Telling his truth — no matter what. Prince Harry has asserted that he isn’t afraid of the consequences of speaking out against the royal family.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, shed light on his decision to write Spare, his debut memoir, in a handful of televised interviews leading up to the book’s release on Tuesday, January 10. “I don’t see how honesty is burning bridges,” he told ITV’s Tom Bradby in a sit-down that aired in the U.K. on Sunday, January 8. “I don’t know how staying silent is going to make things any better.”
Harry explained that he wanted to flip the narrative that has been presented about him and wife Meghan Markle. “[After] 38 years of having my story told by so many different people with intentional spin and distortion, [I] felt like [this was] a good time to own my story and be able to tell it for myself,” he said. “I don’t think that if I was still part of the Institution that I would have been given this chance to.”
The Archewell cofounders tied the knot in May 2018. Nearly two years later, the couple announced their plans to step down from their senior royal roles. Harry and Meghan, 41, moved to California in mid-2020, where they’re raising son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 19 months.
The duo’s exit divided the public — and the royal family. In his book, Harry writes candidly about his estrangement from his father, King Charles III, and brother Prince William. However, he insisted on Sunday that he meant no harm through the “cutting” stories he shared.
“You know, my brother and I love each other. I love him deeply,” he told Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes. “There has been a lot of pain between the two of us, especially the last six years. None of anything I’ve written, anything that I’ve included is ever intended to hurt my family. But it does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up, and also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers.”
Despite their differences, Harry asserted that he hopes to reconcile with his family across the pond. “I don’t think that we can ever have peace with my family unless the truth is out there,” he said during a Good Morning America segment during the Monday, January 9, episode. “There’s a lot that I can forgive, but there needs to be conversations in order for reconciliation, and part of that has to be accountability. … I just hope that there’s a way that we can have a conversation that is trusted within that conversation that isn’t then spilled to the British press.”
The Invictus Games founder clarified that it was “very hard” to leave his position within the palace — but he has no regrets. “If [my family] can get to the point of reconciliation, that will have a ripple effect across the world,” he added on Monday. “I genuinely believe that, and that’s kind of what is pushing me. And if that doesn’t happen, then that’s very sad.”
Scroll down for a recap of the biggest takeaways from Harry’s TV interviews:
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Prince Harry’s TV Interviews Before ‘Spare’ Release: Biggest Revelations From ’60 Minutes,’ ‘Good Morning America’ and More
Telling his truth — no matter what. Prince Harry has asserted that he isn’t afraid of the consequences of speaking out against the royal family.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, shed light on his decision to write Spare, his debut memoir, in a handful of televised interviews leading up to the book’s release on Tuesday, January 10. “I don’t see how honesty is burning bridges,” he told ITV’s Tom Bradby in a sit-down that aired in the U.K. on Sunday, January 8. “I don’t know how staying silent is going to make things any better.”
Harry explained that he wanted to flip the narrative that has been presented about him and wife Meghan Markle. “[After] 38 years of having my story told by so many different people with intentional spin and distortion, [I] felt like [this was] a good time to own my story and be able to tell it for myself,” he said. “I don’t think that if I was still part of the Institution that I would have been given this chance to.”
The Archewell cofounders tied the knot in May 2018. Nearly two years later, the couple announced their plans to step down from their senior royal roles. Harry and Meghan, 41, moved to California in mid-2020, where they’re raising son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 19 months.
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The duo’s exit divided the public — and the royal family. In his book, Harry writes candidly about his estrangement from his father, King Charles III, and brother Prince William. However, he insisted on Sunday that he meant no harm through the “cutting” stories he shared.
“You know, my brother and I love each other. I love him deeply,” he told Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes. “There has been a lot of pain between the two of us, especially the last six years. None of anything I’ve written, anything that I’ve included is ever intended to hurt my family. But it does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up, and also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers.”
Despite their differences, Harry asserted that he hopes to reconcile with his family across the pond. “I don’t think that we can ever have peace with my family unless the truth is out there,” he said during a Good Morning America segment during the Monday, January 9, episode. “There’s a lot that I can forgive, but there needs to be conversations in order for reconciliation, and part of that has to be accountability. … I just hope that there’s a way that we can have a conversation that is trusted within that conversation that isn’t then spilled to the British press.”
The Invictus Games founder clarified that it was “very hard” to leave his position within the palace — but he has no regrets. “If [my family] can get to the point of reconciliation, that will have a ripple effect across the world,” he added on Monday. “I genuinely believe that, and that’s kind of what is pushing me. And if that doesn’t happen, then that’s very sad.”
Scroll down for a recap of the biggest takeaways from Harry’s TV interviews:
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Are Harry, William and Charles on Speaking Terms?
The duke told Cooper that it’s been “a while” since he’s spoken to William and their father. “I look forward to us being able to find peace,” Harry said, noting that he and his older brother aren’t “currently” on texting basis. Harry added that he “can’t see” himself and Meghan rejoining the royal family at a working capacity, but he would like to repair their rift.
“The ball is very much in their court, but, you know, Meghan and I have continued to say that we will openly apologize for anything that we did wrong, but every time we ask that question, no one’s telling us … the specifics or anything,” he claimed on 60 Minutes. “There needs to be a constructive conversation, one that can happen in private that doesn’t get leaked.”
During his GMA sit-down, Harry asserted that the British press also plays a role in why he and Meghan won’t return. “Even if there was an agreement or an arrangement between me and my family, there is that third party that is going to do everything they can to make sure that that isn’t possible. Not stopping us from necessarily going back, but making it unsurvivable, and that’s really sad because that is essentially breaking the relationship between us,” he said.
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Where He Stands With Camilla
Harry explained on ABC that he has “compassion” for Camilla, whom he refers to as the “third person” in Charles and Diana’s marriage. “She had a reputation or an image to rehabilitate. And whatever conversations happened, whatever deals or trading were made right at the beginning, she was led to believe that that would be the best way of doing it,” he added.
While he confessed that he and his stepmother “haven’t spoken in a long time,” Harry said that he doesn’t hold any ill will. “I love every member of my family, despite the differences. … I don’t look at her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who married into this institution and has done everything she can to improve her own reputation and her own image for her own sake,” he said.
On 60 Minutes, however, Harry said he thought Camilla was “dangerous” due to her “connections” with the U.K. press. “There was open willingness on both sides to trade of information,” he claimed. “With a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being Queen Consort, there was gonna be people or bodies left in the street because of that.”
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Saying Goodbye to Queen Elizabeth II
The former military pilot reflected on his final moments with his late grandmother — and claimed that he wasn’t invited to travel to Scotland along with the rest of his family.
“I asked my brother — I said, ‘What are your plans? How are you and Kate getting up there?’ And then, a couple of hours later, you know, all of the family members that live within the Windsor and Ascot area were jumping on a plane together,” he told Cooper. “A plane with 12, 14, maybe 16 seats. I was not invited.”
By the time he arrived at Balmoral, Elizabeth had already died. When Princess Anne asked whether Harry wanted to see the monarch, he weighed his options. “I thought about it for about five seconds, thinking, ‘Is this a good idea?’ And I was like, ‘You know what? You can do this. You need to say goodbye.’ So [I] went upstairs, took my jacket off and walked in and just spent some time with her alone,” he recalled.
Harry later noted on GMA that he thought the queen was “sad” about his royal exit but not surprised. “She never said to me that she was angry,” he said.
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Being ‘Pitched Against’ William and Kate
Harry opened up about the “competition” that has “always” existed between him and William due to the “heir/spare [mentality],” claiming that his older brother might be jealous of his “freedom.” The duke also alleged that the British tabloids were at fault for the “wedge” driven between himself, William and their respective spouses.
“[The press] pitched the Waleses, which Kate and William are now, against the Sussexes, me and my wife. They always pitched us against each other,” he said on GMA. “They pitched Kate and Meghan against each other. … If you read [the press coverage], it very much feeds into how you function, operate, and behave. Without question.”
During his ITV interview, Harry explained that he wanted to share his side of the story without the “intentional spin and distortion” that has colored his life within the royal family. “Truth is something I need to rely on,” he argued.
While speaking to Cooper, Harry defended penning his tell-all. “None of anything I’ve written, anything that I’ve included is ever intended to hurt my family. But it does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up, and also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers,” he noted.
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Harry Says He Was ‘Probably Bigoted’ Before Meghan
The BetterUp CIO reflected on “what Meghan had to go through” in the public eye — and the racially insensitive coverage she faced in the British press — before their 2020 step down. “British press jumped on [her] straight away,” he said on 60 Minutes. “I went into this incredibly naive. I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. Hell, I was probably bigoted before [marrying Meghan]. … Put it this way, I didn’t see what I now see.”
Harry added that a “large part” of the scrutiny toward his relationship with Meghan had to do with how he had transformed. “Numerous people [were] like, ‘He’s changed, she must be a witch. He’s changed,'” he continued. “As opposed to, ‘Yeah, I did change, and I’m really glad I changed.'”
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Feeling ‘Guilt’ After Diana’s Death
In each of his eye-opening interviews, Harry shed light on coping with the death of his mother when he was 12 years old. “I’ve seen the videos [from the funeral], right – I looked back over it all,” he said on ITV. “And the wet hands that we were shaking, we couldn’t understand why their hands were wet, but it was all the tears that they were wiping away. Everyone thought and felt like they knew our mum, and the two closest people to her, the two most loved people by her, were unable to show any emotion in that moment.”
Harry went on to describe the “guilt” he was struck with in the moment. “The fact that the people that we were meeting were showing more emotion than we were showing, maybe more emotion than we even felt,” he recalled on 60 Minutes, saying he felt like a “middle person” for the public’s grief. “Once my mother’s coffin actually went into the ground, that was the first time that I actually cried. Yeah, there was never another time.”
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Harry Wanted ‘Proof’ Diana Was Really Dead
While discussing the loss of his mother, Harry confessed to Cooper that it took him years to accept that Diana was really gone. “You know, [I thought], ‘She would never do this to us,’ but also part of [it was], ‘Maybe this is all part of a plan,'” he said. “I thought she’d disappeared] for a time, and then that she would call us and that we would go and join her.”
Harry remembered looking at the police report from Diana’s Paris car crash when he was 20 years old. “[I wanted] proof that she was in the car. Proof that she was injured,” he explained. “And proof that the very paparazzi that chased her into the tunnel were the ones that were taking photographs — photographs of her lying half dead on the back seat of the car.”
His private secretary advised him not to look at the “more gruesome” pictures. “I will be eternally grateful to him for denying me the ability to inflict pain on myself by seeing that. Because that’s the kinda stuff that sticks in your mind forever,” he said.
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The Comments About Archie’s Skin Color
In March 2021, Harry and Meghan claimed in their CBS tell-all that an unnamed member of The Firm had “concerns” about the color of Archie’s skin before his May 2019 birth. At the time, the couple asserted that they wouldn’t reveal who made the comments — but clarified that it was neither the queen nor Prince Philip.
The England native told ITV that he didn’t believe the remark was intentionally racist. “Going back to the difference between what my understanding is because of my own experience, the difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different,” he explained. “But once it’s been acknowledged, or pointed out to you as an individual or as an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you therefore have an opportunity to learn and grow from that in order so that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”
Harry doubled down on “never” wanting to identify the person who made the comment. He also alleged that the palace still hasn’t hired the “diversity tsar” they planned to bring in following the CBS interview.
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Why Harry and Meghan Won’t Renounce Titles
Cooper pressed Harry about why he and Meghan are still using their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles three years after announcing their exit. “What difference would [renouncing them] make?” Harry asked in return.
He continued to defend himself and Meghan for speaking out. “Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately, there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife,” he claimed. “You know, the family motto is never complain, never explain. But it’s just a motto.”
