LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) – Prince Harry has said he had gone public with his rifts with the British royal family and taken to the press to try to help the monarchy and change the media, the latter described by his father , King Charles, as a “”suicide mission”.
In the first of a series of television interviews broadcast on Sunday ahead of the release of his memoirs, Harry accused members of his family of getting into bed with the devil – the tabloid press – to smear him and his wife Meghan to improve his own reputation. .
He told Britain’s ITV that he had fled Britain with his family for California in 2020 “fearing for our lives” and said he no longer recognized his father or his older brother Prince William, heir to the throne .
“After many, many years of lies about me and my family, there comes a point where, going back to the relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press, those certain members have decided to get into bed with the devil … to rehabilitate its image,” he said.
“The moment that rehabilitation comes at the expense of others, me, other members of my family, then that’s where I draw the line.”
On Thursday, Harry’s book “Spare” went on sale by mistake in Spain five days before its official publication, chronicling not only very personal details, such as how he lost virginity and took illegal drugs, but more intimate and private cases of family discord.
His older brother had knocked him out in a fight, and both brothers begged their father not to marry his second wife, Camilla, now the queen consort, the book says.
Commentators say the book has plunged the monarchy into its biggest crisis since the days of the 1990s royal soap opera surrounding the breakdown of Charles’ marriage to his late first wife, Princess Diana, mother of William and Harry.
It all comes just four months after the death of Queen Elizabeth and Charles accedes to the throne.
In the ITV interview, Harry repeated and explained the allegations he and Meghan have made since they left royal duties; that the royal family and their aides not only failed to protect them from a hostile and sometimes racist press, but actively leaked stories about them through anonymous sources.
CONFLICT
“The saddest thing about this is that some members of my family and the people who work for them are complicit in this conflict,” she said, indicating that this included both Charles and Camilla.
So far, there has been no comment from Buckingham Palace. Harry said he didn’t think his father or brother read his book.
An unnamed friend of William’s told the Sunday Times that the Prince of Wales was “burning” with anger but would not respond “for the sake of his family and the country”.
Harry told ITV that he wanted to reconcile with his family members, but said they had shown no interest, giving the impression that it was better to keep him and Meghan as villains.
“I sincerely believe, and hope, that the reconciliation between my family and us will have a ripple effect around the world. Maybe that’s lofty, maybe that’s naive,” he said.
Harry also said he hoped his multiple legal actions against the newspapers would help change the media, saying it was “at the epicenter of so many of the problems in the UK”.
“My father told me it was probably a suicidal mission to try to change the press,” he said.
Polls suggest that many Britons are growing weary of all the royal melodrama, and the subsequent revelations are unlikely to sway their views, whether Harry and Meghan sympathizers or critics.
“I love my father. I love my brother. I love my family. I always will. Nothing I’ve done in this book or otherwise has ever been… to hurt or hurt them” , he said. .
Reporting by Michael Holden and Sarah Mills; Editing by Frances Kerry and Paul Simao
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