Prince Harry claimed in the fifth episode of his new Netflix series that the palace put out a false, joint statement to correct “bullying” reports directed at Prince William during the royal family’s crisis talks surrounding Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to step back as working royals in January 2020.
After the meetings, which took place at a private residence of the royal family called Sandringham House, Harry said that “a story came out that part of the reason why Meghan and I were leaving was because William had bullied us out.”
“And once I got in the car after the meeting, I was told about a joint statement that had been put out in my name and my brother’s name squashing the story about him bullying us out of the family,” the Duke of Sussex claimed.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said. “No one had asked me permission to put my name to a statement like that.”
“And I rang M and I told her and she burst into floods of tears. Because within four hours they were happy to lie to protect my brother and yet for three years, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us,” he said.
“Suddenly what clicked in my head was, ‘It’s never gonna stop,’” Meghan said. “Every rumor, every negative thing, every lie, everything that I knew wasn’t true, and that the palace knew wasn’t true and internally they knew wasn’t true ― that was just being allowed to fester.”
The joint statement, which was published on Jan. 13, 2020, was viewed by HuffPost at the time as a standout show of solidarity between the brothers, noting that it is “extremely rare for the royals to publicly issue a personal rebuke on an individual story, especially in a joint statement. The royal family rarely comments on the veracity of reports written about them.”
Harry added in episode five of “Harry & Meghan” that “the saddest part of it was this wedge created between me and my brother, so that he’s now on the institution’s side.”
“And I get, part of that I get. I understand right?” the Duke of Sussex added. “That’s his inheritance, so to some extent it’s already ingrained in him that part of his responsibility is the survivability and the continuation of this institution.”
Earlier episodes alluded to bitterness between the two brothers and the relationship between the royals and the press.
Harry previously spoke of the “dirty game” that the palace and media play.
“There’s a hierarchy of the family,” the duke says. “You know, there’s leaking, but there’s also planting of stories.”
Meghan also claimed that the palace lied about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during the couple’s bombshell interview with Oprah last year.
“I don’t know how they could expect that after all this time we would still just be silent if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us,” she said at the time.
The relationship between the brothers has privately and publicly crumbled over the years, something Harry spoke about in an interview with Tom Bradby in 2019.
“We are certainly on different paths at the moment, but I will always be there for him as I know he will always be there for me,” the Duke of Sussex said in an interview for the documentary “ITV’s Harry & Meghan: An African Journey.”
“We don’t see each other as much as we used to because we are so busy, but I love him dearly,” Harry added. “The majority of the stuff is created out of nothing, but as brothers, you know, you have good days, you have bad days.”
More revelations from “Harry & Meghan:”
- Prince Harry called wearing a Nazi uniform “one of the biggest mistakes” of his life.
- Meghan recalled her awkward first meeting with Prince William and Kate Middleton.
- The Duchess of Sussex said that growing up, her mom was mistaken as her nanny.
- Meghan said the couple’s joint interview after their engagement was “rehearsed” and like an “orchestrated reality show.”
- The Duke and Duchess of Sussex met over Instagram ― and there was a funny filter involved.
Megan is the Poison and Harry is blinded and whipped and he can state all he likes about others, but the wicked Witch came to break them up, if she didnt get her way and she did.
Shame on her.
I feel sorry for Harry and I get the brother being indoctrinated, but get rid of the skank and your lives will all be better off
These manufactured soap opera controversies about the royals which most Americans could care less about are just to make money for newly semi-unroyaled Harry and Meghan… (yawn)
He’s the one spreading lies so that there’s “interest in him and MEghan so that the $$$ they both desperately need will come in. Too bad that the “A-Listers” in Hollyweird won’t give them the time of day. They are so trying to impress them so that they can get invites to their parties, but that hasn’t panned out. I hope that Charles will finally remove them from everything and take the titles BACK. Perhaps MEghan could go back to acting in third-rated night time soaps again. And Harry can sit at home and wonder why his life went to hell and also why he has no other family but MEghan and the kids.
ALL Haters of Harry and Meghan,guess you all know so much about the royal family.They are a pampered dysfunctional toxic group.Harry is smart to move his family away.Just look at the way they treated Diana.
Harry needs to get real. His continued bad mouthing the royal family is destroying any chance of his brother every being his best friend again. The problem is not the family it is Megan. She is not interested in being family she is interested in publicity.