The five times Harry was accused of hypocrisy

2023-01-11

The five times Harry was accused of hypocrisy: From feminism to ‘privacy’ pleas and spat over ‘milking his mother’s death for money’

Prince Harry has been accused of hypocrisy and U-turning by critics
Duke of Sussex has made a slew of allegations during media blitz for memoir
He appears to have contradicted himself on occasion and backtracked

Prince Harry has been accused of hypocrisy and U-turning on a number of controversial subjects – including his pleas for ‘privacy’ – during his media blitz while promoting his bombshell tell-all memoir.

In his autobiography Spare, and interviews to plug the book, the Duke of Sussex has launched a slew of ‘truth bombs’ including allegations that his estranged brother William attacked him during a row over Megxit and branding Queen Consort Camilla ‘dangerous’.

Amid the media firestorm, however, the prince has come under fire for appearing to openly contradict himself and even backtrack on bombshell claims that he – and Meghan – have previously made.

Here, MailOnline takes a look at what critics claim are examples of the Duke’s hypocrisy and U-turning…

In his autobiography Spare, and interviews to plug the book, the Duke of Sussex has launched a slew of ‘truth bombs’ including allegations that his estranged brother William physically attacked him during a row over Megxit and Queen Consort Camilla was ‘dangerous’

In his incendiary interview with ITV journalist, and old friend, Tom Bradby, the Duke sensationally said that he hoped any reconciliation with the Royal Family would be in private.

The prince made his plea despite having launched a media blitz on both sides of the Atlantic to promote Spare and having just appeared on a tell-all Netflix docu-series with his wife, Meghan.

Harry 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.

The Duke of Sussex made his plea for privacy despite having launched a media blitz on both sides of the Atlantic to promote ‘Spare’ and having just appeared on a tell-all Netflix docu-series with his wife, Meghan Markle

Ex-BBC broadcaster Jon Sopel and Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent Katie Nicholl both tweeted their disbelief at Harry’s pleas for privacy

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.’

One user tweeted: ‘Harry literally turning the British Monarchy into an episode of The Kardashian’s. This is cringe.’ Another said: ‘If you want communication with your family to be private, why are you doing this interview?! So contradictory.

A third added: ‘He wants any future conversation to stay private but is sitting here telling us what other ‘private’ conversations they have had.’

There was disbelief when Harry told ITV’s Tom 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

2) Harry accuses Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell of ‘milking’ his mother’s death in a tell-all book… after the Duke wrote extensively about the late Princess of Wales in his OWN memoir

The Duke condemned Diana’s former butler for releasing a book that made a series of private revelations about his mother – even after writing extensively about the late Princess in his own memoir.

In his controversial autobiography, Harry said Paul Burrell was ‘milking’ Diana’s death for money when he penned A Royal Duty in 2003, adding that it ‘made my blood boil’.

Mr Burrell, who the duke does not name in the autobiography, drew criticism from the Royal Family at the time when he released the book about his former boss Diana. A statement issued by the brothers from Clarence House accused Mr Burrell of ‘a cold and overt betrayal’.

In his memoir, Harry said Paul Burrell made his ‘blood boil’ by releasing a book about Princess Diana called A Royal Duty

In response, Mr Burrell welcomed the suggestion of meeting with the princes to justify his book and tell them about parts of their mother’s life they had not witnessed, adding: ‘I’d love to give them a piece of my mind.’

In Spare, Harry describes how he learned of the book when he was working as an unpaid farmhand in Australia aged 19 in 2003 after leaving Eton. He writes that he received a package from Buckingham Palace, which was full of memos from the Palace communications team about ‘a delicate matter’.

‘Mummy’s former butler had penned a tell-all which actually told nothing,’ he said.

‘It was merely one man’s self-justifying, self-centring version of events. My mother once called this butler a dear friend, trusted him implicitly. We did too. Now this. He was milking her disappearance for money. It made my blood boil.’

Appearing on Australian breakfast show Sunrise yesterday, Mr Burrell said: ‘I first met him in his mummy’s tummy. I don’t recognise the young man I see today. That’s not the boy I knew.

‘What I see now is an angry, petulant, privileged prince who is constantly blaming other people and not taking accountability on his part.’

The Duke of Sussex accused Mr Burrell of ‘milking’ Princess Diana’s death for money (pictured together in 1997)

Speaking from his home in Florida, he said the Duke had ‘changed fundamentally’ and that his mother would be ‘appalled’.

‘She would be angry at these personal, vindictive revelations which don’t just undermine Harry, but his country, his family, the institution – which his mother was very proud of – and his late grandmother’s legacy,’ he said.

Mr Burrell blamed Meghan for the Duke’s ‘vindictive’ behaviour – claiming she was the one ‘driving him behind the scenes’.

He said: ‘This isn’t just a book written by Harry… Meghan’s had a huge influence in this book. She’s beside him steering him on his path. You can’t just blame Harry. You have to blame the both of them.

‘I don’t like to see the rug being pulled beneath the feet of our King and Harry’s brother, who is on his way to being King. And the snipes that have gone forward about Kate [the Princess of Wales]… Kate has never put a foot wrong. But the other side of the story will never be heard because the royals believe there’s great dignity in silence.’

3) Critic accuses ‘self-proclaimed feminist’ Harry of ‘breathtaking hypocrisy’ by making personal attacks on Queen Consort Camilla

‘Self-proclaimed feminist’ Harry has been accused by a critic of ‘tremendous’ and ‘breathtaking’ hypocrisy for making ‘nasty potshot’ attacks on the character of his stepmother Queen Consort Camilla.

In an interview to plug his explosive autobiography Spare, the Duke branded the King’s second wife the ‘villain’ and ‘dangerous’, accusing her of rehabilitating her image at the expense of his.

Later, he appeared to row back the comments by saying that he had ‘huge compassion’ for Camilla. However, royal sources indicated Charles considers the prince’s attacks on the Queen Consort to have crossed a ‘red line’.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Camilla’s friend and journalist Petronella Wyatt blasted Harry’s fierce criticisms, accusing the Duke – who she called a ‘self-proclaimed feminist’ – of hypocrisy by ‘taking a very nasty potshot at a 75-year-old woman who can’t answer back’.

Though she claimed that Charles will be ‘devastated’ by Harry’s charges, Ms Wyatt said that the King ‘will forgive his son anything’ because he feels responsible ‘for the way he’s turned out’.

‘Self-proclaimed feminist’ Prince Harry is facing charges of ‘tremendous hypocrisy’ for making extraordinary and ‘nasty’ attacks on the character of his stepmother Queen Consort Camilla in his bombshell memoir

‘I think Harry is a tremendous hypocrite because he’s a self-avowed feminist and yet he takes this very nasty potshot at a 75-year-old woman who can’t answer back. So where is his feminism?’, Ms Wyatt said.

‘If anyone accused Meghan of scheming her way into marriage for the Royal Family… that creates howls from Harry, so why is he doing the same thing to Camilla? And why is he taking absolutely no responsibility for his own mistakes which were not leaked to the Press by Camilla?’.

She continued: ‘There was one example of a leak by one of her aides that was unintentional, and the aide was immediately sacked. But she has never ever briefed against her… she would never do that, she’s a very very kind person, she’s very sensitive where both the princes were concerned, and she’s completely without ambition.’

4) Harry calls Camilla ‘dangerous’ in one interview… then used another interview to say he had ‘huge compassion’ for her

Harry made yet another sensational U-turn in his attacks on the Royal Family – claiming he has ‘huge compassion’ for his father’s wife Camilla, less than 12 hours after he branded her ‘dangerous’ and a ‘villain’ in a 60 Minutes interview to promote his explosive new book.

The 38-year-old’s comments about the Queen Consort – whom he reveals in Spare that he once thought of as an ‘evil stepmother’ – came in a new sit-down with GMA, his third pre-recorded interview in less than 24 hours.

Speaking to host Michael Strahan, who asked Harry ‘what [Camilla] had done’ to prompt both he and his brother to ‘beg’ Charles not to marry her, the Duke of Sussex insisted he actually sympathised with her role as the ‘third person in his parents’ marriage’, claiming that he ‘doesn’t look at her as an evil stepmother’.

Harry’s claims about feeling ‘compassion’ for his stepmother came less than 12 hours after he branded her a ‘villain’ in a pre-recorded sit-down with 60 Minutes host Anderson Cooper

‘I have a huge amount of compassion for her, you know, being the third person within my parents’ marriage,’ Harry told Strahan – despite telling 60 Minutes’ Anderson Cooper that Camilla’s affair with Charles made her a ‘villain’.

When asked where his relationship with Camilla stands, Harry conceded that they ‘haven’t spoken for a long time’, but added that he ‘loves every member of his family’ and that when he and the Queen Consort ‘see each other, we’re perfectly pleasant’.

Harry told Cooper that the Queen Consort was content with bodies being ‘left in the street’ as she tried to rehabilitate her image after her long affair with Charles while he was married to Diana.

Referring back to a 1995 interview in which his mother, Princess Diana, famously referred to Camilla as the ‘third person in her marriage’, Harry said that this admission turned the now-Queen Consort into a ‘villain’, adding: ‘She needed to rehabilitate her image.’

According to Harry, this desire to transform her public image made her ‘dangerous’.

‘That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,’ he said.

‘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.’

5) Harry DENIES accusing the Royal Family of racism in bombshell Oprah interview… where he and Meghan alleged an unnamed royal asked about the skin colour of their unborn son Archie

Harry was accused of having ‘hung his family out to dry’ after he ‘failed to correct’ accusations of racism made about the Royal Family in his bombshell Oprah interview and the recent Netflix series.

The Duke of Sussex denied calling the Royal Family racist in his interview with Bradby, but said they were guilty of ‘unconscious bias’ while discussing Meghan’s controversial claim to Oprah that an unnamed royal had expressed ‘concern’ about Archie’s skin colour.

Ms Winfrey asked Meghan in 2021: ‘They were concerned that if he were too brown, that would be a problem? Are you saying that?’ Ms Markle responded: ‘If that’s the assumption you’re making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one, which was really hard to understand, right?’

Harry is facing allegations that he failed to ‘correct the narrative’ around racism in the Royal Family after sensationally accusing an unnamed royal of asking about the skin colour of his and Meghan’s then-unborn son Archie during his bombshell Oprah interview

The Duke of Sussex conceded that the Royal Family were not racist but said they were guilty of ‘unconscious bias’ while discussing the controversial claim in an incendiary interview to plug his new memoir

It prompted a worldwide guessing game about the senior royal who said it and hours later Harry’s estranged brother, Prince William, was forced to publicly remark that they were ‘very much not a racist family’. The Queen gave a rare statement and said ‘the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning’ but stressed that ‘recollections may vary’.

But in an incendiary interview to plug his new memoir, he told Bradby that the Royal Family is not racist. Bradby was visibly stunned – as were millions of viewers – by his screeching U-turn from previous incendiary claims.

The British broadcaster, a friend of Harry’s, raised the 2021 Oprah interview with Meghan and said: ‘You accused members of your family of racism.’ But Harry snapped back: ‘No I didn’t. The British press said that. Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?’

The Duke then insisted the comments made about his son Archie’s skin colour were ‘unconscious bias’.

Bradby appeared taken aback by the answer – while experts said that Harry clearly didn’t understand the term he was now using.

Critics accused the Duke of not understanding the difference between denying the royals are racist while also accusing them of ‘unconscious bias’, arguing they amount to the same thing

What Meghan told Oprah vs what Harry told Tom Bradby… and the Duke’s claims on Netflix

THE OPRAH INTERVIEW

Oprah: You certainly must have had some conversations with Harry about it and have your own suspicions as to why they didn’t want to make Archie a prince. What are those thoughts? Why do you think that is? Do you think it’s because of his race? And I know that’s a loaded question, but…

Meghan: But I can give you an honest answer. In those months when I was pregnant all around the same time, so we have in tandem the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born…

Oprah: What?

Meghan: And…

Oprah: Who is having that conversation with you? What?

Meghan: So…

Oprah: Hold up…

Meghan: There’s several conversations…

Oprah: There’s a conversation with you…

Meghan: With Harry…

Oprah: …About how dark your baby is going to be?

Meghan: Potentially, and what that would mean or look like.

Oprah: And you’re not going to tell me who had that conversation?

Meghan: I think that would be very damaging to them.

Oprah: Ok. So how does one have that meeting?

Meghan: That was relayed to me from Harry. Those were conversations that family had with him, and I think it was really hard to be able to see those as compartmentalised conversations.

Oprah: Was the concern that if he was too brown that that would be a problem? Are you saying that?

Meghan: I wasn’t able to follow up with why, but if that’s the assumption you’re making that feels like a pretty safe one. Which is really hard to understand, right? Especially when… look, the Commonwealth is a huge part of the monarchy and I lived in Canada which is a Commonwealth country for seven years but it wasn’t until Harry and I were together that we started to travel through the Commonwealth, 60-70 per cent of which is people of colour, right? And growing up as a woman of colour, a little girl of colour, I know how important representation is.

Oprah: What is particularly striking is what Meghan shared with us earlier, which is that no one wants to admit there’s anything about race or that race has played a role in the trolling or vitriol. Yet Meghan has shared with us that there was a conversation with you about Archie’s skin tone. What was that conversation?

Harry: That conversation I am never going to share. But at the time it was awkward. I was a bit shocked.

Oprah: Can you tell us what the question was?

Harry: No, I’m not comfortable sharing that, but that was right at the beginning.

Oprah: What will the baby look like?

Harry: Yeah, what will the kids look like. But that was right at the beginning, when she wasn’t going to get security, when members of my family were suggesting that she carry on acting… There were some really obvious signs before we even got married that this was going to be really hard.

THE TOM BRADBY INTERVIEW

Bradby: In the Oprah interview you accuse members of your family of racism. You don’t even…

Harry: No I don’t. The British press said that.

Bradby: Right. I…

Harry: Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?

Bradby: She said there were troubling comments about Archie’s skin colour.

Harry: Yeah there was concern about his skin colour.

Bradby: Right. Wouldn’t you describe that as essentially racist?

Harry: I wouldn’t, not having lived within that family. 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. 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 rater than part of the problem. Otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.

Bradby: But I suppose, I mean, isn’t there a danger… you know. You haven’t identified which members of the family…

Harry: And I will never talk about that. I mean, what happened to Ngozi Fulani is a very good example of the environment within the institution. And why, after the Oprah interview, they said that they were gonna bring in a diversity tsar. That hasn’t happened. Everyting that they said was gonna 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 at the… you have a responsibility and, quite rightly, people hold you to a higher standard than others. Certainly he media should, right? So the way that I’ve learnt it through my own experience and from what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard – 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. But to say that that doesn’t happen around the rest of the world but it just happened there, is… that’s not true. But again, for me, the difference is unconscious bias and racism…. If you are called out for unconscious bias, you need to make that right, and you have the opportunity and the choice to. But if you choose not to, then that rapidly becomes something much more serious.

THE NETFLIX SERIES

Harry: In this family, sometimes you are part of the problem rather than part of the solution. There is a huge level of unconscious bias. The thing with unconscious bias, it is actually no one’s fault.

But once it has been pointed out, or identified within yourself you then need to make it right. It is education. It is awareness. It is a constant work in progress for everybody, including me.

The direction from the palace was don’t say anything. But what people need to understand is, as far as a lot of the family were concerned, everything that she was being put through, they had been put through as well. So it was almost like a rite of passage, and some of the members of the family were like, ‘My wife had to go through that, so why should your girlfriend be treated any differently? Why should you get special treatment? Why should she be protected?’ I said ‘The difference here is the race element’.

Source: Read Full Article