He had no intention of
"hurting"
his family: Prince Harry defended his memoirs on television on Sunday January 8, the first excerpts of which caused a sensation and threaten to see the royal family further torn apart four months before the coronation of the King Charles III.
"After 38 years of seeing my story told by so many people with intentional distortions and manipulations, it felt like the right time to reclaim my story and tell it myself"
, justifies the Duke of Sussex in this interview with the British channel ITV, broadcast two days before the official publication of his book
Le Suppléant
, large excerpts of which have already leaked in the press.
“I love my dad, I love my brother, I love my family and I always will. Nothing that I have written in this book has been done with the intention of hurting them or harming them"
, he insisted, assuring that he hoped for a
"reconciliation"
on the condition of establishing
" responsibilities"
, in particular on his departure with his wife Meghan Markle for California in 2020. But according to press leaks since the text was put on sale by mistake on Thursday in Spain, the prince spares almost no one, in particular his brother William, heir to the throne, already scratched in the hit
docuseries Harry & Meghan,
airing on Netflix in December.
In an interview with CBS, Harry clarified that he and William were not currently speaking to each other and that he had not spoken to his father
“for quite a while”
.
My “beloved brother and sworn enemy”
The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex calls William a
'beloved brother and sworn enemy'
and accuses him of knocking him to the ground during a 2019 row over Meghan, whom Harry married the year previous.
He also accuses his brother and his wife Kate of having had
"stereotypes"
towards Meghan, a mixed-race American actress, who
"created an obstacle"
to fully welcome her into the family.
He also reiterates his accusations against certain members of the royal family whom he considers
"accomplices"
of articles hostile to him and his wife.
Harry notably also attacks his father's wife, Camilla, now queen consort, claiming that certain details of private conversations published in the media
“could only have leaked”
by her.
Asked about the interview given to American journalist Oprah Winfrey in 2021, Harry denied accusing the royal family of “racism” because one of its members had questioned the skin color of their unborn child.
“No I didn't.
The British press said that”
, he refuted, preferring to speak of
“unconscious bias”
.
Read alsoThe great media unpacking of Harry, prince revenge
Buckingham Palace has so far remained officially silent on this avalanche of confidences, but denials and comments have begun to emerge in the British media.
The Sunday Times
quotes people close to Prince William as saying he is
“sad”
, that he is
“burning inside”
, but that
he “remains silent for the good of his family and the country”
.
Harry leaves him doubting his intentions.
"A lot of things can happen by then"
but
"the ball is in their court,"
he said in his interview with ITV.
"I don't think staying silent is going to make things any better,"
he adds, adding that he hopes for a
"conversation"
with his family, even though he
"doesn't think his father or brother will read the book"
.
“Historical Facts”
Many passages of the book also testify to the trauma left by the death of his mother, Princess Diana, in a road accident in Paris in 1997. In his interview with ITV, Harry confesses to having
"cried only once , at his funeral”
, and recounts his discomfort when he had to, with his brother, shake the hands of people who came to meditate at the time in front of Kensington Palace in London.
The ITV show includes some excerpts from the audio version of the book, read by the prince himself, such as the one where he tells how his father told him of his mother's death.
In the British press, since Thursday, reactions have alternated between disbelief at the intimacy of certain anecdotes told by Harry, such as his loss of virginity, his drug use, and indignation at what is considered a frontal attack on the family. royal.
Harry's confession that he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his missions in Afghanistan sparked huge outcry.
On ITV, the Duke of Sussex deemed his memoirs
"necessary"
to establish
"historical facts"
, adding that he now feels
"relief"
.
He must give other interviews to American media to promote his book.