ROBERT JOBSON: Harry has to think about how it could have been so different. His family needs him, but he is missing. And it raises some important 'what if' questions…

Harry, Hal, H or Harold – the royal family formerly known as Prince – are left to sit in his Montecito mansion and think about how things could have been so different.

Maybe it should have been.

Instead of staring at his navel or collecting pointless accolades – such as being hailed as an aviation 'legend' – the former army helicopter pilot could have done something useful for Crown and country.

Once the darling of the British public for his services and a refreshingly fun character, there was a time when Harry played his role as a working royal to perfection.

Sympathetic and engaging, he threw himself into official duties with gusto, at home and abroad, and won the favor of his grandmother, the late Queen.

Before his self-imposed exile, Harry won the late queen's favor by throwing himself into royal duties

When he married actress Meghan, he ran across the pond to start his new life.

What exactly does this once hard-working man do?

That's not entirely clear, except that now, just when his father the king needs him, he's gone missing.

Worse, he's burned most of his bridges by attacking his family in books and movies.

His brother William could also use some support as he has to care for his young family while wife Kate recovers from major abdominal surgery.

Harry's self-imposed royal exile and Andrew's forced 'exile' after the Epstein scandal have exposed flaws in our constitutional system.

Naturally, we wish His Majesty the King and Princess of Wales the best.

I am confident that they are both in the safe hands of the best medical professionals. Both are expected to make a full recovery in due course.

And the king was praised for disclosing his condition – a benign enlarged prostate – to encourage men with symptoms to get checked.

William is also right to postpone some of his engagements while his wife recovers to care for their young family.

But these latest palace announcements expose some major “what if” questions.

Who would act if something happened to the king or William? Prince George, next in line, is still a minor.

Kate during her final public appearance at Sandringham's church service on Christmas Day. the king was praised for revealing his condition – a benign enlarged prostate – to encourage men with symptoms to get checked.

It would have been Harry. But that is now a thing of the past.

Fortunately, one case has now been solved. That's the issue of the State Advisors – senior members of the royal family who can deputize for the monarch to help with public affairs in the event of illness.

Until recently, we relied on the help of Harry in Montecito and disgraced Uncle Andrew!

But from December, Princess Anne and Prince Edward can replace Charles after the king sends a message to parliament.

But here's a curiosity. Anne is known as the king's right hand. She is significantly older than Edward in age and seniority. And the outdated law of primogeniture has been changed to give women equal status when it comes to royal preeminence.

But that law is relatively new (adopted in 2011) and does not have retroactive effect.

So if something were to happen to the king and William, Prince Edward would become regent and not Anne!

I think most people would prefer it the other way around, given how highly regarded the Princess Royal is.

The law, at least in this case, should be made retroactively. And it is Anne, not Edward, who should act as regent if necessary.