Prince Harry apparently didn’t mean any harm with his bombshell BBC interview — at least, according to a royal expert.
“It wasn’t meant to be an attack, but it would be seen as one,” royal biographer Valentine Low told People in an interview published on Tuesday, June 3, regarding last month’s interview.
Harry, 40, offered a public plea to his father, King Charles III, asking for a reconciliation with his family during the May 2 interview. The Duke of Sussex claimed that his father “won’t speak to me” during the chat. (The interview came after Harry lost the appeal in his battle for government-funded security in the U.K.)
“I would love reconciliation with my family. There’s no point in continuing to fight anymore,” Harry also said at the time. “Life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has.”
Low told People that Harry’s comments weren’t a positive step toward the possibility of a future reconciliation with his father or brother, Prince William.
“It makes Charles reaching out even harder,” the Power and the Palace author added, noting that “there is not a good angel” telling Charles to “be a good dad and make the first move.”
A separate royal expert shared a similar sentiment, telling Us Weekly exclusively last month that Charles, 76, is unlikely to reach out to Harry.
“The King is only hewing to a long-standing royal practice of not dignifying something by commenting on it. The Palace does not want to give oxygen to Harry’s remarks,” royal expert Christopher Andersen said. “King Charles has a lot on his plate as it is — there is no upside to his getting into a public quarrel with his son.”
Fellow royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams also told Us that Harry’s comments regarding Charles’ health “are unlikely to have gone down well” within the family. (Charles was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in February 2024.)
“If Harry really wants to reconcile with his family, he has an odd way of showing it,” Andersen also told Us.
“He slams his father for interfering in the trial, then says the Palace rigged the outcome, then accuses the Royal Family of not caring about the safety of his wife and children, and winds up declaring that for now he can’t foresee any scenario in which he would take his family to the U.K.,” Andersen continued. “Harry delivered the coup de grace when he said he wanted to bury the hatchet with his father because he doesn’t know how much time the King has left to live.”
