It’s Christmas, when family feuds, rifts and decades-long simmering resentments are never so raw and exposed.

Why should we expect the Royal Family to be any different? The rows, break ups, ingrained grudges, protests of unfairness, favouritism, unpleasantness and perceived offences to new wives exposed in Harry and Meghan’s no topics off limits ‘documentary’ are going on in multiple families up and down the country.

The timing of spilling the golden beans on Netflix about the breakdown of relationships behind palace doors that led to them seeking a ‘quiet life’ in a multi-million-dollar California mansion will hit a nerve with viewers – but not in a sympathetic way.

Push aside the millions, the privilege, living in public eye that comes with being born royal, the family dynamics and tension in the Royal Family is no different from other families, especially at Christmas.

Fallouts have punctuated family life since time began. Christmas is when touch papers are lit. Shared blood doesn’t bring harmony. A group of mixed personalities is a melting pot of emotions resentments, envy and upset. It’s a lucky, and very rare, family that rolls without fallouts or ructions.

It’s a family, so how can we expect the royals to be different?

Instead of horror at Harry and Meghan’s revelations – for £88 million let’s not forget – many people facing Christmas with dread about the hazards of being together – or why they are keeping apart – will be reassured and find some strange comfort that their own family dramas and troubles aren’t so strange.

Those passive aggressive ‘discussions’ about who is having mum this year, the bubbling resentment of the sibling who always feels put upon and criticised while the favoured idle and absent sibling is favoured, the controlling sibling who demands everything is done their way and gets away with blue murder, the inappropriate elderly uncle with the racist sexist rantings, the matriarch who insists Christmas is done her way, the way it’s always done, come what may, Christmas is a time that many people dread.

Ask around. Few people look forward to a TV advert perfect family Christmas.

Facebook is full of people venting their spleen against their family, especially at this time of the year. One member venting about how they feel put upon – it’s always her job to do everything – another who fears being the brunt of a vicious parent’s anger and tongue again after one too many sherries.

It’s not unusual for women marrying into families perceiving disapproval from other family members, feeling like they never belong and are forever uncomfortable.

Mean spirit thrives in families like nowhere else and often the in-comers by marriage take the brunt. It’s unpleasant, but a fact. How it’s dealt with is the key.

Washing dirty family linen in public is never a good idea. It often backfires on the whistle blowers. When you’re a member of the most high profile family in the world with access to making millions while whining about being treated unfairly, at a time when people can’t afford to heat their homes and feeling real hardship in a nation spiralling into chaos at every turn, cataloguing whinges and perceived slights will never engender an avalanche of sympathy.

Bitter and vengeful is never a good look

The consequences remain to be seen. The lid was largely kept on it while the Queen Elizabeth was alive. The King is not loved and respected in the same way. It’s early days and respect is earned. We’ve seen two eggings of the King within weeks. Feelings towards the Royal Family are fast changing.

Life in the Royal Family isn’t a fairy tale. Its dynamics are just like any other family. Sad but inevitable reality.

Pitting daughter in law against daughter in law is also common. The who’s best, Katherine or Meghan? is sadly an unattractive family trait.

Harry and his brother were children of the world’s most loved women who died in the most tragic circumstances. If Harry has learned anything, it’s that if you play the media, you’re playing with fire, and it sometimes burns you.

Silence is a response, the most dignified response to maintain peace.

Talking behind the scenes is healthy but talking publicly never ends well.

At a difficult time of year for many people, this Royal saga is a timely reminder that you can’t choose your family, but you can choose how to interact and respond to them.

And however entitled and privileged, the Royal Family face the same emotional challenges and feelings as the rest of us.

Government must take leadership in broken Britain

Real cold is beginning to bit and, angry workers are turning to their last resort option by withdrawing their labour.

From rail workers to nurses are showing their anger at their working conditions and what is expected of them for their salaries.

Talk of energy blackouts looms while the reality of the cost of heating, lighting and cooking in our homes is hitting our bank balances.

This is just the start. People who have never felt ‘political’ are angry.

Things will get worse in the new year and civil unrest is a real prospect.

If the government believes the public view striking workers as mean-spirited plotting to bring country to its knees, it is misguided.

People are looking to the government to wake up and take leadership to improve life in broken Britain and turnaround what looks like an even more miserable 2023.