Prince Harry has suggested members of the royal family do not marry for love – in an apparent swipe at his brother William and King Charles.
Speaking in his controversial Netflix documentary, Harry & Meghan, he said: ‘I think, for so many people in the family, especially obviously the men, there can be a temptation or an urge to marry someone who would fit the mould, as opposed to somebody who you perhaps are destined to be with.’
It comes following the failed marriage of his parents, the then Prince Charles to the late Princess Diana, which ended in divorce amid cheating claims.
Prince William had the royal family’s blessing for his 2011 marriage to Kate, with whom he had shared a flat at university. But Harry said divorcee Meghan was written off at first because she was an American actress.
The Duke of Sussex said his wife had ‘sacrificed everything she ever knew, the freedom that she had, to join me in my world. And then pretty soon after that, I ended up sacrificing everything that I know to join her in her world’.
The royal family hit out at the documentary series by initially claiming they weren’t contacted for a response. This was despite a disclaimer at the start that stated they ‘declined to comment on the content within this series’.
Sources later admitted producers had emailed the offices of the King and Prince William – but aides were not sure the messages were genuine.
The Palace said the email was from a third-party production company with an unknown organisation’s address. An attempt was made to verify its authenticity with Archewell Productions and Netflix but it never received a response.
The Palace has since declined the opportunity to comment. It came as the first episodes were released by the streaming giant yesterday, three months after the death of the Queen.
MORE: Harry and Meghan wanting privacy after Netflix doc is ‘extraordinary’, says royal expert
Harry describes the institution of the royal family as having a ‘huge level of unconscious bias’, suggesting members are sometimes unaware of their racist behaviours.
The documentary shows images of press reports about Princess Michael of Kent when she wore a blackamoor brooch – depicting a caricature of black people – to a lunch with Meghan and other family members in 2017, for which she later apologised.
In another segment, Harry speaks of his trauma after his mother’s death in a car crash in 1997 when he was 12.
It includes two clips of Princess Diana’s 1995 Panorama interview, which could heighten tensions with Prince William, who has insisted it should never be aired again.
In what is perceived as criticism of the King’s parenting, the duke also speaks of trying to cope with his grief ‘without much support or help or guidance’.
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