London:
Britain’s Prince Harry has stated he stepped back from his royal duties mainly because the “toxic” British press had been destroying his mental wellness, adding he had not walked away from public service.
Last week, Buckingham Palace announced that Queen Elizabeth’s grandson and his American wife Meghan had created a final split with the royal family members, and would not be returning as working members and would shed their patronages.
Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, sent shockwaves via the monarchy in January 2020 when they announced their intention to step back from royal duties and embark on a new life across the Atlantic.
“It was never walking away. It was stepping back rather than stepping down, there was a really difficult environment as I think a lot of people saw,” Harry stated in an interview with James Corden, host of the “Late Late Show” in the United States.
“We all know what the British press could be like, and it was destroying my mental health, I was like this is toxic. So I did what any husband and what any father would do is like, I need to get my family out of here.”
Before they moved to California, the couple had complained about the British tabloids’ remedy of Meghan, whose father is white and mother is African-American, some of which they stated amounted to bullying or racism.
Earlier this month, Meghan effectively sued one tabloid for breaching her privacy by printing extracts of a letter she wrote to her father though final month Harry won a libel case against the exact same paper more than a story which stated he had turned his back on the military.
Critics of the couple, who announced this month they have been expecting their second kid, have stated they are keen for publicity but only on their personal terms. An in-depth interview they have offered to U.S. chat show host Oprah Winfrey is due to be aired on March 7.
There was also disapproval of Harry and Meghan’s response to final week’s split when they stated they have been committed to a life of service. Some commentators contrasted their life with the duty shown by the 94-year-old queen for the duration of her 69-year reign.
Decisions ‘On The Other Side’
“And as far as I’m concerned whatever decisions are made on that side, I will never walk away,” stated Harry, who commentators have stated was unhappy with losing his treasured royal patronages, especially these connected to the military in which he served for 10 years.
“But my life is public service so wherever I am in the world it’s going to be the same thing.”
During his interview, carried out on a tour of Los Angeles, Harry told Corden that Netflix’s hit series “The Crown”, a fictional account of the life of the queen and her family members, was “loosely based on the truth”.
“It gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle, what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that,” he stated.
“I’m way more comfortable with the Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family or my wife, or myself, because … that is obviously fiction, take it how you will, but this is being reported on as facts because you’re supposedly news.”
Harry also revealed his one-year-old son Archie’s very first word was “crocodile” and stated the queen had sent him a waffle maker as a Christmas present.
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