Prince Harry didn’t hold back during his testimony Tuesday against the publisher of the Daily Mirror, whom he has accused of using extreme, often illegal practices to obtain scoops on his personal life.
After he was sworn in, the Duke of Sussex, 38, sombrely told the courtroom he’s “experienced hostility from the press since I was born,” according to the BBC.
Harry has accused Mirror Group Newspaper of invading his privacy on an “industrial scale,” including hacking his phone to illegally listen to his voicemails. The prince, who wore a dark suit and tie to the courthouse, claimed these messages often contained sensitive information about his personal relationships and whereabouts.
U.K. tabloid trial: Prince Harry testifies in phone-hacking case
Mirror Group has denied all phone hacking allegations made by Harry. The publisher has, however, admitted to hiring a private investigator to dig up dirt on the prince on one occasion. It also admitted to phone hacking in the past but has denied doing so in this case.
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A court artist sketch of Prince Harry being cross-examined by Andrew Green as he gives evidence on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, during the phone hacking trial against Mirror Group Newspapers.
Elizabeth Cook/PA via AP
Harry testified the Daily Mirror regularly obtained scoops about his life that were “suspicious,” and served as evidence of the publisher’s phone tapping.
The trial surrounds tabloid articles published by Mirror Group Newspaper from as far back as Harry’s 12th birthday in 1996, when the Mirror reported Harry was feeling “badly” about the divorce of his mother and father, now King Charles III.
Harry testified the tabloid articles about himself played “a destructive role in my growing up.”
“It isn’t a specific article, it is all of the articles,” Harry said after Mirror Group’s lawyer, Andrew Green, pressed him for details. The prince could not recall the exact specifics of all the tabloid articles that allegedly caused him suffering.
“Every single article has caused me distress,” Harry defended.
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Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said the stories about Harry were big sellers for the newspapers. He claimed around 2,500 articles were published about Harry between 1996 to 2011, the timeline for this court case.
Harry testified eager reporters were “desperate for anything royal,” namely details of their private lives that would be of interest to the public.
Harry’s witness statement was released before he was cross-examined on Tuesday. The statement highlighted the “paranoia” he claimed to feel as a result of the tabloid’s reporting throughout his lifetime.
“Whenever I got into a relationship, they were very keen to report the details but would then, very quickly, seek to try and break it up by putting as much strain on it and creating as much distrust as humanly possible,” Harry said, according to the BBC. “I simply don’t understand (and never have) how the inner, private details of my relationships … could have anything to do with the well-being of society or the running of the country and therefore be in the public interest.”
He continued, claiming he felt “a huge amount of paranoia in my relationships” because of the tabloid articles.
Harry cited an instance where he visited the airport to pick up his then-girlfriend, Chelsy Davy, but was bombarded by paparazzi waiting for him to arrive.
“I walked into the arrivals hall with a baseball cap on and immediately spotted five separate paparazzi sitting on benches with cameras in bags, their hands inside rucksacks and everyone else looking at me,” Harry said in his statement. This, Harry said, is a prime example of how Mirror Group was using his illegally obtained voicemails.
“I genuinely feel that in every relationship that I’ve ever had — be that with friends, girlfriends, with family or with the army, there’s always been a third party involved, namely the tabloid press,” he said.
“How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness?” Harry lamented in the statement. “I now realize that my acute paranoia of being constantly under surveillance was not misplaced after all.”
During cross-examination, Green grilled Harry on a number of tabloids the prince claimed proved Mirror Group had been hacking his phone. The 33 articles in the case include reporting about the prince’s childhood injuries, alleged experimental drug usage, his romantic relationships, and claim his mother, Princess Diana, cried while visiting him at school. Harry testified this is not information that would have been publicly available, though Green maintained Mirror Group wrote the stories based on eyewitness accounts and information from other news sources.
Harry also made history on Tuesday when he became the first member of the royal family to testify in court in more than a century. An ancestor, the would-be King Edward VII, appeared as a witness in a trial over a gambling scandal in 1891.
Harry was expected to appear in court on Monday for the trial’s opening statements but was absent. The duke, despite being told by the judge to be present, visited Los Angeles for the birthday of his two-year-old daughter Lilibet.
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The case against Mirror Group is the first of the prince’s several lawsuits against the media to go to trial, and one of three alleging tabloid publishers unlawfully snooped on him in their cutthroat competition for scoops on the royal family.
The latest on Harry & Meghan’s ‘near catastrophic’ pursuit by the paparazzi
Hacking — the practice of guessing or using default security codes to listen to celebrities’ cellphone voice messages — was widely used by British tabloids in the early years of this century. It became an existential crisis for the industry after the revelation in 2011 that the News of the World had hacked the phone of a slain 13-year-old girl. Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the paper and several of his executives faced criminal trials.
Mirror Group has paid more than 100 million pounds ($125 million) to settle hundreds of unlawful information-gathering claims and printed an apology to phone hacking victims in 2015.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank are “delighted to announce” that they have welcomed their second child, Buckingham Palace said in a release on Monday.
“Jack and I wanted to share the news that we had our little boy, Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank on 30th May 2023 at 8.49 weighing 7.1lbs,” the royal wrote in a separate Instagram announcement on Monday, which coincided with the palace’s statement.
She also revealed the special meaning behind her newborn’s first and middle names.
“He is named after his great great great Grandfather George, his Grandpa George and my Grandpa Ronald,” Eugenie added, alongside a photo of her newborn and one of her eldest child, a son named August, looking at his new baby brother.
“Augie is loving being a big brother already,” she added.
She also explained the inspiration for August’s name in an Instagram post at the time, telling followers that he was “named after his great grandfather and both of his great x5 grandfathers.”
Prince Harry’s highly anticipated showdown against the publisher of the Daily Mirror kicked off Monday without him present in court — and the judge was not happy.
Harry’s lawyer said the Duke of Sussex would be unavailable to testify following opening statements because he’d taken a flight from Los Angeles after the birthday of his 2-year-old daughter, Lilibet, on Sunday.
“I’m a little surprised,” Justice Timothy Fancourt said, noting he had directed Harry to be in court for the first day of his case.
Mirror Group Newspaper’s lawyer, Andrew Green, said he was “deeply troubled” by Harry’s absence on the trial’s opening day. They accused Harry of “wasting time” in the court case, as reported by the BBC.
Green added that it was “absolutely extraordinary” Harry was “not available for day one of his own trial.”
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The case against Mirror Group is the first of the prince’s several lawsuits against the media to go to trial, and one of three alleging tabloid publishers unlawfully snooped on him in their cutthroat competition for scoops on the royal family.
Harry’s lawyer, David Sherborne, said phone hacking and forms of unlawful information gathering were carried out on such a widespread scale, it was implausible the publisher’s newspapers used a private investigator to dig up dirt on the prince only once, which is what they have admitted.
“The ends justify the means for the defendant,” Sherborne said.
Stories about Harry were big sellers for the newspapers, and some 2,500 articles had covered all facets of his life – from his illnesses at school to ups and downs with girlfriends, Sherborne said.
“There was no time in his life when he was safe from these activities,” Sherborne said. “Nothing was sacrosanct or out of bounds.”
Mirror Group has said it used documents, public statements and sources to legally report on the prince.
But Sherborne said it was not hard to infer that Mirror journalists used the same techniques on Harry — eavesdropping on voicemails and hiring private eyes to snoop — as they did on others.
Harry had been scheduled to testify Tuesday, but his lawyer was told last week the duke should attend Monday’s proceedings in London’s High Court in case the opening statements concluded before the end of the day.
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When he enters the witness box, Harry, 38, will be the first member of the British royal family in more than a century to testify in court. He is expected to describe his anguish and anger over being hounded by the media throughout his life, and its impact on those around him.
He has blamed paparazzi for causing the car crash that killed his mother, Princess Diana, and said harassment and intrusion by the U.K. press, including allegedly racist articles, led him and his wife, Meghan, to flee to the U.S. in 2020 and leave royal life behind.
The articles at issue in the trial date back to his 12th birthday, in 1996, when the Mirror reported Harry was feeling “badly” about the divorce of his mother and father, now King Charles III.
Harry said in court documents that ongoing tabloid reports made him wonder whom he could trust as he feared friends and associates were betraying him by leaking information to the newspapers. His circle of friends grew smaller, and he suffered “huge bouts of depression and paranoia.” Relationships fell apart as the women in his life – and even their family members – were “dragged into the chaos.”
He says he later discovered that the source wasn’t disloyal friends but aggressive journalists and the private investigators they hired to eavesdrop on voicemails and track him to locations as remote as Argentina and an island off Mozambique.
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Mirror Group Newspapers said it didn’t hack Harry’s phone and its articles were based on legitimate reporting techniques. The publisher admitted and apologized for hiring a private eye to dig up dirt on one of Harry’s nights out at a bar, but the resulting 2004 article headlined “Sex on the beach with Harry” is not among the 33 in question at trial.
Phone hacking that involved guessing or obtaining security codes to listen in on celebrities’ cell phone voice messages was widespread at British tabloids in the early years of this century. It became an existential crisis for the industry after the revelation in 2011 that the News of the World had hacked the phone of a slain 13-year-old girl.
Owner Rupert Murdoch shut down the paper and several of his executives faced criminal trials.
Mirror Group has paid more than 100 million pounds ($125 million) to settle hundreds of unlawful information-gathering claims, and printed an apology to phone hacking victims in 2015. But it denies executives – including Piers Morgan, who was editor of the Daily Mirror editor between 1995 and 2004 — knew about hacking.
Harry’s fury at the U.K. press — and sometimes at his own royal relatives for what he sees as their collusion with the media — runs through his memoir, Spare, and interviews conducted by Oprah Winfrey and others. His claims will face a tough audience in court when he is cross-examined by Mirror Group’s lawyer.
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Key takeaways from Prince Harry’s explosive memoir ‘Spare’
The opening statements mark the second phase of a trial in which Harry and three others have accused the Mirror of phone hacking and unlawful information gathering.
In the first part, Sherborne, who represents Harry and the other claimants, including two actors from the soap opera Coronation Street, said the unlawful acts were “widespread and habitual” at the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, and carried out on “an industrial scale.”
Two judges — including Fancourt — are in the process of deciding whether Harry’s two other phone hacking cases will proceed to trial.
Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and Associated Newspapers Ltd., which owns the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, have argued the cases should be thrown out because Harry failed to file the lawsuits within a six-year deadline of discovering the alleged wrongdoing.
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Harry’s lawyer has argued that he and other claimants should be granted an exception to the time limit, because the publishers lied and deceived to hide the illegal actions.
Now that the coronation celebrations are over, King Charles III and Queen Camilla are enjoying a break at Sandringham, and the rest of the royals are getting ready for the future. Cohosts Katie Nicholl and Erin Vanderhoof take a look at what the king’s reign might hold from the perspective of global politics as well as family conflicts. Plus, they share listener reactions to the coronation.
For one event, the king welcomed the public to a little-known corner of Windsor Castle, where he was celebrated by pop stars Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, whom he also counts as friends, and emphasized his love for nature and skills as a pilot. Can Charles’s emerging image succeed in drawing a skeptical younger generation to embrace the monarchy?
Buckingham Palace released official portraits that show the newly crowned monarch with the senior royals who will support him throughout his reign, including the Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Anne, and Prince Edward. The photos were taken on May 6, after the coronation ceremony and before the informal family lunch. Prince Harry’s notable absence from the photos underscores that he is no longer a working royal, and had not even a moment to talk to his father—something that drew strong responses from DYNASTY fans, whether in empathy for Charles or outrage on behalf of Harry.
Prince Harry will coming back to the U.K. once again in June as his next court case against the press kicks off.
This is just one of seven known lawsuits he and his wife Meghan Markle have filed against media companies both in the U.K. and the U.S. in recent years – but this time, the Duke of Sussex will take to the stand as a witness in the trial.
Here’s what you need to know…
What is this legal case about?
This case is against the publisher of the Daily Mirror, the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), over allegations of previous phone-hacking.
Harry first launched this lawsuit back in 2019, but it’s only going to trial now.
The lawsuit refers to articles published between 1996 and 2011 which feature information supposedly obtained through unlawful means (e.g. phone hacking).
While his team raised 148 articles as evidence, only around 33 will be included in the trial.
Harry’s lawyers say those close to him were also targeted, including his father King Charles and the late TV presenter Caroline Flack, with whom he briefly dated.
The case is set to last for six or seven weeks, and will take place at the High Court in London.
Why is Harry going to give evidence?
A “representative” selection of the wider group of claimants will be giving evidence as “test trials.” Harry was one of those selected, so he will be taking to the witness stand in person against the publisher in June.
This will make him the first senior royal to give evidence in a courtroom since the 19th century.
Actors Michael Turner and Nikki Sanderson, as well as comedian Paul Whitehouse’s ex-wife Fiona Wightman, have also been selected for trial.
Other claimants involved in the lawsuit include actor Ricky Tomlinson, former Girls Aloud member Cheryl, footballer and TV presenter Ian Wright and the estate of the late pop star George Michael.
Prince Harry leaves the High Court after attending the fourth day of the preliminary hearing in a privacy case against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Daily Mail, over alleged phone-tapping and privacy breaches on March 30, 2023.
Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
What does the Mirror Group say?
The MGN, part of the publisher Reach, apologized for ordering the unlawful gathering of information on the first day of the case.
In court documents, the publisher admitted there was “some evidence of the instruction of third parties to engage in other types of UIG [unlawful information gathering] in respect of each of the claimants” and said it “warrants compensation.”
However, the publishers said it “entirely denied” the claim of actor, Michael Turner.
“MGN unreservedly apologises for all such instances of UIG, and assures the claimants that such conduct will never be repeated,” the publisher said.
The publisher’s lawyer continued: “This apology is not made with the tactical objective of reducing damages, MGN accepts that an apology at this stage will not have that effect, but is made because such conduct should never have occurred.”
However, MGN still denies allegations of voicemail interception in the cases being looked at it in the trial, and claims that some of the challenges it faces have been brought beyond a legal time limit.
MGN has previously acknowledged that phone hacking took place at some of its newspapers and has paid hundreds of millions of pounds in settlements.
Why does this case have anything to do with Piers Morgan?
Harry’s accusations are also expected to involve Piers Morgan, who was the editor of the Daily Mirror between 1995 and 2004.
Morgan is known as a high-profile critic of the Sussexes, having allegedly had a brief friendship with Meghan before she started dating Harry.
What is the Sussexes’ relationship with the tabloid press?
The duke has made his resentment of the press very clear, especially since he left the royal fold in 2020.
As he revealed in his memoir “Spare” and the promotional interviews around its release, his belief that the press had intruded into his life was one of many reasons he and his wife left the royal family and moved to the U.S.
He has also criticized the paparazzi due to their role in his mother Princess Diana’s death and claimed the tabloids operate in cahoots with the palace to manage which stories were actually published.
The Duke of Sussex has alleged that he is exposing media behavior to “save journalism as a profession,” and has made it clear it’s his “life’s work” to change the media landscape.
What other lawsuits have Harry and Meghan pursued against the media so far?
According to Reuters news agency, these are the lawsuits the Sussexes are known to have filed in recent years:
1. Harry has an ongoing case against the Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, over allegations of phone-tapping and other unlawful activities. The publisher denies any wrongdoing and says the allegations have come too late, so the case should be thrown out.
2. In February 2022 Harry launched another lawsuit against Associated Newspapers over a Mail on Sunday article which accused him of trying to mislead the public about a legal spat with the government over his own security protection and trying to keep details of that case secret. The High Court said it was a defamatory article, but Harry still needs the ruling in his favour for the case to go to trial.
3. In September 2019 Harry filed a claim against News Group Newspapers – publishers of the Sun and the now defunct News of the World – accusing them of hacking voicemails on his phone. The case is not yet settled, and the publishers want to throw the case out.
4. Meghan won a claim against Associated Newspapers in February 2021 over the Mail on Sunday’s publication of extracts of a letter she wrote to her father back in 2018.
5. In July 2020, Harry and Meghan filed a U.S. lawsuit over claims photographers used drones to take “illegal” images of their son Prince Archie when he was at their private home. They reached a settlement that October, with an agreement to stop distributing the images and an apology.
6. In May 2019, Harry won damages and accepted an apology from Splash News and Picture Agency over aerial photos it had taken of his home in Oxfordshire.
The Prince of Wales, the heir to the throne, dressed in a formal robe and paid homage to his father during the ceremony. He was also a part of the royal family’s procession to Buckingham Palace, where fellow family members appeared on the balcony for a military plane flypast.
By contrast, Harry, who appeared at Westminster Abbey in morning dress by Dior and his military medals, sat two rows behind his brother at Westminster Abbey, as he was not given any role in the ceremony or procession.
The Duke of Sussex glances in the direction of his brother during the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Westminster Abbey.
WPA Pool via Getty Images
Instead, the duke was in the same row as his cousins, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, and their respective husbands, Jack Brooksbank and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. Prince Andrew, who Harry spoke out against in his memoir, “Spare,” was also seated in the same row.
Harry was not invited to join the royal family for their Buckingham Palace balcony moment. Instead, he is heading back to California today to make it back in time for Prince Archie’s birthday.
Meghan Markle, who was invited to attend the coronation, declined the invite and stayed behind at the couple’s home in Montecito because of Archie’s big day.
Prince Harry wears an Afghanistan service medal, along with Golden, Diamond and Platinum Jubilee medals on his medal bar. The Duke of Sussex is also wearing the KCVO Star decoration around his neck, which he recently wore for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
ANDY STENNING via Getty Images
While many still hope for reconciliation between the brothers, the two were last publicly seen together at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September.
Since the funeral, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released their six-part Netflix docuseries, while Harry made bombshell claims about the royal family ― and specifically his relationship with his older brother ― in his bestselling memoir, “Spare.”
The Prince and Princess of Wales stand on the Buckingham Palace balcony following the coronations of King Charles III and Queen Camilla on May 6.
LEON NEAL via Getty Images
Kensington and Buckingham Palace did not issue a statement or publicly respond after Harry’s book came out earlier this year or when the Sussex’s Netflix series debuted late last year. William, however, did address one claim from Harry and Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
In that interview, the two alleged that an unspecified member of Britain’s royal family had expressed racist concerns about their then-unborn son, Archie, and the color of his skin.
Princes Harry and William attend the unveiling of a statue of their mother, the late Princess Diana, at the Sunken Garden in Kensington Palace on July 1, 2021.
DOMINIC LIPINSKI via Getty Images
More On King Charles’ Coronation:
Charles’ coronation concert will include some very unexpected guests.
King Charles III was officially crowned at Westminster Abbey in London on Saturday, a moment the new British monarch had anticipated for most of his life.
The king was crowned with the St. Edward’s Crown, worn by his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II, during her own coronation nearly 70 years ago, on June 2, 1953.
During the service, the dean of Westminster handed the crown to Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, who said a blessing before crowning the king.
The archbishop then instructed the congregation to say “God save the king,” before the Westminster Abbey bells began to ring. Gun salutes were then fired around the world, including Horse Guards Parade and the Tower of London. Saluting stations throughout the U.K., Gibraltar and Bermuda, along with British ships at sea, also fired celebratory rounds.
The St. Edward’s Crown is from the coronation regalia, a collection of treasures that are part of the British crown jewels. The crown was made for King Charles II in 1661 to replace a medieval headpiece that was melted down in 1649.
“Although it is not an exact replica of the medieval design, it follows the original in having four crosses-pattée and four fleurs-de-lis, and two arches,” reads a description of the crown on the British royal family’s website. “The crown is topped with an orb and a cross, symbolising the Christian world, and is made up of a solid gold frame set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines. The crown has a velvet cap with an ermine band.”
Ahead of the coronation, the crown was removed from the Tower of London ― where the crown jewels are kept ― and modified to fit King Charles.
St Edward’s Crown is pictured during a service to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey, on June 4, 2013, in London.
LONDON (AP) — King Charles III surprised cheering fans who started gathering outside Buckingham Palace on Friday, a day ahead of his coronation, as final touches were made in preparation for an occasion that London hasn’t celebrated in 70 years.
People in the crowd screamed his name as Charles stepped from a chauffeur-driven Bentley wearing a blue suit. One person could be heard yelling “God save the king” as the British monarch approached the throng lined up behind a barricade.
Charles thanked the well-wishers for coming, shaking hands as he slowly moved along the line.
Theresa Iredale, wearing a plastic crown, said she trembled when the king approached her after she screamed his name.
“I saw his hand coming out to mine and I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m shaking the king’s hand,’” she said.
King Charles III greets wellwishers outside Buckingham Palace, in London, Friday, May 5, 2023 a day before his coronation takes place at Westminster Abbey.
Prince William, heir to the throne, and his wife, Kate, also greeted the public during the walkabout, talking to fans on the opposite side of The Mall, posing for selfies and chit-chatting.
The royals made the stop after a luncheon that followed the final rehearsal for Charles’ Saturday morning coronation service at Westminster Abbey.
Charles ascended the throne automatically when his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died last year. The religious ceremony of the coronation represents his formal crowning.
The celebration has been months in the making, choreographed down to the finest detail and includes a huge security operation.
Beyond the massive planning, Charles is trying to remain relevant as support for the monarchy has waned, particularly among a younger generation that cares less about its traditions. His crowning takes place as some question the large expense of public funds — with no estimate provided yet — during a cost-of-living crisis that has left many Britons struggling.
On Thursday, William and Kate, the Prince and Princess of Wales, took a subway train and visited a pub in Soho as part of the lead-up to the coronation.
The crowd outside the palace has been growing for several days, with visitors from around the world assembling to witness history as the latest monarch is crowned in a tradition that dates back more than 1,000 years.
Fans of the royal family were decked out in the red, white and blue of the Union Jack, waving flags, wearing full outfits made of the distinctive pattern and one man had it painted on his face.
Many of those assembled had already camped out or planned to spend the night hoping for a prime perch for the procession Saturday and maybe a view of the newly crowned monarch and Queen Camilla, his wife, waving from the balcony of the palace after returning from the ceremony.
Those who only expected a fleeting glimpse of the king, were richly rewarded to get to meet him in person.
“Absolutely amazing, just surreal,” said Gillian Holmes.
“My daughter said her legs were shaking, she was in shock,” Holmes said. “I never ever dreamt that I would meet the king. I can’t believe it.”
Throughout the day, rail travelers throughout the United Kingdom were greeted with a recorded message from the king as they boarded trains wishing them and their families “a wonderful coronation weekend.”
The message concluded with Charles providing the familiar warning passengers get before they board or leave subways and trains: “And remember, please mind the gap.”
Born on October 24, 1966, Sir Edward Young was educated as a boarder at Reading School in Berkshire.
Before becoming an advisor to the royals, Sir Edward Young worked for the international side of Barclays Bank between between 1985 and 1997.
He has had executive roles including as a specialist in international trade finance and as manager for the Corporate Bank European Currency Programme.
In 1997 he made the move to Barclays’ Head Office to become the bank’s Deputy Head of Corporate Public Relations.
After leaving his role as the bank’s Deputy Head of Corporate Public Relations, Sir Edward Young became the advisor to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, Michael Portillo in 1999.
After that he became the advisor to the Leader of the Opposition, William Hague.
In 2001, he was appointed Head of Communications at Granada plc working primarily on the merger with Carlton Communications which formed ITV PLC in 2004.
It was also in 2004 that Sir Edward Young began as the Assistant Private Secretary to the Queen before being promoted to Deputy Private Secretary in September 2007.
After a decade working as Deputy Private Secretary to Her Majesty, Sir Edward Young was promoted to Private Secretary in 2017 – after Christopher Geidt retired from his role.
When did Sir Edward Young become King Charles’ private secretary?
Following the death of the Queen in 2022, Sir Edward Young now guides King Charles on matters of the state and constitutional issues.
He also works closely with the Government.
What is the role of a private secretary?
As Private Secretary to the Sovereign, he is the senior operational member of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom and is responsible for supporting the King in his duties as Head of State.
The Private Secretary also liaises with the Armed Forces, the Church and the many organisations of which Her Majesty is patron.
Young is also Keeper of the Royal Archives and a Trustee of the Royal Collection Trust and has direct control over the Press Office, the office of the Director for Security Liaison, the research, correspondence, anniversaries and records offices.
On June 2, 1953, former king Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor since his abdication in 1936, sat chain smoking in a gilded chair as flashbulbs popped—far from Westminster Abbey, where the coronation of his niece Queen Elizabeth II was taking place. Rather, he was in Paris, at a party hosted by the American heiress Margaret Biddle, surrounded by members of continental café society and the United Press.
In the darkened room, some eyes were on the TV, which broadcast a British coronation for the first time in history, but many more eyes were on Edward, who sat shoulder to shoulder with his wife, Wallis, Duchess of Windsor.
Edward’s jovial tone turned reflective as the coronation ceremony reached its height. “The Duke of Windsor fought back tears and prayed silently today as his young niece became Queen Elizabeth II. The Duke bowed his head and folded his hands as Elizabeth mounted the throne he surrendered 16 years ago,” the United Press reported on June 2, 1953, in a piece syndicated in the LA Times the following day.
With the rest of his family across the Channel, he sought comfort in the woman for whom he had given it all up. “The Duchess leaned over to him. The Duke stirred and moved closer to her—their faces almost touching,” the UP reported. “The Duke took out a handkerchief and brushed a solemn face. He watched the crown being placed on Elizabeth’s head. Then he turned to his Duchess and pinched the flesh between his eyes—as though fighting back tears.”
It was not what Edward had hoped for. After the death of his younger brother King George VI on February 6, 1952, the duke had been naively hopeful that he would be welcomed at the coronation—along with his scandalous wife. As royal watchers speculated blindly that the Windsors would receive an invite, the Duchess of Windsor was equally in the dark. From their home in Paris, she wrote to her aunt, on October 3, 1952, about the upcoming ceremony.
I will know more about that when the Duke returns as the reason for his trip [to England] was to review the entire situation. The family are certainly charming, aren’t they? We will also have to take a lot of Coronation cracks— and Winston [Churchill] though very friendly won’t interfere in what he calls a family matter. I wish the world and particularly the U.S. press would forget the Windsors. Such an old story.
The Duke of Windsor’s November trip to England to visit his ailing mother, Queen Mary, raised public chatter about the thorny issue to a fever pitch, with royal watchers looking for any sign of a truce between the Windsors and the royal family. “Usually, on these brief interludes in London, he seldom leaves Marlborough House, his mother’s home…. But on this trip to London the Duke is seeing a good deal of all members of the royal family,” read a piece in the Los Angeles Times. “Yesterday he went to Buckingham Palace for tea with his sister-in-law, the Queen Mother. Thursday he will return to the palace to have lunch with Queen Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, on their fifth wedding anniversary. Later in the week Windsor is to meet the royal children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne.”
The duke also visited his old friend Prime Minister Churchill, reportedly to sound out “the Prime Minister and top members of the royal family on whether he could bring his Duchess to Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.”
This public show of familial togetherness led many to believe that Edward’s royal invitation was a go. “To many Britons all the family activity added up to one thing—a reconciliation,” TheNew York Times reported. “According to rumors in court circles, it is odds on that both the Duke and his American-born Duchess…will get invitations for the Coronation.”
With just days to go before the most important moment of his life, it’s not surprising that King Charles is suffering from some last-minute nerves. Sources close to Charles tell Vanity Fair that while he is “enormously excited” about his impending coronation ceremony, he is “fretting” over the number of robe changes he will have to undergo on Saturday.
In accordance with tradition, Their Majesties will wear two different sets of robes during the coronation service: the Robes of State and the Robes of Estate. Charles and Queen Consort Camilla will don the Robes of State upon their arrival at Westminster Abbey, and the Robes of Estate (which are traditionally more personalised in design) on their departure, following the coronation service.
During the service, Charles will undergo several robe changes and will wear various historic items of clothing that were previously worn by former monarchs at past coronations, including one of the oldest vestments in the Royal Collection: the robe worn by King George IV in 1821 for his coronation.
“The King and Queen are definitely nervous. It’s the logistics that are worrying them more than anything else. They’re worried about how it will all play out just as anyone else would be. It’s rather endearing to hear them fretting over the things any other normal person would be worried about. There haven’t been weeks of rehearsals but there will be intensive rehearsals over the coming days so everyone will know exactly what they are doing on the day,” one source told VF. “The King has mentioned the number of changes he will have saying he is having to arrive robed, then having to de-robe, then re-robe again. I think that’s been concerning him, he wants it all to go smoothly.”
On Monday, Buckingham Palace released new details about the robes the king will wear. While monarchs traditionally have some new coronation robes custom made (the Queen commissioned a bespoke coronation gown by Sir Norman Hartnell) the King will reuse a number of robes used for previous coronations in the interests of sustainability according to the palace.
“Although it is customary for the Supertunica and the Imperial Mantle to be reused, His Majesty will also reuse the Colobium Sindonis, Coronation Sword Belt and Coronation Glove worn by his grandfather King George VI, in the interests of sustainability and efficiency,” the palace said in a statement.
The historic vestments are laden with historical significance and featured in the Coronation Services of King George IV in 1821, King George V in 1911, King George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and include the Colobium Sindonis, the Supertunica, the Imperial Mantle, the Coronation Sword Belt and the Coronation Glove.
As rehearsals begin in the lead-up to the weekend’s events, VF has also learned that the Queen Consort has been practicing entering and exiting a coach wearing a crown so that she is comfortable wearing the Crown of Queen Mary. The headpiece was made for Charles’s great grandmother Queen Mary for the coronation of her husband George V in 1911.
The crown is heavy and Camilla, who has only previously worn tiaras, wants to feel confident wearing the historic piece. “The Queen wants to feel confident carrying the weight of the Queen Mary crown on her head. She has been practicing wearing it and getting in and out of the coach,” the source adds.
VF has also learned that the newly crowned King and Queen will celebrate privately with a select number of family and friends on Sunday following the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle. “Some of their friends who were not invited to the coronation ceremony have been invited to the castle for a soirée on the night of the concert. It’s a very VIP invitation and a chance for the king and queen to be off duty for the first time over the weekend of celebrations.”
King Charles’scoronation means we’re going to see a whole array of royal items most of which haven’t been seen since his mother was crowned.
Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was 70 years ago, in 1953 and there’s no arguing that life was pretty different back then. But, stately occasions such as the crowning of a sovereign mean ancient objects which stretch back centuries get their time in the spotlight again.
So, you probably know there’s a crown (two, to be precise) and quite a few objects like sceptres and orbs involved – but did you know about all of this?
The Stone Of Scone
Or the Scone of Destiny, as it’s more formally known is stored underneath the Coronation Chair. Compared to everything else, it seems quite… ordinary. Just a 335 pound block of red sandstone.
But, it could be the most symbolic part of the entire coronation. Monarchs in Britain have been crowned on it for centuries (potentially back to the 9th Century) and is associated with Scotland’s monarchy.
Its departure from Edinburgh to London for the coronation was even marked with a special ceremony, and its journey down south had to be seriously organised with the police.
The Stone of Destiny is old – very old.
RUSSELL CHEYNE via Getty Images
Coronation Chair
This is far from just a chair. According to Westminster Abbey, this is “one of the most precious and famous pieces of furniture in the world,” having been the centerpiece of coronations in the UK for over 700 years.
It was made by order of Edward I to enclose the Stone of Scone, and has been in use since around 1308. It was even stolen briefly by Scottish Nationalists on Christmas Day in 1950, but recovered the following year.
The Coronation Chair – It’s kind of a big deal.
DAN KITWOOD via Getty Images
Diamond Jubilee Coach
The Diamond Jubilee Coach (which is three tons, 18ft, and built in 2014 and very high-tech) will be used by Charles and Camilla to travel from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for the coronation.
It is ornate and was used repeatedly by the Queen (as it was supposed to be made in time for her 80th birthday) so you’ve probably seen it before.
But, what you might not know is that incorporates materials from iconic British figures – such as Florence Nightingale’s dress and one of Sir Edmund Hillary’s Everest ladders, segments related to William Shakespeare and a counterweight from Big Ben.
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach on the Mall in London on October 14, 2019.
ISABEL INFANTES via Getty Images
Swords Of Spiritual Justice, Mercy, And Temporal Justice
Three swords will be carried (unsheathed and pointing upwards) before the King when he enters Westminster Abbey, along with two royal maces. It’s a practice which dates back to Richard the Lionheart in 1189, apparently, although these specific swords were made in 1626 for Charles I.
The Sword of Temporal Justice: Symbolises monarch’s role as head of the Armed Forces
Sword of Mercy or Curtana: Signifies sovereign’s mercy
Sword of Spiritual Justice: Represents monarch’s role as Defender of the Faith
Swords which will be carried in front of Charles in Westminster Abbey.
Charles will anointed with this by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the holiest part of the coronation, using something called the Ampulla (below) which stores the oil, and the Coronation Spoon.
As the Royal Family’s website explains: “The Coronation oil is based on the oil used at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the formula of which has been used for hundreds of years. It will also be used for the anointing of Her Majesty The Queen Consort.”
This year it’s made from oil groves on the Mount of Olives, where the King’s paternal grandmother Princess Alice of Battenberg, was buried, and will not use any animal ingredients. Previous versions included extracts from small mammals and whales’ intestines…
The oil, which also has a highly religious element, was consecrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, too, where Jesus is believed to have died.
The Supertunica is a full-length coat of gold silk inspired by Byzantine Empire and embroidered with symbols of home nations which Charles will wear during the ceremony.
The Colobium Sindonis is simply a white garment which the monarch also wears during the anointing, which symbolises purity before God.
Presenting: The Supertunica
Tim Graham via Getty Images
The *Second* Coach
OK, you probably knew there was a coach involved. But did you know there were *two* different ones?
The Gold State Coach is for the coronation procession, going from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
It has cherubs on the roof representing England, Scotland and Ireland, weighs four tons, each wheel has a massive triton figure and has painted panels of Roman gods and goddesses. And, oh yeah, it’s 29ft long.
It’s been used at every coronation since 1831 and isn’t actually made of solid gold – but because of its weight, it can only go at walking pace.
Kate Middleton and Prince William rang in their 12th wedding anniversary Saturday, as Kensington Palace released a new photo of the couple to mark the special occasion.
“12 years ❤️,” reads the Instagram caption for the picture, which was taken by one of the couple’s favored photographers, Matt Porteous.
In the relaxed shot, the Prince and Princess of Wales are posed on bicycles with their arms around each other, smiling at the camera. Both are dressed in casual outfits, with William in a blue collared shirt, jeans and sunglasses.
Kate wears a patterned white shirt, jeans and white sneakers, while carrying a crossbody purse.
The photo might look familiar to any avid royal watcher, as it was among those taken at the family’s Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England, last year.
William and Kate used one of those snaps for their 2022 Christmas card, which featured their three children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Other photos from the shoot were used to mark Mother’s Day in the U.K.
The Princess of Wales recently made a cameo in another royal family picture to mark Louis’ 5th birthday last weekend. A smiling Kate was shown carrying Louis as he perched in a wheelbarrow with a big grin on his face.
The new picture of Louis was taken by photographer Millie Pilkington, in a break from tradition. Normally, Kate takes shots of her family for big milestones, as she is an avid photographer herself.
The royals are gearing up for a historic weekend next month, as the U.K. prepares for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
Prince George, a future heir to the throne, is set to play a major role in the ceremony, as he will be one of his grandfather’s pages of honor on May 6.
On Friday, BBC announced the latest performers and entertainers slated to make an appearance at the monarch’s May 7 concert, which is set to take place on the grounds of Windsor Castle just a day after Charles and Queen Camilla are crowned at Westminster Abbey.
In addition to the “Top Gun” actor ― who rubbed shoulders with Prince William and Kate Middleton just last year ― BBC announced that the concert will feature Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls, a Dame Joan Collins cameo and some pre-recorded bits from Bear Grylls and Sir Tom Jones.
Prince William and actor Tom Cruise acknowledge the crowd as they attend the “Top Gun: Maverick” Royal Film Performance on May 19, 2022, in London.
Dan Kitwood via Getty Images
Winne the Pooh will also stop by the king’s festivities in some capacity. It’s unclear if Paddington Bear, who made an appearance at Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee last year, was booked already.
Previously announced acts for the concert include the English pop group Take That, Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie and Katy Perry.
Both Richie and Perry actually share close ties to Charles. Perry is an ambassador for Charles’ charity, The British Asian Trust, while the “All Night Long” singer is a global ambassador for the monarch’s Prince’s Trust charity.
The crowd watching Queen Elizabeth II having tea with Paddington Bear on a big screen during the Platinum Party at the Palace on June 4, 2022.
Victoria Jones – PA Images via Getty Images
Perry told Extra! earlier this week that she is “grateful” to be performing during the historic weekend. The “California Girls” singer added that she’s also really excited about the high-end accommodations that come with the gig, as she’s been invited to stay at Windsor Castle.
“I might be posting [on social media] a lot because I’m gonna be in a castle, for real,” she admitted. “This is wild.”
Kate Middleton will choose one of the most significant outfits of her lifetime next week for King Charles and Queen Camilla’s coronation.
The Princess of Wales dropped a clue about what she’ll be wearing to the May 6 ceremony at Westminster Abbey to TV broadcaster Alison Hammond at a royal engagement in Birmingham last week.
Hammond revealed on the U.K.’s “This Morning” show that she asked Kate what she’ll wear with the suggestion: “I’m feeling like you’re gonna wear blue.”
The Princess of Wales speaks with TV presenter Alison Hammond during a visit to The Rectory in Birmingham on April 20.
JACOB KING via Getty Images
The “Great British Bake Off” host said Kate answered: ”‘There is a hint of blue.’ So I was like, fantastic!”
Hammond snapped a selfie with Prince William and Kate, writing “These two are everything!!”
“Thanks for popping by in Birmingham,” she captioned the photo of the three smiling. “Next time dinner at my place.”
“Always fun Alison, it’s always fun!” the Prince and Princess of Wales’ Instagram account replied in the comments.
William and Kate will attend the coronation alongside their eldest son, Prince George, who has a role as one of Charles’ pages of honor at the service. It’s unclear whether the couple’s younger children, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, will attend.
Prince Harry is set to make the trip across the pond for Charles’ coronation, Buckingham Palace and Archewell havce confirmed to HuffPost. Meghan Markle will remain home in California, as it is the couple’s son Archie’s fourth birthday.
Harry and Meghan were spotted together on Monday at the Los Angeles Lakers game, where cameras caught them laughing and smiling on what appeared to be a date night.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies at Crypto.com arena on April 24.
With less than a month to go until King Charles’coronation, more details have been released about how the day will unfold and what he and Camilla, soon to be crowned queen, will wear.
The ceremony, which is set for May 6 at Westminster Abbey, will follow a grand procession that will start from Buckingham Palace, officials announced on Sunday.
King Charles and Camilla will travel to the abbey in the Diamond Jubilee Coach pulled by six Windsor Grey horses, according to the palace press release.
It’s the same carriage that was created for Queen Elizabeth II’s 60th anniversary on the throne in 2012.
The procession will pass by Admiralty Arch and run along Parliament Street before arriving at Westminster Abbey, where the coronation service will kick off at 11 a.m. British time (6 a.m. Eastern).
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After the coronation is complete, another procession will follow the same route back to Buckingham Palace.
For that, a heavier Gold State Coach will be drawn by eight horses. That carriage has been used at every coronation since 1831.
To wrap up the day’s festivities, the couple will be greeted upon their return to Buckingham Palace with a royal salute by members from the British armed forces and representatives from Commonwealth militaries followed by three cheers from the assembled service personnel.
‘Not my King!’: Anti-royal protesters greet Charles and Camilla at York cathedral
What will Charles and Camilla wear?
In addition to the procession routes, the palace also revealed details about the crown jewels that will be on display as the king and queen are crowned.
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King Charles will wear a ring composed of a sapphire with a ruby cross set in diamonds.
His orb will be made of gold and divided into three sections with bands of jewels. He will use two different sceptres.
FILE – The Koh-i-noor, or “mountain of light,” diamond, set in the Maltese Cross at the front of the crown made for Britain’s late Queen Mother Elizabeth, is seen on her coffin, along with her personal standard, a wreath and a note from her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, as it is drawn to London’s Westminster Hall, April 5, 2002.
AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File
As per tradition and as previously announced, the king will wear St Edward’s crown at the coronation service in Westminster Abbey.
It is the same crown his mother wore at her coronation in 1953.
It has a purple velvet cap and an ermine band. The crown’s gold frame is set with rubies, amethysts, sapphires, garnet, topazes and tourmalines.
At the end of the coronation service, Charles will swap that with the Imperial State Crown, which is also fitted with a purple velvet cap and an ermine band and adorned with jewels.
Meanwhile, Camilla’s ring is a ruby in gold setting.
As previously announced, she has chosen to wear Queen Mary’s Crown, which is undergoing some minor changes and additions ahead of the coronation.
The U.K. anti-monarchy group Republic released the results of a new YouGov poll this week revealing that 52% of Britons are not interested in King Charles’ coronation next month.
The poll, commissioned by Republic, surveyed 2,002 adults in Great Britain at the end of March.
Fifteen percent of respondents said that they were “very interested” in the coronation, while 29% said that they were “fairly interested.” An additional 24% said they were “not very interested,” and 28% labeled themselves “not interested at all.”
Asked about funding for the ceremony and celebrations, 37% of those surveyed said that they believed the royals should pay for the entire coronation themselves, while 36% wanted to see both the U.K. government and the monarchy pay. Meanwhile, 15% of respondents said that the U.K. government should pay for the entire thing, and 12% answered that they “don’t know.”
Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, said in a release accompanying the poll that “it’s easy to be fairly interested even if you’re also fairly indifferent to the monarchy.”
“It’s a big event that’s being endlessly promoted with few critical voices being heard on TV and radio,” he said, adding that, it’s “a far cry from the national enthusiasm and celebration being projected by some in the media.”
“The picture is clear: we are not a nation gearing up to celebrate the coronation – and that’s a good thing,” Smith added. “Most of us aren’t that interested, and most of us think the royals should pay. A growing number of us want the monarchy abolished.”
Demonstrators hold placards reading “Not My King” as King Charles meets well-wishers upon arriving at the Church of Christ the Cornerstone in Milton Keynes, England, on Feb. 16.
ARTHUR EDWARDS VIA GETTY IMAGES
After Charles became king following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, in September, Republic pledged to protest at the coronation. The group has also organized demonstrations leading up to the big weekend.
Republic plans to protest at Charles’ first Maundy Service as king on Thursday. The service, which will take place in York this year, will see Charles and Camilla handing out money to members of the community.
“Again we’ll be challenging Charles to speak to us, even to debate with me live on air, to answer a string of serious questions about cash for honours, tax dodging and why he’s protecting his brother,” Smith told HuffPost by email on Tuesday.
He added that the group is “keen to keep protesting wherever he goes to drive home the fact there’s a growing opposition to the monarchy.”
Buckingham Palace released more details about the coronation on Tuesday, unveiling the official invitation and confirming details about the role Prince George will play.
The palace also shared the first official portrait of Charles and Camilla. Her title on the official coronation invitation raised eyebrows for some.
LONDON (AP) — Prince Harry blamed the royal family for a delay in bringing a phone hacking lawsuit against the publisher of The Daily Mail as lawyers for the newspaper argued Wednesday that the case should be thrown out because he didn’t file it soon enough.
The Duke of Sussex said “the Institution” — a term he has used in other contexts to refer to the inner workings of Buckingham Palace — had prevented him from learning sooner about the activity of The Daily Mail and related publications by withholding information about phone hacking by other tabloids.
“The Institution made it clear that we did not need to know anything about phone hacking, and it was made clear to me that the royal family did not sit in the witness box because that could open up a can of worms,” Harry wrote in a witness statement for his lawsuit.
The privacy invasion lawsuits by Harry and six other claimants, including Elton John and actresses Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, allege Associated Newspapers Ltd. commissioned the “breaking and entry into private property” by hiring private investigators to illegally bug homes and cars and record phone conversations.
The publisher denies the allegations. Its lawyer argued Wednesday that the litigation based on events dating as far back as 1993 should be thrown out because the cases were not filed within a six-year limitation period.
“Whatever claims the claimants had or may have had have been brought far too late,” attorney Adrian Beltrami said. “It is inconceivable that what is claimed to be the key new information leading to each claimant realizing they had a claim arrived unbidden in the past couple of years.”
Harry, who showed up for the first two days of the High Court hearing that is set to conclude Thursday, was a no-show Wednesday.
This week’s hearing came more than a decade after a phone hacking scandal led to the U.K.’s 2012 Leveson inquiry, which examined law breaking by the British press and resulted in criminal convictions of several journalists and private investigators.
Beltrami said that given the widespread attention the scandal received, it was hard to believe that “any reasonably informed member of the public, let alone a figure in the public eye, to have been unaware of these matters.” He suggested they could have brought their lawsuits within the legal timeframe.
The prince and other parties, however, claim that they were in the dark because of the covert nature of the snooping. They said they were misled when Associated Newspapers journalists falsely denied phone hacking and other means of gathering information for their articles.
The famous claimants said they learned of the unlawful activity after a journalist provided them with ledgers showing how much Associated Newspapers paid investigators. Some investigators have also come forward to admit hacking on behalf of The Daily Mail and related publications.
One of those investigators, Gavin Burrows, has since denied the work he had allegedly admitted doing for Associated Newspapers.
Harry, who has several lawsuits against the news media, has vowed to make reforming the British tabloids his life’s work. He blames an overly aggressive press for the 1997 car crash death of his mother, Princess Diana, and has accused reporters and photographers of hounding his wife, Meghan.
“I have always had an uneasy relationship with the press,” Harry wrote in his witness statement. “However, as a member of the Institution, the policy was to ‘never complain, never explain.’ There was no alternative; I was conditioned to accept it.”
While he said he was aware of some news from the phone hacking scandal, he hadn’t realized for years how friends and associates were targeted. His decision to take a more aggressive approach came “in the wake of vicious persistent attacks on, harassment of and intrusive, sometimes racist articles concerning Meghan,” he wrote.
Beltrami, however, questioned how closely Harry was paying attention. He noted that the prince’s best-selling memoir, “Spare,” describes taking a “keen interest” in the prosecution of News of the World journalists, which was the basis for the 2012 inquiry. Evidence at a related trial showed they repeatedly hacked Harry’s phone.
Harry was “overjoyed” at the arrest of an editor and described his “chipper mood” at the “death rattles coming from the most popular Sunday newspaper, (Rupert) Murdoch’s News of the World. The leading culprit in the hacking scandal,” Beltrami wrote in court papers.
In addition to seeking summary judgment, which would deliver a victory to Associated Newspapers without a trial, the publisher is also seeking to strike much of the evidence on which the claims are based.
Beltrami has argued that the ledgers showing how much private investigators got paid were turned over by Associated Newspapers for the 2012 Leveson inquiry under a confidentiality agreement and therefore could not be used as evidence in court.
Attorney David Sherborne, who represents Harry and the other famous claimants, argued that the documents were presumed to be public unless marked confidential. He said many of the documents had been used for investigative news articles about unlawful reporting practices by Associated Newspapers.
Prince Harry has given the world access to his own life like no royal ever has before – and not just through his new memoir Spare.
The Duke of Sussex has gone on a bombshell-filled media tour to promote his autobiography, from an intense 90 minutes with ITV to a tequila-fuelled more light-hearted appearance on “The Late Show.”
Here’s a round-up of some of the most insightful things the royal said.
Prince Harry, left, speaking during an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby for the programme Harry: The Interview.
1. Harry accused some royals of ‘getting into bed with the devil’
“After many, many years of lies being told about me and my family, there comes a point where again, going back to the relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press, those certain members have decided to get into bed with the devil,” the Duke claimed.
“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 rehabilitation comes at the detriment of others – me, other members of my family – then that’s where I draw the line.”
2. Harry denies that he ever suggested the Royal Family was racist
When Bradby noted that the Duke of Sussex had “accused members of your family of racism” in the Winfrey interview, Harry pushed back.
“No, I didn’t. The British press said that,” Harry said. “Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?”
Bradby mentioned Meghan’s revelation that “there were troubling comments about Archie’s skin colour”.
“There was concern about his skin colour,” Harry replied.
“Right. Wouldn’t you describe that as essentially racist?” Bradby followed up.
“I wouldn’t,” Harry said. “Not having lived within that family.”
“The difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different,” he continued. “But once it’s been acknowledged, or pointed out to you as an individual, or as an institution, that you have unconscious bias, you therefore have an opportunity to learn and grow from that in order so that you are part of the solution rather than part of the problem. Otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.”
3. Harry wants Charles and William ‘back’
Harry says he wants “a family, not an institution”, and says “they’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile”.
He also talks about King Charles and Prince William. “I would like to get my father back,” he says. “I would like to have my brother back.”
But, Harry added, “At the moment, I don’t recognise them,” he said of his father and brother, noting: “As much as they probably don’t recognise me.”
4. William ordered Harry to shave his beard off for his wedding
The Duke revealed that his older sibling had ordered him to go clean shaven for his 2018 wedding.
He explained: “I think there’s a level of competition there. I remembered that William had a beard himself and that Granny, and other people, the ones to tell him – told him that he had to shave it off.”
He said the difference was that the beard was “a shield to my anxiety” – but that he thought William still “found it hard that other people told him to shave it off”.
5. Harry and Meghan ‘love’ Lady Susan Hussey
Hussey, a former royal aide, was criticised last year for making racist comments towards charity boss Ngozi Fulani at the Palace, and subsequently stepped down.
Harry touched on the incident in his interview and said he was “very happy” that the Palace had organised a reconciliatory meeting between the two parties, as he and Meghan “love Susan Hussey”.
He added: “And I also know that what she meant – she never meant any hard at all. But the response from the British press, and from people online because of the stories that they wrote was horrendous.”
He said he and Meghan had only ever wanted the same kind of “accountability” from the royals – but pointed out the Palace had not even introduced the diversity tsar they had promised to back in 2021.
“I’ve always been open to wanting to help them understand their part in it, and especially when you are the monarchy – you have a responsibility, and quite rightly people hold you to a higher standard than others.”
6. Harry’s fury over Jeremy Clarkson’s column – and the Palace’s inaction
Clarkson faced a widespread backlash in December when he wrote in an opinion column for The Sun that he “hates” the Duchess of Sussex on a “cellular level”.
Speaking to ITV, the Duke of Sussex brought up the piece of his own accord while discussing “accountability”.
Harry said: “Not only was what he said horrific, and is hurtful and cruel towards my wife, but it also encourages other people around the UK, and around the world – men particularly – to think that it’s acceptable to treat women that way.
“To use my stepmother’s words recently as well, there is a global pandemic of violence against women.”
He also said he was frustrated by the royals’ silence, while his wife continues to receive criticism from the press. He said: “The world is asking for some form of comment from the monarchy but the silence is deafening. To put it mildly.
“Everything to do with my wife, after six years, they haven’t said a single thing.”
7. Harry defends writing about his family
On why now felt like the right time to write his memoir, Harry told Bradby: “38 years of having my story told by so many different people with intentional spin and distortion felt like a good time to own my story and be able to tell it for myself.
“You know, I don’t, I don’t think that if I was still part of the institution that I would have been given this chance to.
“So, I’m actually really grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to tell my story because it’s my story to tell.”
Asked what his brother would have to say after reading Spare, Harry continued: “He’d probably say all sorts of different things.
“But you know, for the last however many years, let’s just focus on the last six years, the level of planting and leaking from other members of the family means that in my mind they have written countless books – certainly millions of words have been dedicated to trying to trash my wife and myself to the point of where I had to leave my country.”
8. Harry rejects claims he has burnt his bridges
Bradby put to Harry that he’d not so much “burned bridges” with his family as “taken a flamethrower to them”, although that’s now how the Duke saw it.
“Silence only allows the abuser to abuse. I’m not sure how honesty is burning bridges,” he replied.
9. Harry is still hopeful of a family reconciliation
“I genuinely believe, and I hope, that reconciliation between my family and us will have a ripple effect across the entire world,” he said. “Maybe that’s lofty, maybe that’s naïve, whatever. But I genuinely feel that.
“And knowing the monarchy as I know it from something that I was brought up in, for me it’s always been about uniting people.”
However, he added: “They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile up until this point.”
10. Harry said the royals ‘stereotyped’ Meghan
Harry said William and Kate never got on with Meghan “from the get-go”, and that there was “a lot” of stereotyping her as a “divorced biracial American actress”.
Anderson Cooper: 60 Minutes, CBS
Harry sat down with Anderson Cooper for the show, 60 Minutes
CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images
11. Harry says he was ‘probably bigoted’ before meeting Meghan
The Duke was touching on the struggles many newcomers to the royal family face when he said: “What Meghan had to go through, in some part, was similar to what Kate and Camilla went through.”
However, he added that the women faced “very different circumstances”.
“But then you add in the race element, which was what the press – the British press – jumped on straightaway. I went into this incredibly naive.
“I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. How I was probably bigoted before the relationship with Meghan.”
“You think you were bigoted before the relationship with Meghan?” Cooper pressed.
“I don’t know,” Harry answered. “Put it this way – I didn’t see what I now see.”
12. Harry didn’t believe Diana was actually dead ‘for a long time’
He said for “many many years” he did not believe she had actually died, adding: “I refused to accept she was gone.”
13. Harry claimed again that Palace leak royal stories
Harry spoke about leaks to the press and the royal family’s motto of “never complain, never explain”, while claiming that some royal correspondents are “spoon-fed information” to write stories.
“At the bottom of it, they will say that they’ve reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting,” he told Cooper. “So when we’re being told for the last six years, ‘We can’t put a statement out to protect you’ – but you do it for other members of the family. There becomes a point when silence is betrayal.”
14. He has no plans to return as a full-time member of the royal family
The Duke of Sussex also gave a firm “no” when Cooper asked in a separate clip if he would ever return as a full-time member of the royal family.
15. Harry admits he has not spoken to Camilla, Charles or William recently
Harry said that he and Camilla “haven’t spoken for a long time”.
Asked if he was texting William, Harry replied: “Currently, no. But I look forward to – I look forward to us being able to find peace.”
“How long has it been since you spoke?” Cooper said.
“A while,” the Duke of Sussex answered.
He gave a similar answer when asked about communication with his father. “We aren’t – we haven’t spoken for quite a while. Um, no, not recently.”
16. He gave a confusing depiction of his relationship with Camilla
Talking about her supposed closeness with the media, he said: “She was the villain. She was the third person in their marriage. She needed to rehabilitate her image.
“That made her dangerous because of the connections she was forging within the British press. And there was open willingness on both sides to trade information.”
However, he also said: “I love every member of my family, despite the differences. So, when I see her, we’re perfectly pleasant with each other,” he said with a smile. “She’s my stepmother. I don’t look at her as an evil stepmother.”
“I see someone who has married into this institution and done everything that she can to improve her reputation and her own image, for her own sake,” he continued.
17. Harry says he and Meghan will apologise for any wrongdoing
When Cooper asked if the “rupture” between Harry and Meghan and the rest of the royal family could be healed, the Duke answered “absolutely”.
“The ball is very much in their court,” he explained. “Meghan and I have continued to say that we will openly apologise for anything that we did wrong, but every time we ask that question, no one’s telling us the specifics or anything. There needs to be a constructive conversation, one that can happen in private that doesn’t get leaked.”
18. The Duke dismissed the idea of giving up royal titles
“Why not renounce your titles as Duke and Duchess?” Cooper also asked Harry directly.
“And what difference would that make?” Harry retorted.
19. Harry was not invited to share the plane which took royals to see Queen before her death
Harry arrived several hours after his relatives in Scotland, where the Queen died, despite also being in the south of England when his family left to see the dying matriarch.
He claimed: “I asked my brother – I said, ‘What are your plans? How are you and Kate getting up there?’ And then, a couple of hours later, you know, all of the family members that live within the Windsor and Ascot area were jumping on a plane together, a plane with 12, 14, maybe 16 seats.
Prince Harry: In His Own Words with Michael Strahan, ABC
Prince Harry during an interview with “Good Morning America” co-host Michael Strahan in Los Angeles.
20. Queen was not angry about him leaving royal life
The Queen never told Harry she was angry about him changing role, according to the royal.
He said he thought she was “sad” about it, but “it was never a surprise to anybody, least of all to her”.
“She knew what was going on. She knew how hard it was. She never said to me that she was angry. I think she was sad that it got to that point.”
21. Diana would be ‘heartbroken’ if she knew about the brothers’ rift
“I think she would be heartbroken about the fact that William, his office were part of these [negative] stories,” he said. “I think she’d be looking at it long-term to know that there are certain things that we need to go through to be able to heal the relationship.”
22. Harry admitted partial responsibility to relationship breakdown with William
Strahan asked if Harry had any responsibility for the breakdown of the relationship with his brother. The Duke of Sussex replied: “Without question, I’m sure.”
“But what people don’t know is the efforts I’ve gone to to resolve this privately,” he continued. “Both with my brother and with my father.”
23. Harry refutes the idea that the book would make rift worse
“I thought about it long and hard, and as far as I see it the divide couldn’t be greater before this book.”
23. Harry’s not ‘angry any more’
The royal said: “I am exactly where I am supposed to be.” But he admitted that not reconciling with his family would be “very sad”.
If that were the case, Harry said, he would focus on his life and family in California.
24. Sussexes would support the Commonwealth
Harry ruled out the possibility of returning to the UK as a working royal, explaining: “Even if there was an agreement or an arrangement between me and my family, there is that third party that is going to do everything they can to make sure that that isn’t possible.”
That was presumably an allusion to the UK press.
He added: “If there was something in the future where we can continue to support the Commonwealth, then that’s of course on the table.”
He also revealed that he made a “hybrid” proposal for Sussexes to split time between Canada and UK but there was no compromise. He said this was “really sad because I still to this day believe that this was entirely possible”.
25. Harry said he was speaking out to help protect other royal children
He said his role in the line of succession was “used against me for a long part of my life”, and that he worries about other “young kids” still in the institution.
“There are some people, especially in the UK, who have been led to believe that because you are a member of the royal family, somehow everyone owns you or has a stake in you,” he said.
“And that’s a message that has been purely pushed out by the British tabloids, and it creates real problems within that family and that relationship.”
Harry added: “Of course, there has to be some sort of relationship, but where it’s got too now is incredibly unhealthy.”
He said he hoped he could help future generations. “I also worry about other young kids within that family if this continues,” he said.
26. Harry refuted claims he sees Camilla as ‘evil stepmother’
He said: “I love every member of my family… so when I see her we’re perfectly pleasant with each other.
“She’s my stepmother. I don’t see her as an evil stepmother, I think she’s someone who married into this institution and done everything she can to improve her own reputation, her own image, for her own sake.”
27. Harry rejected hypocrisy claims
Strahan pointed out: “There are going to be people who say ‘Why don’t they either be in or get out, because if you get out there’s no hypocrisy’.”
Harry said: “I can’t ever get out and I’m incredibly aware of my position.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the life that I’ve had and continue to live.
“But there’s no version of me being ever able to get out of this. I was stunned that my family would allow security to be taken away, especially at the most vulnerable point for us.”
He added that writing the book was his only way to protect his family by correcting mistruths: “I fully accept that writing a book is feeding the beast anyway.”
28. Harry ‘genuinely’ believes in the monarchy still
But, he called for it to be reformed and modernised, saying: “I think the same process that I went through regarding my own unconscious bias would be hugely beneficial to them.
“It’s not racism, but unconscious bias if not confronted, if not acknowledged, if not learned and grown from, that can then move into racism.”
People magazine cover
29. Diana is his ‘guardian angel’
“I struggled for years to accept or even speak about my mother’s death. I was unable to process that she was gone. I’m not sure anyone can ever truly have closure when they lose a parent, or anyone for that matter, especially when that grief may be the only thing left of them,” he told People.
“The healing process has allowed me to get to a place where I now feel the presence of my mum more than ever before. She’s with me all the time – my guardian angel.”
30. He wants his kids to have a relationship with the royals
“I’ve said before that I’ve wanted a family, not an institution – so of course, I would love nothing more than for our children to have relationships with members of my family, and they do with some, which brings me great joy,” he said.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS
Harry with host Stephen Colbert during a taping of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”.
31. Prince Harry blasts ‘dangerous lie’ he ‘boasted’ about Taliban killings
Harry slammed reports that he “somehow boasted about the number of people that I killed in Afghanistan” and called it “the most dangerous lie”.
“If I heard anyone boasting about that kind of thing, I would be angry. But it’s a lie. And hopefully now that the book is out, people will be able to see the context. It’s really troubling and very disturbing that they can get away with it. They had the context. It wasn’t like, ‘Here’s just one line.’”
Harry told Colbert that “the reason why I decided to share this in my book” was to “reduce the number of suicides” in the soldier and veteran communities.
Harry claimed this was a dangerous lie because it makes you “an increased target”, alleging this was a “choice” the media made.
32. Harry ‘fact-checks’ The Crown
The royal confirmed that he watched both “the older stuff and the more recent stuff” aired on the dramatised Netflix series.
Asked if he did any fact-checking, he said: “Yes, I do, actually. Which, by the way, is another reason why it’s so important that history has it right.”
33. Harry believes royals are trying to ‘undermine’ his book
Colbert asked Harry if he believed there was an “active campaign by the rest of your family, by the royal house…to undermine this book”.
The royal replied: “Of course, mainly by the British press.”
Colbert pushed the question again, this time adding if the UK media was “aided and abetted by the Palace”.
He said: “Yes, again, of course. This is the other side of the story, right?
“After 38 years, they have told their side of the story. This is the other side of the story, and there’s a lot in there that, perhaps, makes people feel uncomfortable and scared.”
34. If Diana were still alive, he and William would be in a different place
Harry claimed that if his mother were still alive, his relationship with his brother would be different.
He said: “It’s impossible to say where we would be now, where those relationships would be now, but there is no way that the distance between my brother and I would be the same.”
An independent book shop in Wiltshire, England has become an internet hit after its creative window display of Prince Harry’s memoir.
The Twitter account of Swindon-based independent store Bert’s Books drew thousands of likes and comments after it posted: “Anyway, we do have some spare copies of ‘Spare’ if you want one.”
Alongside the post, a photo of its window display showed “Spare” placed next to Bella Mackie’s novel, “How to Kill Your Family.”
The window display at Bert’s Books promoting the Duke of Sussex’s memoir Spare next to author Bella Mackie’s How to Kill Your Family.
Bert’s Books via PA Media
In a follow-up tweet, the shop wrote it had to order a box of 12 of Harry’s books to “fulfil a couple of pre-orders.”
“So if you do want a copy, you can order it here,” it added.
The placement was not pre-meditated, explained Alex Call, the owner of Bert’s Books, as How To Kill Your Family was already in its window because it was the store’s bestselling book of 2022.
He told the PA news agency: “Then when we saw it there, we thought it would be quite funny to put it next to ‘Spare’ and would be quite light-hearted and make a few people smile.”
He added that there has been a “little bit of interest” from people to get the book, with a few being sold.
Seriously, we had to buy then in a box of 12 to fulfil a couple of pre-orders, so if you do want a copy, you can order it herehttps://t.co/rJiX3yvhaG
“How To Kill Your Family” follows protagonist Grace Bernard, 28, who attempts to eliminate all members of her family to get revenge on her father, who abandoned her and her mother as a baby.
As the post went viral, Mackie responded on Instagram.
She wrote: “Thank you to the 8000 people who’ve sent me this today. And thank you @bertsbooks, what an honour.”
The author’s husband – radio presenter Greg James – also retweeted the post from Bert’s Books on his Twitter account.
Allegations from the book include his brother, the Prince of Wales, physically attacking him, and Meghan upsetting the Princess of Wales by saying she must have “baby brain” in the run-up to the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding.
Harry’s publisher, Penguin Random House’s imprint Transworld, said on Tuesday so far 400,000 copies have been sold across hardback, ebook and audio formats on its first day of publication, making it the fastest selling non-fiction book ever.
On Tuesday, Spare was number one in the U.K. Amazon chart and was listed as a bestseller on the company’s audiobook arm Audible and on Waterstones’ website.
More revelations from Prince Harry’s Spare memoir and media tour:
