The 10 key moments from Prince Harry's interviews

2023-01-09

The 10 key moments from Prince Harry’s interview: Denying racism claims, William and Kate ‘stereotyping Meghan’ and the Queen’s death – claims made by the Duke in Tom Bradby sit down

Harry has shocked the world again with two interviews in which he launches another series of bombshells on the Royal family and the British press.

In an ITV interview with his friend Tom Bradby, he suggests his relatives were ‘complicit’ in the ‘pain and suffering’ inflicted on his wife, and astonishingly likens them to ‘abusers’.

The Duke also insists he would have physically fought William in Nottingham Cottage if he hadn’t been receiving therapy, criticises King Charles’ parenting and makes a cryptic reference to ‘a lack of scrutiny to my family towards a lot of things’.

Meanwhile, speaking to Anderson Cooper on US network CBS, he calls Camilla a ‘the villain’ and ‘dangerous’ – ignoring his father’s pleas not to attack her – and suggests there are still questions to be answered surrounding Diana’s death.

The interviews are to plug his memoir, Spare, which was officially released today days after being prematurely put on sale in Spain. Below, MailOnline runs through the top 10 moments from the two appearances.

Harry suggested William and Kate had ‘stereotyped’ his wife Meghan as a ‘biracial American actress’

‘Stereotyping’ prevented Meghan from being properly welcomed into the Royal Family, Harry said.

The Duke of Sussex described a fractious relationship between his wife and Kate, and said his sister-in-law got so angry during a clear-the-air summit that she gripped the edges of a leather chair so tightly ‘her fingers were white’.

Harry said Kate demanded an apology from Meghan for describing a moment of forgetfulness by the then-Duchess of Cambridge as ‘baby brain’, allegedly telling the former Suits star the women were ‘not close enough’ to talk in such a manner with each other.

In his interview with Bradby, Harry said: ‘I always hoped that the four of us [Harry, Meghan, Kate and William] would get on.

‘But, very quickly it became Meghan versus Kate. And that, when it plays out so publicly, you can’t hide from that.’

Harry and Meghan began dating in 2016 and got engaged the following year. He said his older brother William did not dissuade him from marrying Meghan, but ‘aired some concerns’ about how hard it would be for Harry.

The royal said: ‘I don’t think they were ever expecting me to get – or to become – to get into a relationship with someone like Meghan who had, you know, a very successful career.

‘There was a lot of stereotyping that was happening. Some of the way that they were acting or behaving definitely felt to me as though unfortunately that stereotyping was causing a bit of a barrier to them really… introducing or welcoming her in.’

Asked to provide further details, Harry replied: ‘American actress, divorced, biracial, there’s all different parts to that and what that can mean but if you are, like a lot of my family do, if you are reading the Press, the British tabloids, there is a tendency where you could actually end up living in the tabloid bubble rather than the actual reality.’

Prince Harry has accused the British media of creating the notion of the ‘Fab Four’ royals in order to introduce a drive for competition

Harry also repeated the claim that Kate made Meghan cry during the notorious bridesmaids row at the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding, but admitted there had been ‘over 25 versions’ of the story.

Prince Harry has accused the British media of creating the notion of the ‘Fab Four’ royals in order to introduce a drive for competition.

The duke claimed that while he hoped that he and the Duchess of Sussex would be close to the now Prince and Princess of Wales the relationship was quickly reduced to ‘Meghan versus Kate’.

Blaming the media for the breakdown of the relations, Harry claimed the ideas of the ‘Fab Four’ was ‘something that the British Press created’ to ‘dissect and create competition’. He said that as the ‘new kids on the block’, the Sussexes had been used to ‘sell papers’ and the couple were inadvertently ‘stealing the limelight’ from other senior royals, causing divides.

Keeping conversations with his brother ‘private’

There was disbelief when Harry told Bradby that whatever he says to William in future will remain ‘private’, despite using his memoirs, TV interviews, a Netflix documentary as well as an Oprah special to spill the beans on what his family said to him and Meghan behind closed doors.

The duke said: ‘I don’t know whether they’ll be watching this [interview] or not, but, what they have to say to me and what I have to say to them will be in private, and I hope it can stay that way.’

Hundreds of royal fans took to social media to blast the duke’s bewildering plea for privacy after publicly airing several deeply personal rifts within his family.

Ex-BBC broadcaster Jon Sopel tweeted: ‘Please tell me I misheard this: ‘I hope what I say to my father and brother remains private’.’

Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent Katie Nicholl shared her thoughts in just two words in her own tweet: ‘The irony!’

Another person quipped online: ‘Private? Not a word in Harry’s vocabulary.’

There was disbelief when Harry told Bradby that whatever he says to William in future will remain ‘private’

Royals aren’t racist but are guilty of ‘unconscious bias’

Prince Harry claimed to Bradby that he didn’t accuse an unnamed member of the royal family of racism, two years after they told Oprah that there were ‘concerns’ about how dark Archie’s skin would be.

In a bombshell interview to plug his new memoir, the royal discussed Meghan’s controversial claim to Oprah Winfrey that an unnamed royal had expressed ‘concern’ about what colour skin their son Archie might have as a bi-racial child.

Harry confirmed that a remark had been made but refused to name the individual concerned, prompting a worldwide guessing game and leading his estranged brother, Prince William, to publicly remark that they were ‘very much not a racist family’.

While he has not referred to the incident in his memoir, which is published tomorrow, he was asked by ITV’s Tom Bradby in the interview to plug the book: ‘Wouldn’t you describe that as essentially racist?’

The prince replies: ‘I wouldn’t, not having lived within that family.’ But he adds: ‘The difference between racism and unconscious bias… the two things are different. 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 so that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem.’

And he accused Buckingham Palace of failing to follow up on promises it made in the wake of the Oprah controversy, including appointing a ‘diversity tsar’.

Harry and Meghan’s ‘tell-all’ conversation with Miss Winfrey in 2021 marked their first major interview since they stepped down as senior members of the Royal Family in 2020. One of the most shocking moments from the interview came when Meghan said there were ‘several conversations’ between herself, Harry and members of the Royal Family about ‘how dark’ their baby could be before Archie was born.

Harry added: ‘That conversation, I am never going to share. At the time it was awkward, I was a bit shocked.’ His refusal to name the person involved sparked an international guessing game about who the ‘royal racist’ was.

In a statement the late Queen said the claims were ‘concerning’ but stressed that ‘recollections may vary’ and the claims would be addressed privately.

Referring to the racism allegations made previously by his wife, Harry bridled at the suggestion by Bradby that he accused his family of racism, snapping back: ‘No I didn’t. The British Press said that. Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?’

‘She said there were troubling comments about Archie’s skin colour,’ Bradby replied.

‘There was – there was concern about his skin colour,’ Harry corrected him. When Bradby suggested that there was a danger by not naming the person concerned, Harry said: ‘Yes, you’re right, the key word is concern, which was troubling.

‘But you speak to any other couple, mixed race couple around the world, and you will probably find that the white side of the family have either openly discussed it, or secretly discussed, you know, ‘What are the kids gonna look like?’ And that is part of a, you know, bigger conversation that needs to be had.’

He claimed that after the interview with Miss Winfrey ‘they said that they were gonna [sic] bring in a diversity tsar. That hasn’t happened’. He added: ‘Everything they said was gonna [sic] happen hasn’t happened. I’ve always been open to wanting to help them understand their part in it, and especially when you are the monarchy – you have a responsibility and quite rightly people hold you to a higher standard than others.’

Royals were ‘horrible’ to him and Meghan after the Queen’s death

The Duke of Sussex accused the royals of a ‘really horrible reaction’ and said his family were ‘caught on the back foot’ on the day Queen Elizabeth II died.

Speaking about September 8, he told Bradby: ‘The day that she died was just a really, really horrible reaction from my family members.

‘And then by all accounts, well certainly from what I saw and what other people probably experienced, was they were on the back foot and then the briefings and the leaking and the planting.

The Duke of Sussex accused the royals of a ‘really horrible reaction’ and said his family were ‘caught on the back foot’ on the day Queen Elizabeth II died

‘I was like ‘We’re here to celebrate the life of granny and to mourn her loss, can we come together as a family?’ but I don’t know how we collectively – how we change that.’

In the controversial tell-all memoir Spare, Harry also recounts his final words to his grandmother when he visited her body at Balmoral.

‘I whispered that I hoped she was happy and that she was with grandfather now.

‘I said that I admired her for having carried out her duties until the end: the Jubilee, the welcoming of the new Prime Minister,’ Harry revealed.

His words come after it was reported he claimed in his memoir, Spare, that Meghan was ‘not welcome’ at Balmoral, with the King allegedly telling Harry not to bring his wife.

‘I want reconciliation’ but family has ‘shown no willingness to reconcile’

Harry claims to want reconciliation with his family, but insists the ‘ball is in their court’ and he and Meghan need ‘accountability’ for their behaviour.

Speaking about what he wants from his family and book, Harry told Bradby: ‘I want reconciliation, but first there needs to be some accountability. You can’t just continue to say to me that I’m delusional and paranoid when all the evidence is stacked up, because I was genuinely terrified about what’s gonna happen to me.’

Referencing his decision to step down as a senior royal in 2019, he continued: ‘And then we have a 12-month transition period, and everyone doubles down. My wife shares her experience.’

He said that instead of backing off, ‘both the institution and the media doubled down.’

Harry added: ‘I want reconciliation, but first there needs to be some accountability.’

‘They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile up until this point. And I’m not sure how honesty is burning bridges.

‘You know, silence only allows the abuser to abuse. Right? So I don’t know how staying silent is ever gonna make things better. That’s genuinely what I believe.’

Camilla is branded ‘the villain’ and ‘dangerous’

In his interview with Anderson Cooper, attacks his stepmother Camilla, branding her ‘the villain’ and ‘dangerous’, having ignored a plea from his father not to attack his wife.

Harry, in an interview with US show CBS’s 60 Minutes, launched into his fiercest criticism yet of his stepmother.

The duke wrote in his memoir Spare that Camilla ‘sacrificed me on her personal PR altar’.

In his interview with Anderson Cooper, attacks his stepmother Camilla, branding her ‘the villain’ and ‘dangerous’, having ignored a plea from his father not to attack his wife

He told Cooper: ‘She was the villain, she was a third person in the marriage, she needed to rehabilitate her image.’

He added: ‘The need for her to rehabilitate her image…that made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press.

‘And there was open willingness on both sides to trade information and with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being Queen Consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street because of that.’

The duke writes in his memoir how he and William begged the King not to marry Camilla, and he told Cooper: ‘We didn’t think it was necessary. We thought it would do more harm than good.’

In last night’s interview with Bradby, the duke, however, denied that he had been ‘scathing’ about the Queen Consort in his autobiography.

Bradby said: ‘I want to sort of just briefly talk about your stepmother and the press ’cause you, you are pretty consistently scathing and suggest that you are…’

Harry replies ‘Scathing?…What, scathing towards?’

Bradby responds: ‘Well, as in you say that, ‘your interests were sacrificed on her PR altar’, to quote, and you seem to be specifically referencing that. Now her people might say, well, it’s not a crime to go to lunch with journalists.

Harry: ‘Well, I think in the book is very clear what happened.’

In an excerpt read from his memoir Harry says: ”We support you’ we said, ‘We endorse Camilla’ we said. ‘Just please don’t marry her, just be together, Pa.’ He didn’t answer.

‘But she answered. Straight away. Shortly after our private summits with her, she began to play the long game. A campaign aimed at marriage, and eventually the Crown, with Pa’s blessing we presumed.’

Camilla’s public image has changed dramatically over the years since she was cast as the third person in the marriage of the then-Prince and Princess of Wales due to her affair with Charles.

‘Still questions to be answered’ over Diana’s death

Harry said there was a lot that remained ‘unexplained’ about the crash that killed his mother

Prince Harry revealed how he ‘demanded’ to see pictures of Princess Diana’s fatal crash as he struggled to believe his mother had really died. Speaking in the ITV interview, Harry said he had been searching for ‘evidence’ that his mother was dead and described looking at images of her devastating 1997 collision.

The duke also claimed there was a lot about the crash that remained ‘unexplained’ – and suggested that if the paparazzi were removed from the equation she would still be alive. Referring to a section in his book, Bradby said Harry had asked his private secretary to see the ‘secret government file’ on Diana’s death before Harry narrates a passage from Spare.

In his book, Harry recounted the searing moment he first laid eyes on the images of his beloved mother laying in the debris of the catastrophic crash.

‘At last, I came to the photos of mummy. There were lights around her, auras, almost halos… The colour of the lights was the same colour as her hair. Golden,’ Harry said. Still very young, he struggled at first to understand what the lights might be before coming to the shocking realisation that they were ‘visages’ of the paparazzi captured in the flash of the cameras.

‘As I realise their true origin, my stomach clenched. Flashes. They were flashes, and within some of the flashes were ghostly visages. And half visages,’ he continued.

‘Paps, and reflected paps and refracted paps on all the smooth metal and services and glass windscreens. Those who’d chased her.

‘They’d never stopped shooting her… Not one of them was checking on her, offering her help, not even comforting her.’ Harry said he is ‘thankful’ that his secretary had removed the more harrowing content from the file.

However he said he saw several images: ‘I saw the back of her blonde hair, you know, slumped on the back of the seat.’ Explaining the thinking behind his request, Harry said: ‘I was looking for evidence… that it actually happened, that it was true.

‘But I was also looking for something to hurt, because at that point I was still pretty numb to the whole thing.’ He added that it ‘still hurts’ to know that his mother was photographed as she lay dying. He said there were still several question marks over her death and having driven through the Paris tunnel himself, added that it was ‘impossible to lose control’ unless you were ‘completely blinded’.

Despite believing that the people responsible for the crash – the paparazzi – ‘all got away it’, Harry said he doesn’t see the point of reopening an inquiry.

Drugs helped him deal with the ‘grief’ and ‘trauma’

Harry credited the use of psychedelic drugs with helping him deal with the ‘grief’ and ‘trauma’ he felt after the tragic death of his mother, Diana.

The Duke of Sussex called psychedelics like ayahuasca and magic mushrooms his ‘medicine’ after the huge ‘loss’ of his mother in 1997.

He told Anderson Cooper: ‘I would never recommend people to do this recreationally.

The Duke of Sussex called psychedelics like ayahuasca and magic mushrooms his ‘medicine’ after the huge ‘loss’ of his mother in 1997

‘But doing it with the right people if you are suffering from a huge amount of loss, grief or trauma, then these things have a way of working as a medicine.

‘For me, they cleared the windscreen, the windshield, the misery of loss. They cleared away this idea that I had in my head that … I needed to cry to prove to my mother that I missed her. When in fact, all she wanted was for me to be happy.’

Harry explained during the sit down that he believes he didn’t cry over Diana’s death because he had ‘refused to accept that she was gone.’

He added that there was a huge ‘weight on his chest’ that he ‘felt for so many years’ over not shedding more tears – and that he even tried watching videos of her to bring forth his emotions.

‘I was constantly trying to find a way to cry, even sitting on my sofa and going over as many memories as I could muster up about my mum,’ he added. ‘And sometimes I watched videos online.’

‘I’m very happy’, Harry insists – despite constantly slating his family

Despite the constant attacks on his family, the Duke of Sussex said he is ‘very happy and very at peace’ living with wife Meghan and their two children Archie and Lilibet in their multimillion-dollar California mansion.

He claimed he is ‘in a better place than I’ve ever been’, which he said ‘probably angers some people [and] infuriates others’ who never thought he would step away from life as a senior royal.

‘It wasn’t something that I would have necessarily chosen at the time, but I own my story and I own the results.

‘I’ve got two beautiful kids and an amazing wife, like the happiness in my family now I have never felt anywhere else before,’ he told Bradby.

‘I guess there’s also a lot of people who refuse to accept that I could be happy out here, because of what I’ve left behind. But the reality is I’ve never been happier,’ he added.

Asked if the peace and happiness he felt was because he was physically away from ‘aggravating’ factors like the British media, Harry said ‘the safety of my family is my priority’, adding this was ‘the main reason’ behind Megxit.

Of his new life, Harry said: ‘I feel safe here, my family feel safe here, I’m happy, my family’s happy’.

He admitted that while it is ‘difficult going back’, he believes he is mentally strong enough to attempt a reconciliation with the Royal Family.

The duke insisted he is in ‘such a good headspace now, that whatever conversations need to happen, or whatever the future holds to the point of where, can there be reconciliation and is there some, whatever comes from that, that I’m in a really good place to be able to have those conversations and come back and not linger on it, or not let it pull me back in.’

Criticises Donald Trump for his ‘harmful’ and ‘dangerous’ tweets

Harry criticised Donald Trump with an oblique reference to his allegedly ‘harmful’ and ‘dangerous’ tweets.

The Duke was discussing the need for the Royal family to face ‘accountability’ for their alleged wrongdoing when he mentioned the former US president without saying his name.

He told Bradby: ‘And from what I have learnt and believe of the monarchy, if someone in this country, if someone, you know, especially in the US, no names mentioned, tweets or says certain things that are just categorically harmful and dangerous, you have the president and the vice president speak out against it.

‘But, everything to do with my wife, after six years, they haven’t said a single thing. But they’re willing to defend themselves regularly.’

Harry is accused of turning the Royal Family ‘into an episode of the Kardashians’ as social media explodes at ITV interview – questioning why the Duke is calling for his privacy in tell-all chat

William is ‘dignified and unbelievably loyal’ say friends, who claim future king will keep his silence despite Harry’s ongoing bombshell revelations

Prince Harry claims William wasn’t keen on a public ‘walkabout’ before his wedding to Meghan – and cancelled plans to stay with him the night before

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