PRINCE Harry slated his family again in two new TV interviews — then claimed to want peace with Charles and William.
In clips released yesterday, he accused his relatives of being unwilling to fix the rift.
7Harry’s whopping 90-minute special is with ITV News frontman and pal Tom BradbyCredit: TNI Press
7The other is with US host Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes on CBSCredit: CBS
7Harry said ‘I would like to get my father back. I’d like to have my brother back’ – pictured the duke with the family in 2020Credit: AFP
But the duke added: “I would like to get my father back. I’d like to have my brother back.”
Harry kicked off 2023 with fresh attacks on his family, claiming they have shown “no willingness to reconcile”.
The California-based royal again accuses his relatives of leaking stories against him and wife Meghan in new TV interviews to promote his new autobiography, Spare.
But, to the disbelief of royal experts, he also claimed he wanted to make peace with his dad Charles and brother William.
In clips from the shows released yesterday, the duke dismissed the late Queen’s well-respected mantra “never complain, never explain” — brandishing it as “just a motto”.
He repeats allegations from his recent Netflix docuseries that the Royal Family briefed the press against him and wife Meghan. He says they failed to defend them publicly – and “silence is betrayal”.
He also claims to be part of “an institution” rather than “a family” and complains that he and Meghan have been painted as “villains”.
The fresh broadsides, which come after their Netflix series plus a string of similar interviews, will disappoint King Charles and the Prince of Wales who have never spoken about the bitter fall-out.
‘I want a family, not an institution’
The attacks also baffled royal observers, with one insider saying: “Offering an olive branch while trashing the family again is a strange way to go about it.”
Harry has recorded two new television interviews which will both air next Sunday ahead of the publication of his book.
One is with US host Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes on CBS and the other is a whopping 90-minute special with ITV News frontman and pal Tom Bradby.
In ITV’s trailer, Harry repeats lines from last year’s Netflix docuseries, telling Bradby: “It never needed to be this way”, adding: “The leaking and the planting.”
Offering an olive branch while trashing the family again is a strange way to go about it.
Insider
Harry then says: “I want a family, not an institution.”
It is unclear whether he is speaking about the media or the Royal Family when he adds: “They feel as though it is better to keep us somehow as the villains.”
He then opens fresh wounds with his relatives by alleging: “They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile.”
But Harry then claims to want reconciliation himself, saying: “I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back.”
Sources close to King Charles say the “door is always open” for Harry who “remains a much-loved son” while William’s relationship with his younger sibling is “hanging by a thread”.
Meanwhile, Harry is asked by Cooper on 60 Minutes why he keeps talking publicly about his family. Using similar language to his ITV replies, Harry says: “Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife.
“You know the family motto is ‘never complain, never explain’, but it’s just a motto.”
7Harry with Anderson Cooper during his CBS chatCredit: CBS
7Harry repeats allegations from his recent Netflix docuseries that the Royal Family briefed the press against him and wife MeghanCredit: Enterprise
He alleges again that behind the scenes there is “endless” complaining and explaining and briefing to the media.
Harry added: “They will feed or have a conversation with the correspondent and that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story, and at the bottom of it they will say that they have reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
“But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.” He added: “So we’re being told for the last six years, ‘We can’t put a statement out to protect you.’
‘Silence is betrayal’
“But you do it for other members of the family. It becomes a point when silence is betrayal.” The interviews are the only promotions Harry is doing for his book, which is due out next Tuesday with no newspaper serialisation.
It comes after Harry and Meghan appeared in six hour-long episodes speaking about the Royal Family in December.
Harry left senior royals in a “state of sadness” when he discussed private conversations from the Sandringham Summit, when the couple’s departure from Britain and royal duties was hammered out.
Harry also slammed the royal “hierarchy” while a tearful Meghan sobbed: “They’re never going to protect you.”
Previously, the couple launched similar attacks on the royals in their Oprah Winfrey tell-all interview last year as well as several podcasts plus a mental health show on Apple TV.
However Michael Jermey, ITV Director of News and Current Affairs, said: “It is extremely rare for a member of the Royal Family to speak so openly about their experience at the heart of the institution.
“Tom Bradby’s interview with Prince Harry will be a programme that everyone with an informed opinion on the monarchy should want to watch.”
7William’s relationship with his younger sibling is ‘hanging by a thread’Credit: Getty
7Meanwhile, sources close to Charles say the ‘door is always open’ for Harry who ‘remains a much-loved son’Credit: PA
ITV claim that Harry will also speak about his “personal relationships, and never-before-heard details surrounding the death of his mother, Diana”.
Ian Rumsey, ITN Productions’ Executive Producer, added: “Harry’s version of events contains many elements we’ve never heard before, as viewers will see.
“It is a raw and intimate perspective on his relationships with the people closest to him and the moments that have shaped him.”
Both interviews were filmed in California and are believed to have taken place at the San Ysidro Ranch near Harry and Meghan’s home in Montecito.
Bradby recorded his chat before Christmas. Neither Harry or book publishers Penguin Random House were paid for the interview.
Spare, said to be a “personal and emotional” memoir, has been ghostwritten by Pulitzer Prize winner JR Moehringer. The Sun told yesterday how Harry is expected to lift the lid on his bust-up with his brother William in the book.
He is set to complain about the unfairness of playing second fiddle to the heir to the throne. William and wife Kate have been silent during the ongoing row.
Bradby and Harry is at 9pm on ITV this Sunday. Buckingham Palace did not want to comment.
