I can’t help wincing over Prince Harry’s efforts to reunite with his father. This month, he spoke of his longing to make up with his family and his fear that time might be running out due to Charles’s health.

It cut through me because I, too, lived with the gnawing pain of estrangement from my father for 25 years and the nightmare conclusion that haunts me – the end Harry alluded to – came to pass last December. My father, Robin, died suddenly without us being reconciled.