Following the removal of his security, military honors, and patronages as part of his royal exit, the prince has opened up in a number of high-profile media appearances about his motivations for leaving and the strained state of affairs with his family back home.
While Harry appears to have decided to keep an open dialogue about his family since 2021, the royals have adopted their default “no comment” defense of “never complain, never explain.”
Here, Newsweek looks at the eight times Prince Harry has publicly taken aim at his family in his own words.
Oprah Interview, 2021
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s first major media appearance since stepping down as working royals in 2020 was given one year later to Oprah Winfrey, who had been a guest at their 2018 wedding.
The landmark interview contained a number of bombshell allegations against the royal family from both Meghan and Harry, the most damning of which concerned racist comments made by an unnamed royal about the skin color of the couple’s future children.
In a rare break with the monarch’s “no comment” position, Prince William publicly refuted claims that the royal family was racist and Queen Elizabeth II released a statement saying that though “recollections may vary,” Harry and Meghan remained much-loved members of her family.
In Harry’s Own Words:
Armchair Expert Podcast, 2021
Shortly after the release of the interview with Oprah, Harry made his first major podcast appearance, sitting down with actor Dax Shepard for The Armchair Expert show discussing mental health, parenthood and the royal’s struggle with media invasion.
“That conversation, I’m never going to share. But at the time, it was awkward. I was a bit shocked.
“That was right at the beginning when [Meghan] wasn’t going to get security, when members of my family were suggesting that she carries on acting because there’s not enough money to pay for her, and all this sort of stuff.”
H: “My father, my brother, Kate and all the rest of the family, they were really welcoming [to Meghan]. But it really changed after the Australia tour, after our South Pacific tour…”
M: “That’s when we announced we were pregnant with Archie. That was our first tour.”
H: “But it was also…it was also the first time that the family got to see how incredible she is at the job. And that brought back memories.”
“I had three conversations with my grandmother, and two conversations with my father before he stopped taking my calls. And then he said: ‘Can you put this all in writing?’
“By that point I took matters into my own hands. It was like, I needed to do this for my family. This is not a surprise to anybody.”
“The decision—what, as of last week, or whatever it was—is that they will be removing everything.
“I am hurt. But at the same time I completely respect my grandmother’s decision. I would still love for us to be able to continue to support those associations, albeit without the title or the role.”
Harry’s appearance on the show caused some controversy after he criticized the first amendment, but it was his comments on his family life that gave the greatest insight into his relationships back home.
In Harry’s Own Words:
The Me You Can’t See, 2021
With the fallout of the Oprah interview still being felt, and following the death of Harry’s grandfather Prince Philip just weeks later, the prince and Oprah met again in a six-episode mental health docuseries titled The Me You Can’t See.
“[It’s] a mix between ‘The Truman Show’ and living in a zoo.
“It’s the job right? Grin and bear it. Get on with it. I was in my early 20s, and I was thinking I don’t want this job, I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be doing this.
“Look what it did to my mom (Princess Diana). How am I ever going to settle down and have a wife and family, when I know it’s going to happen again?”
“I’ve seen behind the curtain, I’ve seen the business model and seen how this whole thing works and I don’t want to be part of this.”
Within the series, Harry discussed in more detail how his family’s behavioral patterns affected his mental health and how he and Meghan were denied the help they needed within the institution of the monarchy.
In Harry’s Own Words:
Today Show with Hoda Kotb, 2022
One year after his interviews with Oprah were broadcast, Harry embarked on a round of media appearances to promote the Invictus Games tournament being held in the Netherlands following a two-year delay owing to the COVID pandemic.
“Family members have said just play the game and your life will be easier. But I have a hell of a lot of my mom in me. I feel as though I am outside of the system but I’m still stuck there. The only way to free yourself and break out is to tell the truth.”
“I became aware that I’d been living in a bubble, within this family, within this institution, I was, sort of, almost trapped in a thought process or a mindset.”
“Towards my late 20s, everything became really hectic for me. To the point of exhaustion, I was traveling all over the place because, from my family’s perspective I guess, I was the person who was like: ‘We need somebody to go there. Nepal, Harry. You go.’
“I was always the yes man…But then yes, yes, of course. Yes. Yes, yes, led to burnout.”
“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.”
“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.’ That doesn’t make sense—just because you suffered it doesn’t mean that your kids have to suffer.”
As part of this media blitz, the royal sat down with Hoda Kotb to reveal that he had met privately with Queen Elizabeth II on his way to the Netherlands while also swerving answering the question of whether he missed his father and brother while living in the U.S.
Harry’s discussion caused controversy when he commented that he wanted to make sure the queen had the “right people” around her, leading many commentators to interpret it as a dig at the rest of the royal family and their care for his grandmother.
In Harry’s Own Words:
Harry & Meghan Docuseries, 2022
Harry and Meghan’s first media output through their multi-million-dollar content creation deal with streaming giant Netflix was their eponymous docuseries providing viewers with a behind-the-scenes look at their love story and separation from the royal family since 2016.
“Being with her, it was great. It was just so nice to see her. She was on great form, she’s always got a great sense of humor with me…I’m just making sure that she’s protected and got the right people around her.”
“I mean, for me, at the moment I’m here to focus on these guys (Invictus athletes) and these families and giving everything I can 120 percent to them to make sure they have the experience of a lifetime, that’s my focus here. Then when I leave here I get back and my focus is my family who I miss massively—of course I do, they’re two little people you know.”
The couple made a number of claims about the royal household and individual members of the royal family including King Charles, Prince William and Kate Middleton.
In Harry’s Own Words:
Tom Bradby Interview, 2023
To promote his memoir Spare, Prince Harry recorded two television interviews to be broadcast on January 8 on both sides of the Atlantic.
“It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that just simply weren’t true and my grandmother, you know, quietly sit there and sort of take it all in.”
“That day a story came out, saying that part of the reason why Meghan and I were leaving was because William had bullied us out and once I got in the car after the meeting, I was a told about a joint statement that had been put out in my name and my brother’s name squashing the story about him bullying us out of the family.
“I couldn’t believe it. No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that. And I rang M (Meghan) and I told her, and she burst into floods of tears. Because within four hours, they were happy to lie to protect my brother and yet for three years they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us.”
“It was hard. Especially spending time, having chats with my brother and my father who just were very much focused on the same misinterpretation of the whole situation.”
“None of us really wanted to talk have to about it at my grandfather’s funeral, but we did.
“You know, I’ve had to make peace with the fact that we’re probably not gonna get genuine accountability or a genuine apology. You know, my wife and I, we’re moving on. We’re focused on what’s coming next.”
The interview recorded for U.K. audiences was conducted with ITV news anchor Tom Bradby who in a pre-released trailer for the special, was seen questioning Harry on his motivations for continually attacking the royals in public.
In Harry’s Own Words:
Anderson Cooper Interview, 2023
The U.S. exclusive interview with Harry to promote his memoir was given to Anderson Cooper for CBS’ 60 Minutes.
“It never needed to be this way—the leaking and the planting. I want a family not an institution. They feel as though it’s better to keep us somehow as the villains. They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile. I would like to get my father back, I would like to have my brother back.”
“The door is always open, the ball is in their court, there’s a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it.”
Recorded in California, the trailer for the episode saw Harry repeat the claim that members of his family or their extended households have been briefing the media against himself and his wife, Meghan.
In Harry’s Own Words:
Spare, 2023
Though not an interview, Harry’s memoir is perhaps the most prominent platform from which he has launched attacks on the royal family after signing a multi-million-dollar deal with publishers Penguin Random House.
“You know, the family motto is ’never complain, never explain,’—it’s just a motto…
“…They will feed, or have a conversation with, the correspondent and that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story—and at the bottom of it they will say that they’ve reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment but the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.”
In what has been described as a “raw” and “unflinching” account of his “wholly truthful” life story, Harry said in a press release at the time of the project’s announcement that he was writing it “not as the prince I was born, but as the man I have become.”
Spare’s will be released globally on January 10. However, leaked extracts from the book have contained a number of barbs in the direction of Kensington Palace, the home of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
In Harry’s Own Words:
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek’s royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek’s The Royals Facebook page.
“[William] set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”
“I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said…
“…They both howled. Worse than Willy’s leotard outfit! Way more ridiculous! Which, again, was the point.”
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We’d love to hear from you.
