The Duke of Sussex has said that “planting and leaking” by members of his family has caused “millions of words” to be written “trying to trash my wife”.
In an interview with Tom Bradby on ITV, Harry said he wrote his tell-all book Spare because of “38 years… of spin and distortion”.
The memoir, which is due to be published on Tuesday, contains a string of revelations – with Harry’s brother the Prince of Wales the subject of a number of them.
The claims made about William include that he physically assaulted Harry in 2019, and that he was “wasted” on rum hours before his wedding.
I'm actually really grateful that I've had the opportunity to tell my story because it's my story to tell— Duke of Sussex
Bradby asked the duke what his brother would say to him about the book.
“He’d probably say all sorts of different things,” Harry said.
“But you know, for the last however many years, let’s just focus on the last six years, the level of planting and leaking from other members of the family means that in my mind they have written countless books, certainly millions of words have been dedicated to trying to trash my wife and myself to the point of where I had to leave my country.”
Harry said he decided to write his memoir because it felt like a good time to tell his story.
“(After) 38 years of having my story told by so many different people with intentional spin and distortion, (it) felt like a good time to own my story and be able to tell it for myself.
“You know, I don’t think that if I was still part of the institution that I would have been given this chance to.
“So, I’m actually really grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to tell my story because it’s my story to tell.”
In the past the duke has complained about the invasion of his private life by the media.
Bradby asked him how he could now justify the amount of disclosures made in the book.
“There was a motto, a family motto of “never complain, never explain,” he said.
“And what people have realised now, through the Netflix doc, documentary and numerous stories coming out over the years, is that, that was just a motto.
“There was a lot of complaining and there was a lot of explaining and it continues now.”
He said the “truth” is now coming from his own lips, rather than through the tabloid media.
“But for me, I sit here now, speaking to you, answering the questions that you put to me, and the words and the truth will come from my lips rather than using other people, especially through the tabloid media.
“And we’re six years into it now, and I have spent every single year of those six, doing everything I can privately to get through to my family.”
Harry said that it “never needed to be this way” and that he had tried speaking to his family.
“And the thing that is the saddest about this, Tom, is it never needed to be this way,” he added.
“It never needed to get to this point. I’ve had conversations, I’ve written letters, I’ve written emails, and everything is just, ‘no, this is not what’s happening. You are imagining it’.
“And that’s really hard to take. And if it had stopped, by the point that I fled my home country with my wife and my son fearing for our lives, then maybe this would’ve turned out differently. It’s hard.”
The ITV interview is the first of four broadcast appearances over the coming days, with the duke also speaking to US journalist Anderson Cooper on 60 Minutes on CBS News overnight, Michael Strahan of Good Morning America on Monday and Stephen Colbert on the Late Show on CBS on Wednesday morning UK time.
