Prince Harry’s relationship with his father, King Charles III, has become an enduring subject of public fascination since the young royal split from the monarchy with Meghan Markle in 2020 and moved to the U.S.
Since then, in interviews and media projects, Harry has made a number of behind-palace-walls revelations about life as Charles’ son; these range from claims that there was little to no physical affection shown to him growing up, to allegations of authorized leaking to the press to boost certain family members’ images at the expense of others.
Charles, along with Queen Camilla and Prince William, took a number of direct bombshells launched by Harry in his interviews with Oprah Winfrey, documentary series and memoir. However, the prince said after the publication of his book in 2023: “None of anything I’ve written, anything that I’ve included, is ever intended to hurt my family.”
Main: Prince Harry listens in a suit in New York City, September 2024. And (inset) King Charles III smiles in London, May 2024. The young royal said at the time of publishing his memoir that he had “compassion” for his father at a key moment in his childhood.
John Nacion/Getty Images/Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images
In an interview given to British TV at the time of Spare‘s publication, Harry did reflect on one of the most difficult periods of his childhood, expressing “compassion” for what his father was going through at the time.
The subject was raised by broadcaster Tom Bradby, who asked the prince about how the news was broken to him that his mother, Princess Diana, had tragically died at the age of 36 in 1997.
The royal had been traveling through Paris in France by car with boyfriend Dodi Fayed in the early hours of August 31, pursued by paparazzi, when they crashed into a pillar in an underground tunnel.
Fayed and the chauffeur, Henri Paul, died at the scene. Diana and a bodyguard were taken to hospital, where the princess died some hours later. Her sons, Prince William and Harry were 15 and 12 years-old and staying with their father and grandmother Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the time.
“Thinking back to when I was 12 years old, sitting in that sunken bed at Balmoral Castle, I took myself back to that moment and tried to remember as much as possible,” Harry told Bradby of the traumatic period of his life.
“You know, my father coming in, in his dressing gown and sharing that news with me, only now as part of writing the book, that I really think about how many hours he’d been awake. And the compassion that I have for him, as a parent having to sit with that for many, many hours, ringing up friends of his, trying to work out, how the hell do I break this to my two sons?”
In his book, Harry wrote that Charles spoke softly to him in the early hours of the morning, telling him that “Darling boy, mummy’s been in a car crash” and that “she didn’t make it.”
“Pa didn’t hug me,” Harry wrote. “He wasn’t great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis? But his hand did fall once more on my knee and he said: It’s going to be OK. That was quite a lot for him. Fatherly, hopeful, kind. And so very untrue.”
Prince Harry (left) and King Charles III (when Prince of Wales) walk out after attending Princess Diana’s funeral at Westminster Abbey, London, September 1997. The royal was just 12 years-old when his mother died.
Jayne Fincher/Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
“I never want to be in that position,” Harry told Bradby.
“Part of the reason why we are here now, I never ever want to be in that position. I don’t want history to repeat itself. I do not want to be a single dad. And I certainly don’t want my children to have a life without a mother or a father.”
Since splitting from the monarchy, Harry has repeatedly spoken of his motivation to protect his wife, Meghan’s, safety after threats have been made about her online in the years since their marriage.
Part of this he has attributed for his move away from Britain where the duchess’ popularity is low and her treatment by the tabloid media remains hostile.
When Harry did split from the monarchy, he lost his round-the-clock state-funded police protection, something he has been seeking to reinstate by suing the U.K. government.
In a 2024 interview, Harry said that security is one of the main reasons he is keeping his wife away from his birth country.
“All it takes is one lone actor, one lone person who reads this stuff to act on what they have read, and whether it’s a knife or acid or whatever it is, these are things that are a genuine concern for me,” he told journalist Rebecca Barry.
“It’s one of the reasons why I won’t bring my wife back to this country,” the prince added.
Harry and Meghan have two children: Prince Archie, who was born in Britain in 2019; and Princess Lilibet, who was born in California in 2021.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
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 [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.
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