18 hours ago
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Prince Harry has said he wants “reconciliation” with the rest of the royal family after a legal challenge over his security that has left him “devastated”.
The Duke of Sussex told the BBC his father, King Charles, “won’t speak to me because of this security stuff”. He said he did not know how long his father had left to live.
Speaking from California, he said “there have been so many disagreements” between him and his family, but he had “forgiven” them.
The prince said it was “impossible” for him to take his family back to the UK safely after losing his court of appeal challenge over his security arrangements while in the country.
“For the time being, it’s impossible for me to take my family back to the UK safely. I will continue on with a life of public service. So I will always support the charities and the people that mean so much to me.
“I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point, and the things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything, you know.
“I love my country, I always have done, despite what some people in that country have done. I miss the UK, I miss parts of the UK. Of course I do. And I think that’s it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.”
The challenge came after Harry and Meghan left the UK and moved to Canada, and then California, after announcing they wanted to step back as senior royals.
The prince said he did not ask his father to become involved in his battle over his security arrangements in the UK. “I’ve never asked him to intervene. I’ve asked him to step out,” he said. “I step out of the way and let the experts do their job.”
Harry said: “I can only come to the UK safely if I am invited, and there is a lot of control and ability in my father’s hands.
“Ultimately, this whole thing could be resolved through him, not by intervening, but by stepping aside and allowing the experts to do what is necessary.
“That said, this all was initiated under a previous government. There is now a new government. I have had it described to me, once people knew about the facts, that this is a good old-fashioned establishment stitch-up, and that is what it feels like.”
When asked whether Keir Starmer should “step in”, Harry replied: “I think that based on the judgment that the court has put out today, it clearly states that Ravec [the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures] are not constrained by law. Again, I wish somebody had said that from the beginning.
“Yes, I would ask the prime minister to step in.
“I would ask Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, to look at this very, very carefully and I would ask her to review Ravec and its members, because if it is an expert body, then what is the royal household’s role there, if it is not to influence and decide what they want for the members of their household?”
The duke also said in the interview that “everything” made him feel unsafe about his current security arrangements.
He continued: “I would not have taken this this far if I did not have compelling evidence of facts that reveal why the decision was made and I am sitting here today talking to you, where we have lost the appeal, but the other side have won in keeping me unsafe, so again there is a lot of question marks that a lot of people will have.”
Harry said he could “never leave the royal family”, and that he left the institution “because at the end of the day I had to”.
