Prince Harry has said he wishes the royal family had been there for him in the “second darkest moment” of his life.
Speaking in an ITV interview ahead of the release of his memoir Spare on Tuesday 10 January, the Duke of Sussex said he still believes in the monarchy, but does not know if he’ll play a part in its future.
“I love my mother country and I love my family and I always will. I just wish, in the second-darkest moment of my life, they’d both been there for me,” Harry said.
“I would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back,” Harry also said, adding: “They feel as though it’s better to keep us somehow as the villains.”
The Duke lamented his family’s unwillingness to reconcile following his move to the US with Meghan after a fallout around press coverage of his wife, which appeared to be the “dark moment” he was referring to.
Harry and Meghan announced their decision to step back from their roles as senior members of the royal family in January 2020.
In their six-part Netflix docuseries, Harry opened up about the “Sandringham Summit”, or the meeting he had with the late Queen, Charles and William on 13 January 2020, which was held to discuss the Duke and Duchess’s decision.
He said he was left “terrified” after the Prince of Wales “screamed and shouted” at him during the discussion.
His memoir Spare is reportedly “tough on William in particular”, and provides new details about their falling out.
“There are these minute details, and a description of the fight between the brothers. I personally can’t see how Harry and William will be able to reconcile after this,” a source with knowledge about the book told The Sunday Times.
In volume one of Harry and Meghan, Harry alleged that there was “leaking but also planting of stories” about the duchess to the British press, adding that “there’s a hierarchy of the family”.
He also compared the UK media’s treatment of Meghan with William’s wife, the Princess of Wales, claiming that the royal family “were never willing to tell the truth to protect us”
Following the release of the Netflix documentary, it was reported that Harry and Meghan would like to “sit down with the royal family” and sort through their “issues”.
Hinting at the royal mood behind closed doors, however, one friend told The Sunday Times that the Prince of Wales had kept quiet “for the good of his family and the country.”
William will not retaliate because he is “dignified and incredibly loyal”, they said.
