Prince Harry interviews set to raise heat on UK royal family
Prince Harry is expected to lob more criticism at the UK royal family in broadcast interviews to promote his soul-baring new memoir, which has generated incendiary headlines even before its official release.
A prerecorded interview with Britains ITV is scheduled to air Sunday evening. CBS show 60 Minutes is set to run a conversation with the prince later, and he is appearing on Good Morning America and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
In extracts released in advance, Harry tells ITV journalist Tom Bradby that he cried only once after his mother, Prince Diana, died in 1997 at her burial. He said he feels guilt about not showing emotion when he and his brother Prince William greeted crowds of mourners outside Kensington Palace, Dianas London home.
In the book, Spare, Harry blames his familys stiff-upper-lip ethos, saying he had learned too well the family maxim that crying is not an option.
There were 50,000 bouquets of flowers to our mother and there we were shaking peoples hands, smiling, Harry told ITV. Ive seen the videos, right, I looked back over it all. And the wet hands that we were shaking, we couldnt understand why their hands were wet, but it was all the tears that they were wiping away.
Everyone thought and felt like they knew our mum, and the two closest people to her, the two most loved people by her, were unable to show any emotion in that moment.
Spare is the latest in a string of public pronouncements by the prince and his wife Meghan since they quit royal life and moved to California in 2020, citing what they saw as the medias racist treatment of Meghan, who is biracial, and a lack of support from the palace. It follows an interview with Oprah Winfrey and a six-part Netflix documentary released last month.
The Associated Press purchased a Spanish-language copy of the book in advance of its publication around the world on Tuesday.
In the ghostwritten memoir, Harry, 38, describes the couples acrimonious split from the royal family in 2020, after their suggestion of a part-time royal role was rejected. Harry contrasts the withdrawal of the couples taxpayer-funded security with the case of his uncle, Prince Andrew, who was removed as a working royal over his friendship with the U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Last year, Andrew settled a lawsuit from a woman who accused him of sexually abusing her while she traveled with financier Epstein when she was 17. Andrew paid an undisclosed sum as part of the settlement, but didnt admit wrongdoing.
Harry alleges that no one considered removing Andrews security despite the shameful scandal.
The book also explores Harrys grief at the death of his mother and his long-simmering resentment at the role of royal spare, overshadowed by the heir older brother William. He recounts arguments and a physical altercation with William, reveals how he lost his virginity (in a field) and describes using cocaine and cannabis.
He also says he killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving as an Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan a claim criticized by both the Taliban and British military veterans.
Royal officials havent commented on the allegations, though allies have pushed back on the claims, largely anonymously.
Veteran British journalist Jonathan Dimbleby, a biographer and friend of King Charles III, said Saturday that Harrys revelations were the type that youd expect from a sort of B-list celebrity, and that the king would be pained and frustrated by them.
In the ITV interview, Harry says he wants reconciliation with the royal family, but the ball is in their court.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)