Prince Harry has sat down with ITV’s Tom Bradby and CBS News’ Anderson Cooper before the release of his book Spare next week – with trailers of each dropping today.
And it appears the interviews with the Duke of Sussex, 38, took place at the plush San Ysidro Ranch, where guests can stay for $2,595 a night.
The resort in Montecito – which once hosted Winston Churchill, who visited on a writer’s retreat, as well as John F. and Jackie Kennedy – was also where Harry’s wife Meghan Markle’s Variety Magazine photoshoot and interview was filmed.
An hour’s drive from Los Angeles in the heart of California’s wine country, the Hollywood hideout has reportedly played host to Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Prince Harry (pictured) has sat down with ITV’s Tom Bradby and CBS News’ Anderson Cooper before the release of his book Spare next week – with trailers of each dropping today
The ranch has a fascinating history; in the 19th Century it was home to Franciscan monks, but it has been a hotel since the Thirties.
There are 41 cottages surrounding a large, well-tended garden – which boasts olive and lavender trees – with each property coming equipped with a fireplace, private patio and extras such as heated bathroom floors.
The 1,450 square-foot ranch is filled with antiques and Persian rugs, and features patio seating leading onto the lush green garden, which was captured by Flickr user Paul Tillman.
The Express reports each cottage also contains a four-poster bed and an outdoor waterfall shower.
It appears the interviews (pictured) with the Duke of Sussex, 38, took place at the plush San Ysidro Ranch, where guests can stay for £2,219 a night
And the most lavish cottage on the resort is its Warner Cottage, which contains a 33-foot swimming pool and costs $10,000 per night to rent. It is unclear if the Warner Cottage was used for the Duke’s interviews or the Duchess’s photoshoot.
Eagle-eyed fans may also have been drawn to the plush curtains dressing the French doors, which were gold and intricately embroidered with burgundy and green floral patterns.
Nestled in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains are 17 miles of hiking trails nearby.
The hotel’s Stonehouse restaurant lures the famous to its tables in droves, with Oprah Winfrey said to be a fan.
The resort in Montecito – which once hosted Winston Churchill, who visited on a writer’s retreat, as well as John F. and Jackie Kennedy – was also where Harry’s wife Meghan Markle’s Variety Magazine photoshoot and interview (pictured) was filmed
An hour’s drive from Los Angeles in the heart of California’s wine country, the Hollywood hideout (pictured) has reportedly played host to Sandra Bullock, Julia Roberts and Gwyneth Paltrow
Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh were married there in 1940 and John Huston wrote The African Queen in one of the cottages during a three-month stay.
Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow married in the Willow Suite in 2003, while Julia Roberts and husband Danny Moder spent the first night after their wedding there.
In Meghan’s Variety article, the San Ysidro Ranch was described as: ‘A low-key old luxury resort with simple bungalows tucked into a mountainside overlooking the Pacific coast.’
It was also described as ‘unpretentious’ despite largely being occupied by wealthy people.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry has said he would ‘like to have my father and brother back’ as he launched a publicity blitz for his memoir.
The ranch has a fascinating history; in the 19th Century it was home to Franciscan monks, but it has been a hotel since the Thirties
In a zoomed out shot of the garden, royal fans could see the hedges that surround the land, while the Duchess posed in front of lush Sicilian lemon trees
Speaking to ITV’s Tom Bradby in a clip where no questions can be heard, Harry says ‘it never needed to be this way’ and refers to ‘the leaking and the planting’ before adding ‘I want a family, not an institution’.
He also says, in an apparent reference to the royals, ‘they feel as though it is better to keep us somehow as the villains’ and that ‘they have shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile’.
Filmed in California where the duke now lives, ITV said its show Harry: The Interview will go into ‘unprecedented depth and detail’ about his life in and outside the royal family.
The royal, 38, also spoke to US TV personality Anderson Cooper for his popular interview programme, 60 Minutes.
A trailer shows Cooper asking why Harry had not communicated his grievances against the Royal Family in private rather than going public, to which the royal replies: ‘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.
Speaking to ITV’s Tom Bradby in a clip where no questions can be heard, Harry (pictured) says ‘it never needed to be this way’ and refers to ‘the leaking and the planting’ before adding ‘I want a family, not an institution’
‘The family motto is never complain and never explain – it’s just a motto.’
He adds: ‘They (Buckingham Palace) will feed or have a conversation with a correspondent, and that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story, and at the bottom of it, they will say they have reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
‘But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.
‘So when we’re being told for the last six years, ”we can’t put a statement out to protect you”, but you do it for other members of the family, there becomes a point when silence is betrayal.’
The clips appear to confirm reports that the Duke will use his memoir to reveal details about disagreements between himself and his brother the Prince of Wales, 40.
It comes after the duke claimed in his Netflix documentary that William broke a promise to him never to leak stories or brief against one another after witnessing the fallout of such actions in their father’s office.
Mr Bradby, a former royal correspondent for ITV, is a friend of the Sussexes and previously interviewed them for a documentary about their 2019 Africa tour.
He first got to know Harry when he worked with him on a documentary about Lesotho when the prince was on his gap year after leaving Eton.
The journalist went on to attend his 2018 wedding to Meghan.
Meanwhile, Mr Cooper is said to have won Harry’s trust through his stance on issues close to his heart like mental health.
The 55-year-old, who is also a star of the CNN network, has campaigned to promote better mental health and hosts a podcast called All There Is. He has spoken about losing his brother Carter to suicide.
The 23-year-old fell to his death from the family’s 14th-floor Manhattan apartment in 1988. Mr Cooper also has war experience, having reported from Afghanistan, where Harry completed two tours of duty.
A television source said: ‘Mr Cooper has won Harry’s trust. This would be a coup for Mr Cooper and fits well with Harry’s campaign to promote mental health. It is a prime-time Sunday show which hosts foreign leaders and presidents. It’s the one that all the politicians and decision-makers watch.’
Recently 60 Minutes featured exclusive interviews with US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron.
In 2020 Mr Cooper interviewed Afua Hirsch, the British author and former Guardian journalist who features in the Sussexes’ Netflix programme, and who made a damning verdict on the Commonwealth as ‘Empire 2.0’.
In the discussion with Mr Cooper after Harry and Meghan announced they were leaving their Royal duties, Ms Hirsch described the Royal Family as ‘Ground Zero for Britain’s troubled history of colonialism and race’.
She added that she was ‘always concerned about Meghan Markle’s wellbeing’ when joining the Royal family. Appearing sympathetic to the couple’s plight, Mr Cooper told Ms Hirsch: ‘The notion of being hounded by the press is going to have such strange, weird echoes for Prince Harry given what happened to his mom.’
Mr Cooper has also joked about getting a wave from Prince Harry during his wedding to Meghan in May 2018. He told viewers: ‘I was at the Royal Wedding, covering it for CNN.
‘Our correspondent Max Foster said, ‘You should wave at Harry because Harry is going to look up at the bright lights and I bet he’ll wave at you.’ The carriage makes a turn. I start waving. Harry looks up at the tower, we make eye contact and he waves. I almost died.’
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