(CNN) — Prince Harry told CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday that he hasn’t spoken to his brother, Prince William, for “a while,” in the second of two major interviews ahead of the release of his memoir, “Spare.” , Monday.
The Duke of Sussex told Anderson Cooper that he “is not currently” speaking to the Prince of Wales, “but I hope we can find peace,” he said. These remarks come after an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby, ahead of what is likely to be an explosive week for the British royals with the release of Harry’s memoir.
The interviews cover a wide range of topics, from the death of Prince Harry’s mother, the Princess of Wales, his frustration with the British press, the treatment of his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and the subsequent fallout with his family since his marriage.
Buckingham Palace has repeatedly refused to comment on the content of Prince Harry’s book.
In the interview and in excerpts from his memoir shared on ITV, the Duke of Sussex addressed how the relationship between Buckingham Palace and the media has fueled conflict in his family.
“We’re not just talking about family relationships, we’re talking about an antagonist, which is the British press, specifically the tabloids who want to create as much conflict as possible,” Prince Harry told Bradby. “The saddest part of that is that certain members of my family and the people who work for them are complicit in that conflict.”
He also stated that the “leaking” and “planting” of “a real source” to the press “is not an unknown person, it is the palace that specifically informs the press, but covers its tracks by not being identified.”
Prince Harry added that he thinks “that’s pretty shocking to people. Especially when you realize how many palace sources, palace insiders, high-ranking palace officials, how many quotes are attributed to those people, some of the most heinous and horrible things have been said about me and my wife, completely tolerated. by the palace because they come from the palace, and those journalists have been literally spoon-fed that narrative without ever coming to us, without seeing or questioning the other side.”
She talked about how the paparazzi went after her mother, recalling the traumatic night her father told her that Princess Diana had died from injuries sustained in a car accident.
“I don’t want history to repeat itself. I don’t want to be a single parent. And I certainly don’t want my children to have a life without a mother or a father,” Prince Harry said in the interview.
The Duke of Sussex also spoke about his decision to write the book. “Thirty-eight years of having my story told by so many different people, with intentional twist and distortion, seemed like a great time to tell my story and power to tell it myself. In fact, I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to tell my story because it is my story to tell.”
Prince Harry noted that for the past six years he has tried to resolve his concerns with his family in private.
“It was never necessary to get to this point. I’ve had conversations, I’ve written letters, I’ve written emails, and it’s all just, ‘No, you, this isn’t what’s happening. You, you’re imagining it,’” she stated. “That is really hard to accept. And if it had stopped, the moment I left my home country with my wife and son in fear for our lives, then maybe this would have turned out differently. It’s hard”.
The duke said he wants “reconciliation, but first there must be some responsibility” regarding his family.
“You can’t keep telling me I’m delusional and paranoid when all the evidence is piling up, because I was really terrified of what was going to happen to me,” he said.
“And then we have a 12-month transition period and everyone doubles down. My wife shares her experience. And instead of going backwards, both the institution and the tabloids in the UK doubled down,” she added.
Despite this, the duke said during the interview that “forgiveness is 100 percent possible.”
“There are probably a lot of people who, after watching the documentary and reading the book, will say, how could you forgive your family for what they’ve done? People have already told me that. And I said that forgiveness is 100% possible because I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back. At the moment, I don’t recognize them, as much as they probably don’t recognize me,” Prince Harry said.
On Monday, the Duke’s interview with “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan will air on the ABC show, followed by a half-hour special on ABC News Live tonight. And, as if that weren’t enough, the duke will make an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” hours after the release of his book on Tuesday.
What the book leaks have revealed
With all of that to come before the public can even get their hands on the book, one has to wonder if there will be any revelations left to read. For days, the leaks of the next volume have generated headlines around the world.
The duke is now known to have made a series of damaging allegations against the British royal family in “Spare” after several outlets obtained early copies of the book before the weekend. CNN has not seen a copy of the book, but has requested an advance copy from Penguin Random House.
Perhaps the most incendiary revelation to emerge was Prince Harry’s claim of a feud with the Prince of Wales during an argument over his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex in 2019, as he described while reading an excerpt from his memoir on air on Sunday. .
Prince Harry said his brother never tried to talk him out of marrying Meghan, but he did express some concerns, telling her, “‘This is going to be very hard for you,'” Prince Harry recalled during his interview.
“I still to this day don’t really understand what he was talking about,” Prince Harry continued. “Maybe he predicted what the reaction of the British press was going to be.”
Her relationship with Prince William is just one in a series of incredibly candid accounts of life as the “spare heir” in her memoirs. Prince Harry’s version of events also addresses his last moments with the late Queen Elizabeth II, his attempts to seek closure after the death of his mother and other deeply personal conversations with members of “The Firm.”
One part of the book that has generated a number of reactions is his comments on the deaths of 25 Taliban fighters during his time in the British Army in Afghanistan. In addition to revealing the figure, the duke is also quoted as describing the insurgents as “chess pieces” taken off the board rather than people, according to Britain’s The Daily Telegraph newspaper.
Prince Harry’s comments have drawn criticism from some British military and security figures, and an angry rebuke from the Taliban.
It is not the first time that Harry and Meghan have spoken in public about their life
Before the publicity around the duke’s book increased, the Sussexes spoke publicly about the challenges and hardships of real life on their Netflix docuseries and with Oprah Winfrey.
In both revelations, the couple described their bitter break with the House of Windsor and blamed the media for the relentless and intrusive coverage, particularly of Meghan.
The Sussexes announced in 2020 that they were stepping away from their roles as royals and planning to work towards becoming “financially independent”. The following year, the palace confirmed that the couple had agreed with Queen Elizabeth II that they would not return as working members of the royal family.
In the recent six-part Netflix documentary, Prince Harry didn’t hold back when he blamed the press for undue stress on his wife, saying it led to her miscarriage and suicidal thoughts.
Meghan, for her part, indicated that she wanted to go somewhere for help, but stated that she was not allowed due to the institution’s optics, without specifying who she believed stopped her. She made similar comments in her explosive 2021 interview with Winfrey.
