Harry’s racist ‘olive branch’ rejected in UK over book release – Reuters

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LONDON: Prince Harry’s denial that he accused his family of racism was interpreted in the British press on Monday as a bizarre peace offer, but commentators claimed the damage had already been done when his unshakable memoir is published.

The midnight release of Spare is accompanied by four TV interviews, with two more airing in the US after the pair premiered on Sunday.

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

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

The 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 British throne, 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 man’s grandmother, then said recollections may vary as to what was said, a line that was ironically repeated by British commentators in response to Harry’s interviews.

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

Probably sectarian

Accusing the press of actually killing his mother, Princess Diana, Harry also accuses his father’s second wife, King Charles III, Camilla, of waging a cunning but dangerous campaign to win over the press herself.

The book includes a claim that William physically attacked Harry as they rowed about 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 in another interview with 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.

Sacrifice

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 ball was in their court, declining to confirm whether he would attend Charles’ coronation in May.

Posted in Dawn, January 10, 2023

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