In a series of buzzy TV interviews, Prince Harry is already telling all ahead of the release of his tell-all memoir, "Spare."
To promote his forthcoming book, the duke of Sussex appeared Sunday and Monday on "60 Minutes," ITV and "Good Morning America" — with another appearance still to come this week on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." "Spare" is set to arrive Tuesday.
While speaking with Anderson Cooper of "60 Minutes," Tom Bradby of ITV and Michael Strahan of "GMA," Harry discussed his marriage to the former Meghan Markle, fraught relationships with members of the royal family and efforts to process the 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana.
Here are highlights from all three conversations.
The 'divide couldn't be greater' between Harry, his brother and his father
Asked by Strahan if he worried "Spare" would "further divide" him from Prince William and King Charles III, the duke of Sussex said that wouldn't be possible. He expressed a desire to heal the relationships with the men in his life.
"I thought about it long and hard, and as far as I see it, the divide couldn't be greater before this book," he said. "But I genuinely believe that ... me and my family can reconcile, can put our differences behind us."
First, however, "there needs to be a conversation and accountability," he added. "If that doesn't happen, then that's very sad. But I will focus on my life, my amazing family that I'm so grateful to have, my two kids. ... There are things that will still anger me. But I'm not angry anymore because I am exactly where I'm supposed to be."
Diana would be 'heartbroken' by rift between her sons
Reflecting on his fractured relationship with the prince of Wales, Harry accused "the people that (William) employed" of breaking a pact the brothers made to never weaponize their offices against each other.
He added that his late mother "would be sad" to see what their sibling dynamic has become.
"I think she'd be looking at it long term — to know that there are certain things that we need to go through to be able to heal the relationship," Harry told Strahan.
"She would be heartbroken that it's ended up where it's ended up. She'd be heartbroken about the fact that William, his office, were part of these stories."
Asked by Strahan if he deserved any responsibility for the falling out, Harry said, "Without question, I'm sure."
"But what people don't know is the efforts that I've gone ... to resolve this privately, both with my brother and with my father," he added.
Harry and William believed Diana disappeared
For "a long time," Harry said, he "refused to accept" his mother's death.
He told Cooper that he and his brother believed Diana had simply decided to disappear and would eventually call them and invite them to join her.
"'She would never do this to us,'" Harry recalled thinking. "'Maybe this is all part of a plan.'"
When he was 20, Harry asked to see a police report that included photos from the car crash that killed his mom. Though the photos provided "proof that she was in the car," Harry told Cooper he remained in denial until he visited the site of her death in Paris when he was 23.
Harry and William asked Charles not to marry Camilla Parker Bowles
Harry revealed that he and William asked their father not to marry the former Camilla Parker Bowles after their mother died. (Charles and Diana famously filed for divorce after his affair with Camilla came to light.)
"We didn't think [the marriage] was necessary," Harry told Cooper. "We thought that it was gonna cause more harm than good and that if he was now with his person ... surely that's enough. Why go that far when you don't necessarily need to?"
In the end, however, the brothers let it go because they wanted their father "to be happy, and ... saw how happy he was with her."
The royal family judged Meghan 'before they even had the chance to get to know her'
Harry claimed that William and other relatives distrusted Meghan immediately due to "stereotypes" that led to preconceptions.
"The fact that she was American, an actress, divorced, Black — biracial with a Black mother — those were just four of the typical stereotypes that ... becomes a feeding frenzy for the British press," Harry told Cooper.
"My family read the tabloids," he added. "So whether you walk around saying you believe it or not ... it's still leaving an imprint in your mind. So if you have that judgment based on a stereotype right at the beginning, it's very, very hard to get over that."
The duke of Sussex also admitted to Bradby that William and wife Kate, now princess of Wales, failed to gel with Meghan "almost from the get-go," dashing his hopes for an alliance between the married couples.
"I thought the four of us would bring me and William closer together, we could go out and do work together — which I did a lot as the third wheel to them, which was fun at times but also, I guess, slightly awkward at times as well," he said.
"I don't think they were ever expecting me to get … into a relationship with someone like Meghan, who had a very successful career."
The royal family squandered an opportunity for 'representation' with Meghan
By not fully accepting and supporting his wife, Harry told Strahan the palace suffered an "enormous missed opportunity."
"Representation is what (Meghan) said to me right from the beginning," Harry explained. "And I, as a privileged white man, didn't really understand what she was talking about."
Harry 'was probably bigoted' before meeting Meghan
While discussing the British media's racist attitude toward his wife, Harry conceded that he "had no idea the British press were so bigoted" and that he too "was probably bigoted before" dating Meghan.
"Put it this way — I didn't see what I now see," he told Cooper.
Harry sees the palace's silence regarding Meghan's treatment as a 'betrayal'
Following a sharp backlash, British tabloid the Sun recently removed a hateful column written by Jeremy Clarkson that berated Meghan.
"Did [the column] surprise me? No. Is it shocking? Yes," Harry told Cooper. "I mean, thank you for proving our point."
Asked by Cooper if the palace ever responded to the hit piece, Harry said, "No. And there comes a point when silence is betrayal."
Harry pushed back on racism claims
While speaking with Bradby, the duke of Sussex denied accusing his family of racism during his and Meghan's bombshell TV interview with Oprah Winfrey.
"The British press said that," he quickly interjected. "Did Meghan ever mention 'they're racists'?"
During the Winfrey special, Meghan claimed that a member of the Crown expressed "concerns" about their eldest child, Archie's, skin color before he was born. While Harry agreed that such an interaction occurred, he told Bradby he wouldn't describe the incident as racist, per se.
"For me, the difference is unconscious bias and racism," he explained. "But if you're called out for unconscious bias, you need to make that right."
Harry dismissed the idea of renouncing his royal title
Ever since Harry and Meghan decided to "step back" as senior members of the royal family, many have asked — and even demanded — that the duke and duchess of Sussex renounce their royal titles.
"And what difference would that make?" Harry asked Cooper.
He also said he can't see himself returning as a full-time working member of the royal family.
The monarchy can't continue 'the way that it is now'
Though Harry told Strahan he "genuinely" believes there is still a place for the British monarchy in modern society, he added: "Not the way that it is now."
When pressed further, Harry suggested that the royal family could stand to confront what he sees as its "unconscious bias."
"I think the same process that I went through ... regarding my own unconscious bias would be hugely beneficial to them," he said. "It's not racism, but unconscious bias, if not confronted, if not learned and grown from ... can then move into racism."
Has the palace responded?
Not yet. Both "60 Minutes" and "GMA" noted that representatives for the Crown demanded to see full transcripts of the interviews when asked to comment. Neither program agreed to the palace's terms, citing journalistic ethics.
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