Prince Harry has been slammed as "insensitive" after saying he "fled" the UK fearing for his family's safety.
The Duke of Sussex, 38, has sat down for an interview with ITV's Tom Brady ahead of the release of his explosive memoir, Spare, which contains shocking revelations about his royal life.
In the interview, Tom asks Harry why he has written the novel and how he can justify the level of disclosure in the memoir.
He said: "38 years, 38 years of having my story told by so many different people with intentional spin and distortion felt like a good time to own my story and be able to tell it for myself."
He explained: "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."
Harry went on to speak about the years which have seen him and wife Meghan Markle leave their roles as working royals, move to the US and a gulf opening between Harry and his relatives.
He said: "We're six years into it now, um, and I have spent every single year of those six, doing everything I can privately, to get through to my family.
"And the thing that is the saddest about this, Tom, is it never needed to be this way. 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, you, this is not what's happening.
"You, you are, you are imagining it. And that's really, 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."
Viewers have hit at Harry saying he fled the country, when refugees from war torn countries are having to do so.
One viewer said: "Whilst I disagree with how this country has treated Harry & Meghan I do think that saying “I fled my home country with my wife & son, fearing for our lives” is insensitive given how many people are fleeing their home countries daily due to war & persecution."
Another wrote: "Really crass for Harry to say "I fled my home country" when so many refugees flee real danger.
"And in the week that he himself grubbily grabbed attention, and made himself a target by bragging about Afghanistan."
A third person said: “Fled from my home country with my wife and my son, fearing for our lives” do me a f**king favour. You weren’t asylum seekers ffs."
Harry has made a series of allegations in the book, including accusing his brother William of "lunging" at him twice and grabbing his shirt in a clash after Prince Philip's funeral.
Other leaks from Spare see the Duke of Sussex claim a worried William told him he believed he had been “brainwashed” by the therapist he was seeing.
