India McTaggart
London: Prince Harry has said reconciliation with the royal family is “the most important thing” to him, but has claimed that “some people” do not have the same ambition.
In an interview, the Duke of Sussex said mending ties with his family was his main goal, but admitted that “scars stick around forever”.
“I want it to work out,” he told GQ in his first sit-down interview since relocating to the UK in late August.
“With everything else that’s going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile – that’s the key point. Scars stick around forever,” he said.
The duke said he was often asked how he would resolve his estrangement from the Prince of Wales, his older brother and heir to the throne.
It is thought the pair have not spoken for four years after a succession of damaging allegations by the Sussexes against the royal family, including during an interview with Oprah Winfrey, in a Netflix docuseries and in the duke’s memoir, Spare.
“Some people don’t want it to work out,” he told GQ. “For me, there’s enough drama in the world and enough drama in people’s lives to continue with issues with family.”
The duke has previously called for ties with the royal family to be mended, and told the BBC last year that he “would love a reconciliation”.
He and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, reunited with the King during a July visit to the UK. Father and son are understood to speak regularly on the phone.
‘We’re way past that’
Last Thursday, during the couple’s first joint engagement since returning to Britain, the Duchess of Sussex said it was “wonderful” to be back.
The Sussexes greeted crowds of well-wishers in what appeared to be a royal engagement-style event during a day trip to Nottingham.
Elsewhere in the interview, the duke insisted he did not “want any sympathy” any more, explaining: “We’re way past that.”
“Why? Because I’m a prince. I’ve got a support network around me, I’ve done different forms of therapy, and I put in the work.”
He also mused: “I wonder where I would be if I didn’t [do therapy] – it could be a very different situation.”
The duke has written extensively in his memoir about how therapy helped him “break the cycle” of generational trauma.
He added that family squabbles were a “massively relatable issue for so many people”, emphasising “sibling disagreements” as well as “broken relationships between kids and their parents”.
“That continues to come up with me the whole time with people that I speak to, so I know how relatable it is,” the duke said.
He also said that he still found himself seeking advice from his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, who died in a car accident in Paris when he was 12.
“Sometimes there are questions that I ask her, looking for some kind of response. And sometimes, I do get a response,” he said. “Having done the work that I’ve done, there is a connection still with my mum that I do feel her energy at certain times, in certain parts of my life.”
Prince Harry is in talks to make a documentary about his mother to mark the 30th anniversary of her death next August.
The Telegraph understands he has approached several friends and relatives of his late mother, including her brother, Earl Spencer, to ask whether they would take part in the project.
The Sussexes’ Archewell Productions would produce such a programme, and Netflix would likely buy it, which continues to have a first-look deal with the duke and duchess.
A spokesman for the Sussexes said of the duke’s comments to GQ: “It was absolutely not intended as a swipe at his brother or any other member of his family. The comment was made in a general context and was not directed at his family in any way.”
The Telegraph, London
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