LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Prince Harry said he would love to be reconciled with his family in an interview with the BBC on Friday.
Harry, 40, stepped down from royal duties five years ago and moved to California. In 2023, he published his autobiography “Spare”, which contained damning revelations about his father, King Charles and his elder brother, Prince William.
Harry last saw his father in February last year, shortly after Charles, 76, was diagnosed with cancer, when the pair had a short meeting in London.
ON HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS FATHER
“I don’t know how much longer my father has. He won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”
ON BROADER RECONCILIATION
“Of course some members my family will never forgive me for writing a book. Of course they will never forgive me for lots of things. But you know, there is, I would love…reconciliation with my family… there’s no point in continuing to fight anymore. And life is precious.”
“It would be nice to have that reconciliation part. Now, if they don’t want that, that’s entirely up to them.”
ON VISITING THE UK
“For the time being, it is impossible for me to take my family back to the UK safely.”
“I can’t see a world in which I will be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point.”
“I miss the UK. I miss parts of the UK. Of course I do. And I think that it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show you know, my children.”
ON THE COURT CASE OVER HIS SECURITY
“There is a lot of control and ability in my father’s hands. Ultimately …this whole thing, could be resolved through him, not necessarily by intervening, but by stepping aside, allowing the experts to do what is necessary.”
“There have been so many disagreements, differences between me and some of my family. This current situation that has been… now ongoing for five years, with regard to human life and safety, is the sticking point. It is the only thing that’s left.”
“Security was used as leverage. I think what really worries me more than anything else about today’s decision… is that it is setting the precedent that security can be used to control members of the (royal) family. And effectively what it does is imprison other members of the family from being able to choose a different life.”
ON FORGIVING
“There are things that have happened, since 2016 especially – throughout my whole life, but let’s just stick (to) since 2016, there are things that have happened that I can now forgive. I have moved past that. I can forgive my family’s involvement, my father, my brother and my stepmother. I can forgive the press to a large extent as well, for so many things that have happened. What I’m struggling to forgive and what I will probably always struggle to forgive is that a decision that was made in 2020 that affects my every single day and that is knowingly putting me and my family in harm’s way.”
ON HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF
“I don’t want history to repeat itself.”
“Through the disclosure process I’ve discovered that some people want history to repeat itself, which is pretty dark.”
“I’m not going to share (who) at this point. I know all the names of the people that were involved in this process. And again, you have to question why wasn’t I put through the same risk management board that everybody else was put through, including members of my family?”
(Reporting by Sarah Young, Sam Tobin and David Milliken; Editing by Ros Russell)
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