Prince Harry felt 'vulnerable and violated' after call with pranksters went viral, still stands by what he said
A royal expert said that Harry was left feeling 'violated' by the experience of being tricked into opening up his 'vulnerable' side to 'malicious' Russian pranksters who posed as climate activist Greta Thunberg and her father in a spoof phone call earlier this month.
After ABC foreign correspondent Maggie Rulli sympathized with the Duke of Sussex on the Heirpod podcast, saying that "they got him to talk about a lot of personal things. They got him to open up and be really vulnerable," royal expert Omid Scobie revealed that it was not so much about what the 35-year-old soon-to-be-former royal said in the phone call but more about being mocked afterward that made him feel hurt.
"I spoke with a source close to Harry earlier in the week. He wasn't so concerned about what was said on the call and that being out there. He stands by what he says, he's not there to hide anything from anyone. But it's that feeling of violation, it's not a pleasant feeling to experience," he said, adding, "It also comes at a time when the Sussexes have been through enough."
To this, Rulli added that according to her, it would be "gut-wrenching" for anyone if he or she were being made purposefully "feel stupid."
"Listening to it, it's always tough when you hear someone open up and be vulnerable to someone on the other end of the line and to hear that flipped on them, is just so difficult," she said.
Harry ended up candidly opening up about almost every controversial topic him and the royal family went through in recent times, including how he chose to withdraw from royal life to protect his son to how life in Canada was "much better" than his royal life in the UK and admitting that "marrying a prince or princess isn't all it's made up to be."
He also weighed in on how the world was "severely unbalanced" in favor of bad leaders. Although royals are famously known to stay neutral when it comes to politics and refrain from expressing their opinions out loud in the public, Harry talked about how President Donald Trump has "blood on his hands."
Harry's moment of vulnerability was defended by Rulli. "They had just had this huge trip back to the UK, all eyes were on them," she said, referring to their 'farewell tour' before Megxit went into effect on March 31. "So to have it come out when the trip was still wrapping up and Harry was by himself. The timing was also just an extra stick-in-the-eye. If it wasn't bad enough, now everyone is looking at you during this hoax."
However, not all royal experts were so forgiving. Royal commentator and former editor of International Who's Who, Richard Fitzwilliams, told Daily Mail: "He was off his guard, in a vulnerable state. He shouldn't have expressed these clearly controversial views on Boris, and particularly Trump, with his 'blood on his hands' statement, unless he knew who he was talking to. Royals certainly shouldn't publicly express political or partly political views."