Prince Harry has said he saw “the red mist” in his brother, Prince William, when his older sibling allegedly attacked him during a confrontation over the younger duke’s relationship with Meghan Markle.
In a newly released clip from ITV’s forthcoming interview with Harry, the Duke of Sussex said his brother, William, was so frustrated during the 2019 incident he saw “the red mist in him”.
“He wanted me to hit him back, but I chose not to,” he says of his brother, who he earlier claimed in his book had physically attacked him – as was first reported by the Guardian.
The book’s revelations are spread across front pages of almost every national newspaper in the UK and are likely to reduce the possibility of a reconciliation between the Sussexes and the rest of the British royal family.
In the clip, released early on Friday morning, Harry tells the interviewer, Tom Bradby: “What was different here was the level of frustration, and I talk about the red mist that I had for so many years, and I saw this red mist in him.”
The duke first recounted the confrontation in his autobiography Spare – an extract from which was reported by the Guardian on Thursday. In the book, it is claimed the Prince of Wales grabbed Harry’s collar and knocked him to the floor, ripping his necklace and shattering a dog bowl under his back.
The duke also states he wants to reconcile with his family – something he says cannot happen without “some accountability”.
“I want reconciliation,” he says, “but, first, there needs to be some accountability.”
In a clip from another forthcoming interview, Harry admits he was “probably bigoted” before his relationship with Markle.
In a new teaser for a CBS News interview that is due to air this Sunday, Harry tells the interviewer Anderson Cooper he was “incredibly naive” about how the British media would treat his relationship with the American actor.
“The race element” to the couple’s relationship had been “jumped on straight away” by the British press, he tells the programme, adding that he had no idea how “bigoted” the UK media was until his wife and their relationship were thrust into the spotlight.
“What Meghan had to go through was similar in some part to what Kate and what Camilla went through – very different circumstances,” the duke says in the 30-second clip released on Thursday. “But then you add in the race element, which was what the press – (the) British press jumped on straight away.
“I went into this incredibly naive. I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. Hell, I was probably bigoted before the relationship with Meghan.”
Cooper responds by asking the duke: “You think you were bigoted before the relationship with Meghan?”
Harry replies: “I don’t know. Put it this way, I didn’t see what I now see.”
Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace have declined to comment.
Elsewhere in the Brady interview clip, Harry addresses the drug use detailed in the book, Spare. Bradby tells the duke: “There’s a fair amount of drugs (in the book). Marijuana, magic mushrooms, cocaine. I mean, that’s going to surprise people.”
The duke appears to agree and says it was “important to acknowledge”.
The show, called Harry: The Interview, will be broadcast on ITV1 and ITVX at 9pm on 8 January.
