Prince Harry gave quite a few hitting remarks during a recent bombshell interview with BBC News.
Ever since the 40-year-old stepped back from his royal duties with his wife Meghan Markle back in 2020, his relationship with the public and with his family hasn’t exactly been ideal.
After losing a legal challenge over his UK taxpayer-funded security, the Duke of Sussex opened up about his tensions with his loved ones, specifically his relationship with his father King Charles, who has been diagnosed with cancer.
Highlights
- Prince Harry says King Charles refuses to speak with him over security funding disputes.
- Harry expresses a desire for family reconciliation, stressing life's preciousness amid his father's cancer diagnosis.
- Experts criticize Harry for airing family issues publicly, urging private reconciliation instead.
Prince Harry addressed his family tensions and growing concerns around his security in a recent interview with BBC News
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“He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff,” he told the news outlet. “I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore.”
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In the prince’s eyes, this may have been his idea of throwing a lifeline out to the royal family. But Ailsa Anderson, a former press secretary of the late Queen, has a different idea, saying Buckingham Palace will be “raising their eyes heavenwards” regarding his words.
“Prince Harry is saying ‘I don’t know how long my father has’ — that’s going to cause real concern and more speculation in the media and the wider public about what his diagnosis is, which is incredibly unhelpful going forward,” she told Sky News.
“What you don’t want to do is have your private life played out in the media. So if you truly want reconciliation, you’ll do it in private, not in a BBC News interview.”
The Duke of Sussex revealed his father no longer talks to him
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Ex-BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond also wrote on the subject in the Daily Express, saying that Harry “says he can only come back to the UK with his family if he is invited, because then he would get the security he believes he needs.”
However, this “bombshell of an interview is unlikely to bring that invitation any closer. And that’s because at the root of the rift is the question of trust.”
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“Harry’s father and brother do not trust Harry to keep conversations private. And this loudspeaker of a diatribe against them is not going to make them change their minds,” she concluded.
But the Duke’s comments about his father weren’t the only thing that caught viewers’ attention.
Former royal staff and correspondents believe Harry's decision to broadcast his family affairs so publicly was not the right move to make
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He also gave a chilling insinuation that his new downgraded security status could leave him and his family to potentially suffer the same fate as the late Princess Diana, who passed away from a car crash in Paris in 1997.
The 40-year-old mentioned that he feels he is in a position of greater risk to “some people” who would wish to harm him.
“I don’t want history to repeat itself. Through the [court] process, I have discovered that some people want history to repeat itself,” he told BBC, keeping Meghan and their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in mind.
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He continued, “I’m sure that some people out there, probably most likely the people that wish me harm, consider this a huge win.”
Additionally, Daily Mail reported that the producers of the original interview were stunned as the emotionally driven Prince ended up speaking for half an hour, though they only agreed to talk for a maximum of 10 minutes.
Prince Harry also worried he would face the same fate as the late Princess Diana due to his downgraded security
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In hindsight, it did make sense as the outlet clarified no topic was off-limits as he sat down with journalist Nada Tawfik. She later reported that throughout the interview, Prince Harry seemed somewhat agitated, always tapping his foot, but also acting “candid and forthcoming.”
This Friday, May 2, the Court of Appeals dismissed Harry’s legal challenge against the government regarding his publicly funded security when he is in the UK — a battle he has been fighting since September 2021.
Netizens agreed Prince Harry should go for more of a private approach if he hopes for family reconciliation
