SO, 1066 and all that. That was the last time William and Harry faced-off for the throne of England. The difference this time round is that, at least at this stage in the battle, it is William who is getting one in the eye.

After my protestations of last week that I would not be queuing up for my very own copy of Spare, I confess I did tune into “Harry – The Interview” on ITV at the weekend. And here is my own big reveal.

As far as I am concerned, Harry came out ahead. He presented as a pretty likeable sort of bloke – damaged, sensitive but determined, honest and brave. Tom Bradby is no Barbara Walters, and he didn’t press his royal scoop too hard, but for all that, Harry did well.

As I said last week, an independent Scotland should say auf wiedersehen to the whole Windsor clan. We have enough real-life dramas in our nation without the psycho-drama of this ruling family and for those who enjoy the media blood-sport then you can still have a ringside seat without them long reigning over us.

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For all that, two cheers for Harry. Few people in his position have the strength to grow out of their class and his older brother most certainly does not. Harry, in contrast, shows disconcerting signs of a real human being emerging from a background so weighed down with the disadvantages of wealth and institutional privilege.

What emerges without question from his interviews is the nature of Harry’s real target, and that (to summarise his interview) is not his red-mist, hot-tempered brother, his goody-two-shoes hypocritical sister-in-law, his emotionally stunted father or even his scheming, hyper-ambitious, wicked step-mother.

His real enemy is the British media and, as he put it himself, in particular the English tabloid press. As far as he is concerned, they killed his mother through their paparazzi minions, flash photographing her as she lay dying and, more recently, they have turned their guns on Meghan and their children.

They have destroyed countless lives and they present a pathetic parody of real journalism or any semblance of holding power to account. Harry despises their means and their methods. And he, unlike the rest of the craven, collaborating royals, is prepared to shoot back – and shoot to kill.

He now has no less than three major legal cases under way, each one of which has the capacity to close a publication, just as the Milly Dowler tragedy finished the News of the World all these years ago. Behind the rough treatment being dished out to Harry in recent days is the palpable fear of the MSM that this rogue royal – someone they have regarded as merely a ginger nut – just might have the guts and wherewithal to bring them tumbling down.

A case in point is their hysterical misrepresentation of what Harry said about his time in Afghanistan. He did not say that the Taliban fighters he killed should be seen as mere “pieces on a chess board”. The point he, or his ghost writer, was trying to make was that soldiers are programmed to think like that – to dehumanise – to self-justify the dreadful things they are charged to do.

The British media hounds pounced immediately on his incautious remarks, scenting blood. They were dispatched to find any soldier, from retired general to Chelsea Pensioner, prepared to give their erstwhile comrade a rollocking for saying too much. And, of course, they went to the Taliban to justify their venomous headlines of Harry putting at risk his own children. And here things came just a bit unstuck.

Anas Haqqani, a senior member of the Taliban and its powerful Haqqani network, considered to be the group’s most formidable fighting force, responded that the people Harry killed “were not chess pieces, they were humans. They have families who were waiting for their return.”

But then he continued, directly addressing Harry the warrior prince: “Among the killers of Afghans, not many have your decency to reveal their conscience and confess to their war crimes.”

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Now, as is their modus operandi, a number of outlets removed the obvious problem for their misreporting by the simple expedient of missing out the last sentence from the Taliban fighter.

But the story serves to illustrate not just the malignancy in the body-politic which Harry is up against, but the public service he may provide if he is successful in rooting it out.

A person can be judged by his enemies as well as his actions. On that criteria, the warrior prince comes out well.

To coin a phrase, redolent of the bulldog spirit he will require in the days ahead, let us hope that he grits his teeth and sees through his legal cases.

Because it is the evil things which he is fighting.