Harry: Tabloid racism 'large portion' of why we left
The Duke of Sussex has said racism from the tabloid press that filtered in to the rest of society was a "large part" of why he and his wife kept the UK.
Prince Harry told Oprah Winfrey that the UK tabloid mass media is "bigoted" and creates a good "toxic environment" of "control and fear".
He said he thought the Prince of Wales had to "help to make peace with it".
The Contemporary society of Editors said the mass media isn't bigoted and is retaining the "rich and powerful to account".
Meghan said social mass media had made the partnership with the press want "the wild, wild West" and said the Royal Family's press procedure didn't defend her and Harry from untrue reports.
In the much-anticipated interview with Oprah, Harry and Meghan covered a variety of deeply personal topics, including racism, mental health, their romantic relationship with the press and Royal Family dynamics.
The two-hour interview was broadcast last night in the US and was screened in the UK on ITV on Mon night and on ITV Hub, thanks to Harpo Productions/CBS.
In various other key revelations:
- Meghan said she found lifestyle within the Royal Family so difficult that at times she "didn't desire to be alive any longer"
- She said Harry have been asked by an unnamed family member "how dark" their son Archie's skin might be
- Oprah soon after said the family member had not been the Queen or perhaps the Duke of Edinburgh
- The couple announced their second child, which arrives in the summertime, is a girl
- They exchanged vows in a ceremony led by the Archbishop of Canterbury within their "backyard" three days before these were legally married at their public wedding in May 2018
- Harry said his brother and dad were "trapped within the machine" of the Royal Family
- He said his family trim him off financially at the start of this past year and his dad stopped taking his calls
- But Harry said he loved his brother "to bits" and wanted to heal his romantic relationship with both him and his father
- Meghan said she phoned the Queen after Prince Philip went into medical center last month
US President Joe Biden's press secretary, Jen Psaki, said it had considered "courage" for Harry and Meghan to tell their own private story and discuss struggles with mental health.
Asked about the promises that the Royal Relatives had failed to look after the Sussexes' mental health and that one relative had speculated on their unborn child's skin colour, Primary Minister Boris Johnson declined to comment, except to state he "always had the highest admiration designed for the Queen and the unifying role she plays".
He said "in terms of matters to do with the Royal Family members, the proper thing for prime ministers to say is nothing", after being asked especially if he believed the Royal Family was racist.
In previously unseen footage from the three hour 20 minutes interview, Oprah asked the prince if the couple kept the UK as a result of racism. Prince Harry replied: "It was a huge part of it."
He said that soon after the couple announced they might step rear from royal duties, a person who was "good friends with a lot of the editors" had warned him about their confrontational stance with the press: "Do not do that with the media, they'll destroy your life."
The chat happened at a fundraising evening meal in January 2020, a couple of months after Meghan sued the Mail on Sunday over an exclusive letter and Prince Harry said he feared his wife would fall "victim to the same powerful forces" that he shed his mother to.
The friend of the editors told him: "You need to understand that the UK is quite bigoted." But the duke responded: "The UK isn't bigoted, the UK press is bigoted, especially the tabloids."
Talking with Oprah, the prince added: "But, unfortunately, in the event the foundation of information is inherently corrupt or perhaps racist or biased then simply that filter systems out to the rest of society."
He said that "sadly" no-one in the friends and family had said these were sorry that the few felt that they had to maneuver away from royal existence because they didn't feel supported.
"The sense is that was our decision, which means consequences are in us."
He said it was "very difficult because I am section of the system with them, I always have been".
