Prince Harry emails Charles to justify Oprah interview with Meghan Markle as father is in a 'state of despair'
Prince Harry has sent an email to his father, Prince Charles, after appearing with wife Meghan Markle in the Oprah Winfrey tell-all. The email reportedly includes the 36-year-old’s reasons for doing the two-hour special. The March 7 interview has stirred a lot of controversies. It has also shaken the royal family as the couple made some shocking accusations about both the Palace as well as individual members of the family. During the interview, the Duke of Sussex made some bold statements about the Prince of Wales, saying they were not as close as they used to be earlier.
Harry claimed that Charles “stopped taking my calls” after he “took matters into my own hands” and declared his decision of stepping down from senior royal duties on social media in January 2020. The soon-to-be-daddy of a baby girl also stated he felt "let down" by his father, which reportedly left the 72-year-old “in a state of despair”. Royal commentator Katie Nicholl wrote in Vanity Fair, “Harry was emailing his father to justify why he and Meghan had done the interview. Charles was said to be ‘in a state of despair’ according to a friend.”
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Besides, even before the interview was released, an insider told Vanity Fair, “I know he has spoken to the Queen and he has been in regular email contact with his father. Depending on what he and Meghan say, this could be very damaging for family relations.”
The bombshell interview also saw Harry saying his father and elder brother Prince Williams were “trapped” in the system of the monarchy. Though he accepted the family was welcoming towards Meghan when she joined the royal family, with time things started to fall apart. When Oprah asked if Charles was still talking to him over the phone, Harry replied, “Yeah, yeah, he is. There’s a lot to work through there, you know? I feel really let down, because he’s been through something similar.” Reports have said that through this statement Harry was referring to the negative media attention his father faced when he divorced Lady Diana and her sudden death in 1997.
Harry explained, “He knows what pain feels like, and this is… and Archie’s his grandson. But at the same time, you know, I, of course, I will always love him, but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened. And I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship.”
Meanwhile, royal author Sarah Gristwood commented on Harry’s claims and said, “For Prince Harry to say that he felt let down by his father must have been a difficult thing to say and hard for Charles to hear. Now, just at a time when by and large Charles had started to look like a more popular King than one would have guessed, here’s a major blow to his reputation. It’s hard to know if Harry is aware of the damage this has done. Did he actually intend to cast this damaging light on his father and his family? We don’t know.” Gristwood also added that the March 7 explosive interview “does have the sense of the Diana style burning of boats”. Back in 1995, Diana had a similarly shocking conversation with BBC Panorama.