Prince Harry says he wants to make peace with both his father and brother.
Speaking in his first major interview since returning to the U.K. with his family earlier in the summer, the Duke of Sussex discussed his complicated and fractured relationship with King Charles and Prince William, claiming that he wanted to fix the much-publicized family rift.
“Some people don’t want it to work out. I want it to work out. With everything else that’s going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile — that’s the key point,” he told GQ. “Scars stick around forever. But what your perception is, and what your mindset is to those things that have happened, letting go of the past. That’s something that I would encourage everybody to do: If there’s certain things from the past that are still affecting you every day, that’s harder to let go of. But, for me, there’s enough drama in the world and enough drama in people’s lives to continue with issues with family.”
Harry raised eyebrows in August when it was revealed that he was moving back to the U.K. alongside his wife Meghan Markle and their two children after six years living in California. Unsurprisingly, numerous rumors spread as to why they were ditching life in the U.S. and returning home after their famed “Megxit” in 2020.
Speaking of his return to England and his relationship with the country after several tumultuous years spent dealing with the press (with whom he’s had several legal battles), Harry said his “attitude” had changed.
“I think once you’ve been through it, once you’ve been able to talk about it, and raise awareness to it, then people see it for what it is, it makes the environment slightly easier. It’s not going to necessarily stop the behavior, but I think the behavior might — my hope that it will — change,” he said.
“What happened back then was then. What’s happened over that over the last six years has been a continuation of that. Some battles that had been fought—and necessarily so. With everything else that’s going on in the world, there’s aspects of the past that I’m sure all of us — me, my family, and some of the British press—that we’d all like to leave behind us and work for the greater good.”
Harry, who in the last few years has released a bestselling memoir that detailed his difficult family relationships, and front a Netflix docuseries that did the same, also told GQ that he’s been “really criticized” for telling his story.
“I find it fascinating because everybody else is allowed to tell their version of my story, but God forbid I should be able to tell the other side of it.”