It is hard not to admire the sheer generosity of Donald Trump. At a stroke, he has handed Keir Starmer and King Charles a neatly wrapped excuse to do something they probably rather fancied anyway, which is to not go to Washington just now.
We are told, quite properly, that Prince Harry is a private citizen and nothing to do with the machinery of state. Except, miraculously, he becomes geopolitically significant the moment Trump decides to hold forth about him. One minute he is a detached Californian with a title, the next he is apparently the voice of Britain, or at least the man Trump must publicly swat down to demonstrate that he, uniquely, speaks for us all. It is a constitutional innovation of some flair.
Now imagine the scene. The King arrives in Washington, all careful dignity and studied neutrality, only for his host to open proceedings with a riff about "your son" and how he does not represent the country. One can almost hear the crockery tightening. Not quite a breach of protocol, more a drive-by denting of it.
At this point, a sensible government might reflect that state visits are meant to lubricate diplomacy, not provide light entertainment. They are choreographed to the inch precisely to avoid this sort of thing. When the choreography looks likely to be upstaged by improvised family commentary, the wise course is not to press on regardless, but to discover an urgent pressure on the royal diary.
And what a gift of a pretext this is. No need for melodrama or offended statements. Just a gentle murmur about timing, about the pressures of the international situation, about ensuring that any visit takes place in the most "constructive atmosphere". Diplomatic code for "let's wait until everyone can be trusted not to mention the Duke of Sussex before the soup arrives".
Of course, none of this will be admitted. We will be assured that the relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States remains as robust as ever, which is true in the way that bridges remain robust even when people are shouting at each other on them. Behind the scenes, though, there will be a perfectly rational calculation that a state visit should not double as an exercise in familial awkwardness.
So yes, Harry is irrelevant in constitutional terms and a non-factor diplomatically. And yet, thanks to Trump's inability to resist a passing swipe, he has become the most useful scheduling conflict in recent memory. One suspects Whitehall already has the pencil in hand, and is quietly looking for a polite way to use it.
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