Prince William ‘doesn’t feel trapped’ in the royal family, royal author claims

Prince William ‘doesn’t feel trapped at all’ in the royal family and is ‘modelling himself on his grandmother the Queen’, a royal author has claimed.

Penny Junor, who penned ‘Prince William: The Man Who Will Be King’, has criticised  Prince Harry after he sensationally claimed his brother the Duke of Cambridge and his father, Prince Charles, are ‘trapped’ in the system of the British monarchy during a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March.

The royal branded the Duke of Sussex, 36, who now live in the US with wife Meghan and son Archie, ‘absolutely wrong,’ adding that she doesn’t think Prince William ‘feels trapped at all’. 

Speaking to The Sun, she said: ‘I think he absolutely gets what his destiny is and he is embracing it. He is modelling himself on his grandmother the Queen.’  

Royal author Penny Junor claimed Prince William, 39, ‘doesn’t feel trapped at all’ in the royal family and is ‘modelling himself on his grandmother the Queen.’ Pictured, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview on March 7, 2021

According to Penny, the Duke of Cambridge is 'modelling himself on his grandmother the Queen.' Pictured, the Queen talks with Prince William in the Royal Box at the Royal Albert Hall during the annual Royal Festival of Remembrance in central London on November 7, 2015

According to Penny, the Duke of Cambridge is ‘modelling himself on his grandmother the Queen.’ Pictured, the Queen talks with Prince William in the Royal Box at the Royal Albert Hall during the annual Royal Festival of Remembrance in central London on November 7, 2015

During the explosive interview, Prince Harry, who is sixth in line to the throne, told the American chat show host: ‘I myself was trapped. I didn’t see a way out. I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped.

Asked what he meant, Prince Harry replied: ‘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.’

Prince Charles, the Queen’s son, is next in line to the throne, while Prince William is second in the line of succession.

Opening up in his new five-part AppleTV+ docuseries with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry accused the Royal Family of 'total silence' and 'neglect' when Meghan was suicidal, claiming his father Prince Charles made him 'suffer' as a child and insisting he would not be 'bullied into silence' when he alleged 'The Firm' 'trapped', smeared and dumped them. Pictured, during his new five-part AppleTV+ docuseries The Me You Can't See

Opening up in his new five-part AppleTV+ docuseries with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry accused the Royal Family of ‘total silence’ and ‘neglect’ when Meghan was suicidal, claiming his father Prince Charles made him ‘suffer’ as a child and insisting he would not be ‘bullied into silence’ when he alleged ‘The Firm’ ‘trapped’, smeared and dumped them. Pictured, during his new five-part AppleTV+ docuseries The Me You Can’t See

Key revelations from Prince Harry’s latest bombshell interview on US TV 

On the Sussexes’ cries for help to the Royal Family

‘I thought my family would help, but every single ask, request, warning, whatever it is, just got met with total silence, total neglect. We spent four years trying to make it work. We did everything that we possibly could to stay there and carry on doing the role and doing the job. But Meghan was struggling.’

On Harry’s family ‘stopping’ them from quitting 

‘That feeling of being trapped within the family, there was no option to leave. Eventually when I made that decision for my family, I was still told, ‘You can’t do this’, And it’s like, ‘Well how bad does it have to get until I am allowed to do this?’. She [Meghan] was going to end her life. It shouldn’t have to get to that.’ 

On Meghan’s wish to ‘end her life’

‘Meghan decided to share with me the suicidal thoughts and the practicalities of how she was going to end her life.

‘The thing that stopped her from seeing it through was how unfair it would be on me after everything that had happened to my mum and to now to be put in a position of losing another woman in my life — with a baby inside of her, our baby.

‘The scariest thing for her was her clarity of thought. She hadn’t ‘lost it.’ She wasn’t crazy. She wasn’t self-medicating, be it through pills or through alcohol. She was absolutely sober. She was completely sane’. 

On Prince Charles’ parenting

‘My father used to say to me when I was younger, he used to say to both William and I, ‘Well it was like that for me so it’s going to be like that for you’,’ Prince Harry says in the new documentary.

‘That doesn’t make sense. Just because you suffered doesn’t mean that your kids have to suffer, in fact quite the opposite.

‘If you suffered, do everything you can to make sure that whatever negative experiences you had, that you can make it right for your kids’.

On ‘smears’ from ‘The Firm’

‘Before the Oprah interview had aired, because of the combined efforts of The Firm and the media to smear her, I was woken up in the middle of the night to her crying into her pillow because she doesn’t want to wake me up because I’m already carrying too much. That’s heartbreaking.’ 

And trying to repair the relationship

‘I like to think that we were able to speak truths in the most compassionate way possible, therefore leaving an opening for reconciliation and healing.’ 

Prince William’s first son, Prince George, is next in line, followed by his daughter Princess Charlotte and then his second son, Prince Louis.

Prince Harry, who would have been third in line to the throne before the birth of his brother’s children, is now sixth in line to the throne. He and Meghan’s son, Archie, is seventh in the line of succession. 

Opening up in his new five-part AppleTV+ docuseries with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry dropped another nuclear ‘truth bomb’ on the Royal Family accusing them of ‘total silence’ and ‘neglect’ when Meghan was suicidal, claiming his father Prince Charles made him ‘suffer’ as a child and insisting he would not be ‘bullied into silence’ when he alleged ‘The Firm’ ‘trapped’, smeared and dumped them.

In candid interviews, the Duke of Sussex said he and his wife felt abandoned by his relatives and this was one of their ‘biggest reasons’ for leaving for California last year.

He told Oprah: ‘Certainly now I will never be bullied into silence’, adding: ‘I thought my family would help, but every single ask, request, warning, whatever it is, just got met with total silence, total neglect. 

‘We spent four years trying to make it work.

‘We did everything that we possibly could to stay there and carry on doing the role and doing the job. But Meghan was struggling.’

He added: ‘That feeling of being trapped within the family, there was no option to leave. 

‘Eventually when I made that decision for my family, I was still told, ‘You can’t do this’, And it’s like, ‘Well how bad does it have to get until I am allowed to do this?’. She [Meghan] was going to end her life. It shouldn’t have to get to that.’

It comes after a source close to the royal family claimed Prince William does not believe he is ‘trapped’ inside the system of the British monarchy and Prince Harry’s suggestions that he is are ‘way off the mark.’

Instead, the Duke of Cambridge, who is second in line to the throne behind his father, has ‘accepted’ his role and ‘the path set for him’, royal sources say.

‘He is very much his grandmother’s grandson in that respect of duty and service,’ the source, who is close to both brothers, told the Sunday Times.

It comes after royal expert Lady Colin Campbell launched a petition urging Prince Harry to ask the Queen to suspend his royal titles.

The royal expert claimed putting his titles in abeyance would ‘free Harry to indulge himself without doing damage to the institution of the monarchy.’ 

Speaking to the Daily Star, she explained: ‘I started it because I think it’s the right thing to do.

‘I have spoken to people, many people, who think it’s the right thing to do and it is the solution.

And since then, over 20,000 people have signed the petition.

It states: ‘The purpose is to invite Prince Harry to voluntarily ask The Queen to put his royal style, titles and rank into abeyance, thereby freeing him from the diplomatic, political and constitutional constraints that are an inevitable part of royal rank, and further freeing him from the constitutional conflicts which his beliefs are creating, with all their implications at home and abroad, in particular in the United Kingdom and the United States of America, where his articulated beliefs are in open conflict with the accepted tenets of both the United Kingdom and American Constitutions.’

‘As a purely private citizen, with no royal rank, style or title, he will be able to indulge his personal beliefs, as is the right of all private citizens, without the consequential possibility of damaging the institution of the Monarchy or relations between Friendly Powers, and will be free to articulate beliefs, no matter how objectionable, without the fallout that is otherwise inevitable as long as he possesses royal status.

‘His invitation to The Sovereign, being of his own accord, will resolve conflicts that would otherwise be inevitable, and will permit him to enjoy the credit of having put both national and international interests above his own, personal ones, in the process gaining him respect that he otherwise will not enjoy.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk