Prince Harry has accused the Royal Family members of getting in “bed with the devil” over their links with the tabloid press as his ITV interview aired.
The Duke of Sussex told presenter Tom Bradby that he did not have “any intention to harm” or “hurt” his father Charles and brother William with his memoir Spare, which includes a series of explosive allegations about the royals.
According to Sky News, Harry also said it was, “important to acknowledge,” his past drug use after he admitted in his book taking cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms.
“I love my father. I love my brother. I love my family,” Harry said.
“Nothing of what I’ve done in this book or otherwise has ever been (with) any intention to harm them or hurt them.”
Harry said he had faced “many, many years of lies being told about me and my family”.
Addressing the, “relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press”, Harry added: “Those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil, right? – to rehabilitate their image.
“If you need to do that, or you want to do that, you choose to do that – well, that is a choice. That’s up to you.
“But the moment that that rehabilitation comes at the detriment of others – me, other members of my family – then that’s where I draw the line.”
Asked how he could justify the level of disclosure in his book, Harry said there was a family motto of “never complain, never explain.”
“What people have realised now, through the Netflix documentary and numerous stories coming out over the years, is that, that was just a motto,” he added.
“There was a lot of complaining and there was a lot of explaining and it continues now.
“The thing that is the saddest about this… is it never needed to be this way.
“It never needed to get to this point.
“I’ve had conversations, I’ve written letters, I’ve written emails, and everything is just: ‘No, this is not what’s happening… you are imagining it.
“And that’s really, that’s really hard to take.
“If it had stopped, by the point that I fled my home country with my wife and my son fearing for our lives, then maybe this would’ve turned out differently. It’s hard.”
Bradby suggested to Harry that he was, “pretty consistently scathing” in his memoir about his “stepmother and the press.”
An excerpt read by Harry from his book said he and his brother William “endorse Camilla” but they asked his father Charles not to marry her.
“Shortly after our private summits with her, she began to play the long game,” Harry said.
“A campaign aimed at marriage, and eventually the Crown, with Pa’s blessing we presumed.
“Stories began to appear everywhere in all the papers about her private conversation with Willie, stories that contained pinpoint accurate details, none of which had come from Willie, of course. They could only have been leaked by the other one other person present.”
In his TV interview, Harry said there was, “no part of any of the things that I’ve said are scathing towards any member of my family, especially not my stepmother.”
“There are things that have happened that have been incredibly hurtful, some in the past, some current.
“No institution is immune to accountability or taking responsibility. So you can’t be immune to criticisms either.
“My wife and I were scrutinised more than, probably, anybody else.
“I see a lack of scrutiny to my family towards a lot of the things that have happened in the last year.”
Harry’s book is due to be released on Tuesday, but Sky News obtained a copy after it was accidentally put out for sale early in Spain.
Follow us on:
