Prince Harry has said he wants to repair his relationship with King Charles and the rest of the royal family, following years of estrangement after he stepped back from royal duties and moved to the United States six years ago.
The Duke of Sussex, 42, and his wife Meghan left their roles as working royals in 2020 and settled in California, where they subsequently made a series of public criticisms of the royal institution. Their departure caused a major rift within the family.
Harry has remained largely estranged from his older brother, Prince William, the heir to the throne, and contact with his father has resumed only recently. However, in an interview with GQ magazine, Harry said he hoped to put the past behind them and rebuild family relationships.
“With everything else that’s going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile,” he said.
Harry acknowledged the public’s interest in the family dispute, suggesting that many people could identify with the challenges they have faced in their own lives.
“There’s sibling disagreements, there’s broken relationships between kids and their parents, kids and one parent,” he said.
He suggested that seeing a family attempt to reconcile could encourage others to address difficulties in their own relationships. While recognising that some people might not want reconciliation to succeed, he made his own position clear: “I want it to work out.”
A spokesperson for Harry said the remarks were not intended as a criticism of Prince William or any other member of the royal family.
The Duke also spoke about the lasting effects of family conflict, acknowledging that emotional wounds can remain even when people try to move forward. Nevertheless, he said he wanted to encourage people to let go of past grievances.
“For me, there’s enough drama in the world and enough drama in people’s lives than to continue with issues with family,” he said. “It’s not worth it.”
During the wide-ranging interview, Harry revisited subjects he has discussed publicly in the past, including the death of his mother, Princess Diana, when he was 12, and his struggles with mental health.
He also discussed his return to Britain, explaining that giving his children the opportunity to attend a British school had proved particularly meaningful to him.
“I didn’t know how important it was to me. I always thought it was going to be something that we would try and do, but now they’ve been in school for two weeks. They’re loving it and it’s just giving them a whole different experience,” he said.