Succession star Brian Cox has said that Prince Harry and wife Meghan are “victims” of an outdated institution.
The actor, who plays Logan Roy in the hit HBO series, said of the pair: “They’re the product of an institution which is moribund and shouldn’t exist any more.”
The Scottish star, 76, was asked by Radio Times about the comments he previously made about Meghan, in a New York magazine where he was quoted as saying she “knew what she was getting into” when she married into the royal family.
He responded by pushing back on the article insisting that he was misquoted.
“I’m a bit angry about that,” he told the publication.
“Because that whole thing has been taken out of context. I actually have enormous sympathy for them.
“But that’s a difficult situation where [Meghan] comes from, and it’s understandable that she sees something [appealing] and it does look like a fairy tale.
“But it was a fairy tale that went horribly wrong,” he added.
“I think they’re victims,” he continued, before pointing out that, as a Scottish republican, he believes that the system “fundamentally, in this day and age, doesn’t make any sense”.
He also explained that he only accepted his CBE in 2002 because his beloved sister Bette, who died at 92 and helped to raise him from when he was just eight years old, was a royalist.
He said he would turn down a knighthood now as he only entertained the titles for Bette’s sake.
“If it wasn’t for my sister, I wouldn’t be here,” he confirmed. “She was my constant in my life and she was a great royalist.
"So the reason I accepted the first time around was [because] it honoured her as much as anything else. Because she was a believer.”