Prince Harry finally had a long-awaited reunion with his father the King on a trip to the UK, but later doubled down on several explosive moves
Prince Harry would have set “alarm bells ringing at the Palace” with a ‘naive’ move after this trip to the UK, an expert has claimed.
During his time in London, Harry reunited with his father the King for their first face-to-to face meeting for more than a year – with the Duke later describing the monarch as ‘great’.
After finishing engagements in London, Harry then travelled to war-torn Ukraine to meet wounded soldiers. While in Kyiv, he gave an explosive interview where he said his “conscience is clear” after speaking out against members of the royal family as he defended his controversial memoir Spare.
He told how his autobiography, published in 2023, was a “series of corrections to stories already out there” and said he didn’t think he had “aired my dirty laundry in public”.
And former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond believes Harry would have been “better to stay zipped about his meeting with his father”.
She told the Mirror : “His first comment was that his dad was ‘great’. And I don’t think the Palace would have any problem with that. But to have been drawn into commenting on whether he had any regrets about his book was naive.
“He just can’t seem to stop himself from doubling down on his grievances. He was clearly responding to a specific question about whether he’d aired his ‘dirty laundry’ in public. He should simply have said he had no comment, and re-directed the focus of the interview to his visit to Ukraine.
“To be tempted into asserting that his conscience was clear about all that he had said in his book, and that there “cannot be reconciliation before you have truth”, was just asking for trouble.
“I don’t think it’s serious trouble: he didn’t say anything that we hadn’t already heard. But it may well have set alarm bells ringing at the Palace. Nothing, it seems, can be guaranteed to be kept private by Harry.”
And while it might not ultimately harm any reconciliation with his father the King, Jennie believes the comments might not bode well for burying the hatchet with his estranged brother Prince William.
She added: “That will be anathema to William in particular. He guards his privacy and the privacy of his family with a ring of steel.
“Trust and discretion are at the heart of family relations. And Harry has a long way to go before he can hope to regain his brother’s trust.”