Duke of Sussex accused of ‘hypocrisy’ for exposing personal Royal family struggles
Prince Harry, a mental health champion, spoke about King Charles’s unhappiness and Princess of Wales’s ‘baby brain’
Royal insiders have accused the Duke of Sussex of “hypocrisy” for exposing his father and sister-in-law’s personal struggles.
Prince Harry has long campaigned for mental health and support. He has also railed against others leaking personal details about his private life to the media.
But he uses his memoir, Spare, to expose many private conversations that took place between family members.
One royal source told the Telegraph: “It is hypocritical for him to talk about other people’s mental health.
“The King may have spoken about his troubles at Gordonstoun in public, but it’s not for Harry to go into all that. The problem is he just doesn’t have any grown-ups advising him.”
Another said: “It is very hard to understand how he has squared that in his own mind, given his passion for protecting his private life.”
Prince Harry reveals in the book that his wife, Meghan, believed the Princess of Wales was suffering from “baby brain”. He suggests that her hormones were haywire following the birth of Prince Louis, making her forget things.
He also reveals that the King had been unhappy in the years after the death of the Princess of Wales, “vacant looks, empty sighs and frustration” were always visible on his face.
And he says that his father had confessed he was “persecuted” as a boy and badly bullied at Gordonstoun, his school in Scotland, claiming that he still carried around an old teddy bear that had seemingly been his only comfort in childhood.
He reveals that the King pleaded with him and William not to make his final years a misery and several dinner table conversations with the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The Duke was asked in an ITV interview to be broadcast on Sunday whether he felt he had invaded the privacy of his nearest and dearest without permission.
He replied: “That would be the accusation from people that don’t understand or don’t want to believe that my family have been briefing the press.”
He added: “I don’t know how staying silent is ever going to make things better.”
The Duke was asked by veteran anchor Tom Bradby: “Wouldn’t your brother say to you, ‘Harry, how could you do this to me after everything? After everything we went through?’ Wouldn’t that be what he would say?”
He replied: “He would probably say all sorts of different things.”