Prince Harry said he feels ‘really let down’ by his father Charles and told Oprah the bitter rift in his family would have ‘upset’ his late mother Princess Diana.
In a series of astonishing claims, Harry revealed the Prince of Wales cut off contact with him in the wake of his decision to step away from the royal family.
He told how, during his time in Canada, his father refused to answer his calls as tensions within the family rose and their relationship soured.
In the extraordinary interview watched by tens of millions of people around the world, Harry told Oprah he would always love Charles but said, ‘there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened.’
The two-hour interview was the biggest royal tell-all since Harry’s mother princess Diana detailed her crumbling marriage to Prince Charles in 1995.
Harry, 36, revealed the deep divisions within his family, saying he felt ‘really let down’ by how his father had handled the situation.
But he also said Charles and Harry’s older brother William were ‘trapped’ by the conventions of the monarchy.
‘They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that,’ he said.
Harry also alluded to an alleged rift with his older brother, but signalled his aim to repair their relationship.
‘The relationship is space at the moment,’ he said, ‘and time heals all things, hopefully.’
He added: ‘I love William to bits, he’s my brother, we’ve been through hell together, we have a shared experience, but we were on different paths.’
In the extraordinary interview watched by tens of millions of people around the world, Harry told Oprah he would always love Charles but said, ‘there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened.’
Prince Harry with his brother Prince William, father Prince Charles and Sir David Attenborough in 2019
Discussing his fractured relationship with Prince Charles, Harry said his father stopped taking his calls, adding, ‘There’s a lot to work through there. I feel really let down.’
In the most anticipated royal interview in decades, Meghan and Harry also revealed:
- Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, made Meghan cry ahead of the royal wedding – but ‘owned it’ and apologised;
- She described meeting the Queen for the first time and having to learn to curtsy
- Meghan claims she was ‘naive’ when she joined the Royal Family – and never researched what it would be like, or Harry. She said that she was initially welcomed by the royals, but was later ‘silenced’ and felt trapped;
- She described being cradled by Harry after feeling that she no longer wanted to live; Meghan claimed she begged for help from Palace but denied it because she wasn’t a ‘paid employee’;
- The Sussexes choose to reveal the gender of their baby to Oprah;
In 2019, the rift in the royal family was laid bare when Harry said in an ITV documentary that he and William were on ‘different paths’ and had good and bad days in their relationship.
The Duke of Sussex also described himself, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge as being ‘trapped’ within the system.
Harry claimed he was ‘trapped’ before he met Meghan but, asked if he would have left or ever stepped back were it not for his now-wife, Harry replied, ‘No.’
In the candid sit-down, Harry added: ‘I wouldn’t have been able to, because I myself was trapped, as well. I didn’t see a way out. You know, I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped.
‘But the moment that I met meg, and then our worlds sort of collided in the most amazing of ways. [I was] Trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are.
‘My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.’
In the most extraordinary royal interview since his mother spoke to the BBC’s Martin Bashir in 1995, Harry also laid into his own family claiming Prince Charles had stopped stopped taking his calls and ‘cut him off’ financially when they emigrated.
The prince said he had to sign multi-million dollar deals with Netflix and Spotify because he was spending his inheritance from Princess Diana and the palace wanted Meghan to go back into acting to pay the bills.
Harry added: ‘My family literally cut me off financially.
‘Members of my family were suggesting that she [Meghan] carries on acting, because there was not enough money to pay for her. There was some real obvious signs before we even got married that this was going to be really hard’.
He added that his mother Diana would be ‘angry and sad’ that he felt he had to leave the royal family, but ‘she saw it coming’.
Harry said: ‘All she’d ever want for us is to be happy’, adding that his wife had ‘saved me’, declaring: ‘I myself was trapped, as well. I didn’t see a way out’.
Asked about his relationship with Prince Charles, Harry said they were now speaking again, adding: ‘There’s a lot to work through there, you know?
‘I feel really let down, because he’s been through something similar.
‘He knows what pain feels like, and Archie’s his grandson. I will always love him, but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened.
‘And I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship’.
In the most extraordinary royal interview since his mother spoke to the BBC’s Martin Bashir in 1995, Harry also laid into his own family claiming Prince Charles had stopped stopped taking his calls and ‘cut him off’ financially when they emigrated. Pictured, the family in 2019
Harry confessed he felt ‘let down’ by his father but said he had ‘huge compassion’ for Prince Charles and his brother William because they were ‘trapped within the system’ of the monarchy. Pictured, the family together in March 2020 – around the time Harry was cut off financially
Asked by Winfrey why they stepped back from the royal family to forge their own family life, Harry blamed a ‘lack of support and lack of understanding’.
Winfrey asked ‘did you blindside the Queen?’ with the announcement they were leaving the family. Harry replied: ‘No, I would never blindside my grandmother, I have too much respect for her.’
Asked where that story came from, Harry said he could ‘hazard a guess’ that it may have come ‘from within the institution’.
Harry said while in Canada he had ‘three conversations with my grandmother and two conversations with my father, before he stopped taking my calls’.
He also revealed Charles had asked for him to put his plan ‘in writing’.
Harry said he had to act for the wellbeing of himself, Meghan and Archie, adding: ‘He asked me to put it in writing, and I put all the specifics in there, even the fact that we were planning on putting the announcement out on the 7th of January.’
Oprah asked: ‘So, you just said that your dad stopped taking your calls. Why did he stop taking your calls?’
Harry replied: ‘Because… by that point, I took matters into my own hands. It was like, I need to do this for my family. This is not a surprise to anybody.
‘It’s really sad that it’s gotten to this point, but I’ve got to do something for my own mental health, my wife’s, and for Archie’s, as well, because I could see where this was headed.’
He added: ‘I feel really let down because he’s been through something similar, he knows what pain feels like, (and) Archie’s his grandson.
‘But at the same time – I will always love him – but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.
‘But they only know what they know, or what they’re told.’
Prince Harry’s ‘telling’ pause and tearful response to questions about Charles during Oprah interview suggests their relationship will be harder to mend than his and William’s, body language expert claims
By Hayley Richardson for MailOnline
Prince Harry’s ‘silent pause’ and ‘gesture of regret’ when asked about Prince Charles suggested his relationship with his father will be harder to mend than his and William’s, a body language expert has claimed.
During the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired on CBS on Sunday, Harry’s body language created a ‘much stronger presence’ than it did in the teaser trailers, Judi James told FEMAIL.
She said Harry demonstrated he has very much taken on the role of ‘protector and defender’ in his marriage to Meghan, who admitted she ‘didn’t want to be alive’ at one point during her life within the Royal Family.
Meanwhile Meghan’s ‘generally understated’ body language made her delivery ‘all the more shocking and compelling’, and her cradling of her baby bump suggests ‘protective motherhood’ relating to the narrative about Harry and Archie losing their royal protection, Judi claimed.
During the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired on CBS on Sunday, Harry’s body language created a ‘much stronger presence’ than it did in the teaser trailers, Judi James told FEMAIL
Judi added that the couple’s body language suggested they were keen to let people know that the smiles they saw in photos were ‘masking tears and potential tragedy behind the scenes’.
She remarked that Harry looked ‘almost tearful’ when he spoke about his father and feeling ‘really let down because he’s been through something similar’.
Harry said while Charles and the rest of his family were welcoming to Meghan at first, things changed after their New Zealand tour – and when the couple travelled to Canada for Christmas shortly before announcing their plans to quit the Firm, his father stopped taking his calls.
‘He knows what pain feels like… and Archie’s his grandson. I will always love him, but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened,’ Harry said.
‘I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship. But they only know what they know, and that’s the thing.’
Meghan Markle became tearful as she told Oprah Winfrey she felt suicidal when she was part of the Royal Family living in the UK and told her husband: ‘I don’t want to be alive anymore’
The Duke added that while Charles is now speaking to him on the phone, there is ‘a lot to work though’ because he feels ‘really let down’.
Judi said Harry’s most dramatic body language shift occurred when discussing his father. ‘The silent pause was so telling, as were the eye cut-off, head-shake and tongue-poke,’ she explained.
‘Harry sucked his lips in, which is often a gesture of regret and he looked almost tearful as he spoke of ‘a lot of hurt’.’
She added: ‘When asked about ‘blind-siding’ the Queen, Harry performed a finger-pick and eye-dart plus a pause as Meghan face-gazed before illustrating his respect and affection.
‘His response to William’s name was surprisingly affectionate too. It prompted a smile and even a small laugh as he told us he loves William. He clapped his hands together then threw them apart as though miming the split after friction but his smile suggested it was a relationship that could be mended.’
Prince Harry’s ‘silent pause’ and ‘gesture of regret’ when asked about Prince Charles suggested his relationship with his father will be harder to mend than his and William’s, Judi claimed (pictured at the Commonwealth Day Service in March 2020)
Although Meghan became tearful at one point, Judi observed how for the most part of the interview her body language looked generally understated.
‘She used a constant shake of the head from side to side to suggest disbelief at the things she said she had suffered, plus eye cut-offs or a longer closing of her eyes to suggest pain at the memories,’ she said.
‘Meghan threw frequent imploring hand gestures at Oprah, with the palm of the hand placed upward to suggest a desire for empathy and agreement, but some hand-chopping gestures, some eye-stutters and a couple of subtle tongue-pokes suggested supressed anger at her memories, especially when she spoke about losing protection for Harry and Archie.’
Judi observed how Meghan’s cradling of her baby bump during the interview was a gesture she used when she was pregnant with Archie.
‘In video we were told by Meghan about her levels of distress at this point, suggesting that gesture could also have been hugely protective back then too, probably even more so given how she described her life and treatment,’ Judi said.
She added that Harry performed some ‘thigh-rub self-comfort rituals’, suggesting a natural awkwardness when he first appeared part-way through the chat with Oprah, and was reassured by his wife who quickly stretched out an arm to place a hand over his in a protective gesture.
‘By the end though it was Harry’s hand over Meghan’s suggesting he had now very much taken the role of protector and defender,’ Judi continued.
Although Meghan became tearful at one point, Judi observed how for the most part of the interview her body language looked generally understated
‘At one point he even touched her hand to interrupt and take over the narrative. His constant rubbing of his wedding ring showed clearly where his affection and comfort lies.
‘Harry performed his own rituals of suppressed anger as he affirmed Meghan’s narrative and added his own thoughts and experiences and if anything his emotional displays of anger and grief looked more open than hers.
‘Like Meghan he adopted a precision-pinch gesture frequently to suggest detailed thinking, as well as lifting his hand in the air to turn it round as though turning an invisible door-knob as he spoke of his problems.
‘He even used illustrative gestures to mime parts of his distress, miming the ‘trapped’ life that he had been leading with a two-handed roof gestures.’
Harry said he felt ‘trapped’ within the royal institution, and said he has ‘huge compassion’ for the fact his family members still are.
‘My father and my brother, they are trapped,’ he said. ‘They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.’
Judi concluded that the more candid footage shown during the interview of the couple at home was used to illustrate what they would describe as ‘the freedom and simplicity of their lives after Megxit’.
‘It’s Tom and Barbara from the Good life, with wellies on feeding chickens as Meghan describes herself as The Little Mermaid who married her prince,’ she said.
‘After all the talk of tragedy these clips seem necessary to illustrate the very simple pleasures of life outside the ‘trapped’ existence of palaces and royal life. The mood is completely different and happy, showing us that the now carefree couple made the right choice in getting away.’