Prince Harry is speaking out about his decision to leave his royal life and many more in a rare one-one-one interview.
The Duke of Sussex discussed the pressures of royal life and his move away from London with “The Late Late Show” host James Corden.
“It was a really difficult environment as I think a lot of people saw,” the 36-year-old prince shared.
“We all know what the British press can be like. It was destroying my mental health.”
“This is toxic, so I did what any husband and what any father would do which is ‘I need to get my family out of here,’ but we never walked away,” he added.
Harry also clarified the Queen Elizabeth’s statement last Friday, wherein the Buckingham Palace announced that he and Meghan were “stepping away from the work of The Royal Family it is not possible to continue with the responsibilities and duties that come with a life of public service.”
“My life is always going to be about public service, and Meghan signed up to that, and the two of us enjoy doing that,” he said, echoing the Queen’s comments.
“It was never walking away. It was stepping back rather than stepping down. It was a really difficult environment.”
“Whatever decisions are made on that side I will never walk away,” he added, referencing the royal family.
“I’ll always be contributing. My life is public service so wherever I am in the world it’s going to be the same thing.”
Corden, who is also a longtime friend of the couple and attended their wedding in 2018, asked about the prince’s thoughts about the Netflix show The Crown.
“It’s fictional, but it’s loosely based on the truth. Of course it’s not strictly accurate, but loosely, it gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle, what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that,” Harry said.
“I’m way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family or my wife or myself. Because it’s the difference between – that [The Crown] is obviously fiction, take it how you will, but this [the press] is being reported as fact because you’re supposedly news. I have a real issue with that.”
Harry also revealed that the Queen had asked what Archie wanted for his last Christmas present, to which Meghan said he wanted a waffle maker.
“She sent us a waffle maker for Archie,” the prince shared.
“So for breakfast now, Meg makes up a beautiful organic mix in the waffle maker… He loves it. And now I have waffles for breakfast, a bit of yoghurt, a bit of jam on top. I don’t know if that’s the right thing to do. Berries maybe. A bit of honey. Maybe some syrup.”