Harrys olive branch racism rejected in UK as book comes out

[ad_1]

LONDON, Jan 9 Prince Harry’s denial that he was accusing his family of racism was interpreted in the British press today as a bizarre peace offering, but commentators claimed the damage had already been done when his memoir without fault are published.

The midnight release of Spare is accompanied by four television interviews in Britain and the United States, where Harry now lives with his wife Meghan.

In the first broadcast, with Britains ITV, the Duke of Sussex caused bewilderment by insisting he and his mixed-race wife never accused the Royal Family of racism over comments made about their son’s complexion at be born.

No, I didn’t. The British press said so, Harry said, adding that Meghan also did not call the royal family racist.

The initial allegation, made in an explosive interview given by Harry and Meghan in March 2021 to American host Oprah Winfrey, caused a transatlantic outcry.

Harry’s older brother and heir to the throne of King Charles III, Prince William, told reporters at the time that we were not a racist family, but Harry himself remained silent at the time.

The late Queen Elizabeth II, the brothers’ grandmother, then said recollections may vary on what was said, a line that has been repeated by some UK commentators in mocking response to Harry’s interviews.

Many described her denial to ITV as an olive branch, but one that was contradicted by the Oprah interview and which comes too late, given the inflammatory nature of her other allegations in the book.

The British public is unimpressed, a YouGov poll showed today, finding that 64 per cent have a negative opinion of Harry and Meghan also scores dismal.

And after days of TV trailers and newspaper leaks, a relatively small 4.1million people tuned in to the ITV interview, according to official audience data.

Probably sectarian

Accusing the press of actually killing his mother, Princess Diana, Harry used another interview with US network CBS to also target his father’s second wife, Camilla.

The Queen Consort waged a cunning but dangerous campaign to win over the press herself, he said, calling her the villain.

The book includes a claim that William physically attacked Harry as they argued over Meghan.

He also recounts how he lost his virginity, an admission of teenage drug use and a claim that he killed 25 people while serving in Afghanistan with the British Army.

For ITV, Harry also defended longtime royal courtier Susan Hussey after he grilled a black British guest at a palace reception over the woman’s real origin.

But to CBS, the prince also admitted to being likely bigoted before meeting Meghan and accused William and his wife Kate of never giving him a chance.

The Sun newspaper said Harry stunned viewers with his racist turnaround and described the 38-year-old prince as a troubled and lonely man.

Nothing is Harry’s fault and almost everything can be blamed on the press, the Daily Telegraph wrote.

Some of them didn’t make sense: Meghan and Harry are fans of Lady Hussey and think it was the press that accused her of being racist?

The press fabricated the accusations that the Royal Family were racist, while the couple made a very different allegation about unconscious bias?

The leftist Guardian wrote: If she had lived to see this, it would not have killed the Queen. But that could have made her a Republican.

Public retirement?

The content of the book written by a ghost of Harry has already been widely leaked after it went on sale early in Spain.

He insisted to ITV that he still wanted a rapprochement with his father and brother, but said the responsibility lay with them, refusing to confirm whether he would attend Charles’ coronation in May.

He also urged his family to respond. Silence only allows the abuser to abuse, doesn’t it? So I don’t know how keeping quiet will make things better, he added.

In the CBS interview, Harry said he and William are not currently speaking and he hasn’t spoken to his father in quite a while.

Omid Scobie, a friend and biographer of Harry and Meghan, said the couple are likely to take a lower profile after the recent soap opera.

I think we were going to see, for the rest of this year, a couple pull back from a lot of what we’ve seen over the past few months, he told BBC radio. AFP

[ad_2]