father, Prince Rainier III, and – briefly – first in line to Albert during his rise, she once made headlines with his string of high-profile romantic liaisons. with actors and sports stars (including at one point Prince Charles at the time) and his three marriages.

Another undeniable worker among the ranks of royal spares is Princess Märtha Louise, the firstborn of King Harald of Norway. But her chosen job has been with her own business ventures, including an alternative therapy center where she communicates with angels.

The Norwegian crown was reserved for the eldest male claimant when her brother Haakon was born in 1973, two years after Märtha Louise, and although she had taken on some royal duties as a young woman, she gave up her title as Royal Highness in 2002 and spent time living and working in New York and London with her first husband.

More recently, she returned home but was banned in 2019 from using the word princess to promote her clairvoyant work. She caused consternation earlier this year when she announced she was engaged to American Durek Verrett, a self-proclaimed shaman.