Prince Harry has spoken of how he hopes for reconciliation with the Royal Family but admits the divide between them “couldn’t be greater” on the release of his explosive tell-all memoir.
The Duke of Sussex hit back at critics who said he was tearing up his relationship with his father King Charles and his brother Prince William for money by releasing Spare on January 10 - almost three years to the day after he left the UK to begin a new life with Meghan in the United States.
“If we can get to the point of reconciliation, that will have a ripple effect across the world,” Harry told Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan.
“I genuinely believe that, and that’s kind of what is pushing me. And if that doesn’t happen, then that’s very sad.”
“I have thought about it long and hard,” Harry said. “And as far as I see it, the divide couldn’t be greater before this book.”
The Duke of Sussex says he “genuinely believe[s]” there is a place for the monarchy in the 21st century if it addresses unconscious bias.
“Not racism, but unconscious bias. If not confronted, if not learned and grown from, that can then move into racism.
“But there was an enormous missed opportunity with my wife.”
During the interview, Harry also said: “I think my mother would have realised the missed opportunity with Meghan being part of the institution, part of the monarchy.”
Asked about how Diana would feel about the relationship between Harry and his brother William, he replied: “I think she’ll be sad that it is where it is now. I believe that she would want reconciliation, and I hope that is what’s achievable.”
In Sunday night’s interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby, the duke attacked close members of the royal family for “getting into bed with the devil” in forging relationships with the tabloid press “to rehabilitate their image”.
He also criticised “family members” for a “really horrible reaction” on the day the Queen died with claims of “briefings”, “leakings” and “planting”.
But the most controversial comment appears to have been his denial that he accused the royal family of racism in his Oprah interview.
In a second interview that went out overnight, Harry told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that Camilla had been cast as the “villain” and claimed a need for her to “rehabilitate her image” made her “dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press”.
It had previously been claimed that criticism of Camilla was seen by Charles as a “red line” — raising fears that Harry’s relationship with his father could be irrecoverably damaged.
He told US interviewer Anderson 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.”
