Watching Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah Winfrey back in March of 2021, we knew we'd be learning about the fallout from their bombshell sit-down for years to come. And sure enough, more than a year later, we're still getting new information about how the rest of the royal family reacted to the Sussexes sharing their truth with the world.
This time around, we learned that Prince William and Prince Charles were a little put out that Prince Harry wasn't just telling his truth, but also appeared to be attempting to tell their truth. Amid the many shocking claims and allegations, Harry described a sense of feeling "trapped" by life in The Firm. He also said that while he was able to get out, his brother William and his father Charles did not have this freedom—which apparently they took offense to, according to royal commenters.
"I was trapped, but I didn’t know I was trapped,” Harry said in the interview. “My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that."
Royal biographer Robert Jobson, via The Mirror, told the Royally US podcast that he doesn't think Prince Charles or Prince William ever felt "trapped" by royal life as Prince Harry described in the Oprah interview. "I think Harry was putting words into his father and his brother’s mouths, and maybe making an assessment based upon his feelings," Jobson said. Nobody likes to have someone else put words in their mouths, of course, so it makes sense that this would leave Charles and William rather peeved. "They were both very angry about that, both Charles and William. I don’t think it’s true, I don’t think he felt trapped in any way," Jobson said.
Though the rumored rift between Harry and the rest of his family has been much-discussed, neither of the two princes still on active Royal Duty has ever out-and-out said they were angry with him. However, it would not be completely out of character. William, for instance, has been known to have a bit of a "temper," as Camilla Parker Bowles once put it, according to Express.
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Kathleen Walsh is a freelance writer and editor whose work focuses on culture, dating, and feminism and especially where all three intersect. Her writing can be found in the New York Times, InStyle, Teen Vogue, and more.
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