Prince Harry appeared in his first promo interviews for his upcoming memoir, Spare, and made a string of allegations about his life in the royal family - while also taking aim at his older brother, sister-in-law and stepmother.
The King's youngest son spoke with ITV's Tom Bradby to talk about some of the most important lines from his book - details which have been leaked after the book accidentally went on sale early last week.
In the US, the Duke sat down with Anderson Cooper for CBS's flagship 60 Minutes programme, in an interview aired mere hours after ITV's, reports the Mirror.
In the chats, Harry admits Prince William and Princess Kate never got on with Meghan Markle. He accused them of 'stereotyping' her but denied accusing the royals of racism during his interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The 38-year-old added he faced a "horrible reaction" from his family when the Queen passed away.
The 90-minute ITV interview and the 60 minute US chat were the first of four Harry had recorded ahead of the book launch. Read on for the stand-out points from Harry's interviews with Bradby and Cooper.
Harry rejects calling royals racist in Oprah interview
One of the most noteworthy claims in Harry's interview was when he contests calling the royal family racist after previously telling the public that a senior royal questioned the colour of his unborn son’s skin. Harry and wife Meghan rocked the British monarchy when they spoke of their abhorrence at “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he's born”.
The royals were left to deny serious allegations of racism after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s tell-all interview with US chat show queen Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Talking about the storm for the first time, Harry said the royal family were not racist but were guilty of "unconscious bias".
During the interview Bradby said to Harry: "In the Oprah interview you accused members of your family of racism."
Duke snapped back, saying "no I didn't", adding "the British press said that". In a further dig at his family, Harry said he didn't "describe that as essentially racist", retorting: "I wouldn’t, not having lived within that family."
Harry backs up royal aide who resigned over race row
At another point in the chat, Harry defended a loyal aide of the late Queen, who became involved in a race row, describing her as "great". Lady Susan Hussey, 83, stood down as an honorary member of the royal household and apologised after charity boss Ngozi Fulani said she was constantly asked where she "really came from" at a Buckingham Palace reception.
Harry defended her and said: "I'm very happy for Ngozi Fulani to be invited into the palace to sit down with Lady Susan Hussey um, and to reconcile, because Meghan and I love Susan Hussey.
“She thinks she's great. And I also know that what she meant – she never meant any harm at all.
"But the response from the British press, and from people online because of the stories they wrote was horrendous. Was absolutely horrendous, the response.”
Harry accuses Kate and William of 'stereotyping' Meghan
Harry made the surprising confession that William and Kate were huge Suits fans - but said the couple didn't have a good rapport with Meghan "from the get-go". Asked why the trio got off on a bad note, Harry admitted there were "lots of different reasons".
He continued: "I don’t think they were ever expecting me to get into a relationship with someone like Meghan, who had, you know, a very successful career. There was a lot of stereotyping that was happening, that I was guilty of as well, at the beginning."
Quizzed on what he meant by that, Harry continues: "American actress, and that was playing out in the British press in the media at the time as well.
"I had that in the back of my mind, and some of the things that my brother and sister-in-law – some of the way that they were acting or behaving definitely felt to me as though unfortunately that stereotyping was causing a bit of a barrier to them really sort of, you know, introducing or welcoming her in."
Asked specifically what he means, Harry adds: "Well, American actress, divorced, biracial - there's all different parts to that and what that can mean but if you are, like a lot of my family do, if you are reading the press, the British tabloids, [yeah] at the same time as living the life, then there is a tendency where you could actually end up living in the tabloid bubble rather than the actual reality."
William used 'secret code' at Prince Philip's funeral
In a touching part of the interview, Harry remembers squabbling with his brother at their grandfather's funeral. Harry said his William forced him to look into his eyes so he could tell him that he loved him and wanted him to be happy.
Harry then says he told his brother that he loved him too but that his "stubbornness is extraordinary" and recoiled from the conversation. He goes on to claim that William pulled him back and said: "Harold you must listen to me, I just want you to be happy, Harold, I swear, I swear on mummy’s life."
Harry said this stopped them both as William had "used the secret code, the universal password, ever since we were boys those three words were to be used only in times of extreme crisis, ‘on mummy’s life’.
He goes on to say how they had reserved that vow for times when they believed one of them needed to be heard. Harry added: "It stopped me cold, as it was meant to. Not because he'd used it, but because it didn’t work. I simply didn’t believe him."
Harry was victim to 'horrible reaction' from royals when Queen died
Harry tells Bradby: "The last moment that we were together was during, you know, our – or the Queen’s funeral. And that, in my mind – and I think globally people felt the same, was a really good opportunity to bring the family together.
"Um, but the day that she died was – was – was just a really, really horrible reaction from my family members and then by all accounts, well certainly from what I saw and what other people probably experienced was they were on the back foot and then the briefings and the leaking and the planting, I was like ‘We're here to celebrate the life of granny and to mourn her loss, can we come together as a family?’ but I don’t know – I don’t know how we collectively – how we change that."
Harry slams Jeremy Clarkson's 'horrific and cruel' words
Former Top Gear presenter sparked horror last month when he wrote that he "dreams of the day when [Meghan] is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while the crowds chant, 'Shame!' and throw lumps of excrement at her."
He also boldly added that "everyone my age agrees" with his thoughts on the Duchess. Following the huge backlash to his column in the Sun, Jeremy said he was making a "clumsy reference" to a scene from Game Of Thrones.
During his ITV interview, Harry spoke of how he wants the UK press to take responsibility for what they publish, and gave his reaction to the jarring column and its effect.
He said: "Just recently, which I know you know about, the Jeremy Clarkson article, so not only did, what he said was horrific and is hurtful and cruel towards my wife, but it also encourages other people around the UK and around the world, men particularly, to go and think that it's acceptable to treat women that way."
He added, quoting Queen Consort Camilla: "To use my stepmother’s words recently as well, there is a global pandemic of violent – violence against women."
Harry has 'no intention' of hurting royals with book
Harry also maintained he never meant to ‘harm or hurt’ his family with his shocking tell-all memoir Spare, but wanted to share his truth. He said: “Nothing of what I’ve done in this book or otherwise has ever been to any intention to harm them or hurt them.
“The truth is something that I need to rely on and after many, many years of lies being told about me and my family, there comes a point where – again, going back to the relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press, those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil, right?”
Harry remembers seeing Princess Diana in dreams
Harry spoke candidly about how he worked through the death of his mother when he was just 12, saying he sees the late Princess in his dreams. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris in August 1997.
Devastatingly, he reveals he "lost a lot of memories" of his late mother - something he thinks was a "defence mechanism" and a process of his grief.
Tom then says to Harry: "But just on that, one of the things that really surprised me in the book is the way you talk about genuinely appearing to have half-convinced yourself that your mother was in fact still alive and in hiding.
He adds: "I mean, like, you talk about seeing her in your dreams and saying, “Mummy, Mummy, is that you?"
"Mm-hmm" Harry replies, as Tom continues to discuss the topic with him.
"I mean, it, it, it's a haunting description of really, post-traumatic stress disorder really, isn't it?" Tom asks Harry, "I mean, that's what, that's what the whole early part of this book is."
Harry says he refers to the condition as "post-traumatic stress injury" due to the fact he does not see himself as a person with a disorder. Tom proceeds to ask Harry about how he "bottled it up for years" and how the Duke of Sussex felt he couldn't even discuss his mother's death with his brother, Prince William.
Harry discloses that he cried once at Diana's burial - something he goes into detail about in his memoir - but that it felt bizarre at the time.
Harry says William 'found it hard' he had a beard
In another moment of the interview, Tom said he was left baffled when he read in Spare that Harry and William had an argument over beards - and whether Harry should be clean-shaven on his wedding day.
Harry claimed: "I remembered that William had a beard himself and that granny and other people, the ones to tell – told him that he had to shave it off.
"Um, the difference for me, if there was a difference, but the difference for me was, as I explained to my grandmother, that this beard I'm still – that I'm still wearing, felt to me at the time like the new Harry. Right? As almost like a shield to my anxiety.
"That was – that was the time of my life when – when I – you know, when I – when I grew my beard.
"Um, and I think William found it hard that other people told him to shave it off, and yet here I was on my wedding day wearing military uniform, no longer in the military, um, but thinking as though I – believing as though I should shave it off before my wedding day.
"And I said ‘Well I don’t believe that Meghan’s gonna recognise me if she comes up the aisle and sees me beardless’."
Harry saw horror pictures of Diana sunk on the back seat
Prince Harry revealed during Anderson Cooper's 60 Minutes interview he saw graphic photographs of his mum.
He said: "All I saw was the back of my mum's head-- slumped on the back seat. There were other more gruesome photographs.
"But I will be eternally grateful to him for denying me the ability to inflict pain on myself by seeing that. Because that's the kinda stuff that sticks in your mind forever."
Harry taught himself how to cry by watching videos of Diana
Prince Harry would watch videos of Diana to teach himself how to cry - but he was unable to. He told Anderson Cooper: "There was this weight on my chest that I felt for so many years that I was never able to cry.
"So I was constantly trying to find a way to cry, but-- in even sitting on my sofa and going over as many memories as I could muster up about my mum. And sometimes I watched videos online."
Anderson Cooper asked: "Of your mom?"
Prince Harry: "Of my mum."
Cooper: "Hoping to cry?"
Prince Harry: "Yup."
Anderson Cooper: "And you couldn't."
Prince Harry: "I couldn't."
Harry touches on the moment he saw the Queen after she died
Prince Harry spoke of the moment he saw the Queen after she passed away and said he was happy she "finished life and Phillip was waiting for her".
He said: "I walked into the hall, and my aunt was there to greet me. And she asked me if I wanted to see her. I thought about it for about five seconds, thinking, 'Is this a good idea?' And I was, like, 'You know what? You can - you can do this. You - you need to say goodbye.' So I went upstairs, took my jacket off and walked in and just spent some time with her alone.
"She was in her bedroom. I was actually - I was really happy for her. Because she'd finished life.
"She'd completed life, and her husband was-- was waiting for her. And the two of them are buried together."
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