LONDON — Prince Harry has stated that his revealing memoir was “not about revenge,” justifying his choice to disclose royal conflicts while aiming to restore connections with his family and the British public.
Harry also expressed a wish to spend more time with his father, King Charles III, after their first encounter in nearly two years. The brief meeting over tea marked a step towards reconciliation following Harry’s 2023 memoir, “Spare,” which exposed new details about the intense internal royal family strife, including allegations of a physical altercation with his brother, Prince William.
“I don’t believe that I aired my dirty laundry in public,” Harry told The Guardian newspaper in an interview published Sunday.
“It was a tough message, but I delivered it in the best way possible. My conscience is clear,” remarked Harry during a visit to Ukraine, after several days in the U.K. which included his meeting with the king.
Harry’s trip to the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, was undertaken with his Invictus Games Foundation team, responding to an invitation from the Ukrainian government.
“It is not about revenge, it is about accountability,” Harry added of his book. “You cannot have reconciliation before you have truth.”
Harry, who turned 41 on Monday, referred to the memoir as “a series of corrections to stories already out there.”
His rapport with his family has been tense for a long time and became publicly contentious after the Duke of Sussex and his wife, Meghan Markle, stepped back from senior royal roles in 2020 and relocated to California to pursue various media and charitable ventures.
Last week, Harry met Charles for a private tea at the king’s residence — the first time the pair had seen each other in 19 months. Details of the meeting remain quiet, but Harry suggested he wants, and needs, to see his father more often.
Over the coming year, he said, “the focus really has to be on my dad.”
Charles was diagnosed with cancer in February 2024, but has kept much of the details private.
Harry added that his trip to the U.K. had brought him closer to the idea of spending more time there — and even one day bringing his children, despite unresolved disputes over his security arrangements.
“This week has definitely brought that closer,” he said.
Just 33% of Brits currently have a positive opinion of Harry, according to a recent poll, making him one of the least popular prominent royals ahead only of his wife at 21% and Prince Andrew at 9%.
After stepping down from royal duties, Harry’s U.K. protection was downgraded from full-time cover to a case-by-case basis. Earlier this year, he lost an appeal in court to overturn that decision.
In May, he told the BBC that his father would not speak to him “because of this security stuff,” but said he was eager to reconcile with the royal family and that “there’s no point in continuing to fight people.”
Relations with his brother, the heir to the throne, do not appear to have improved. The pair have not met since February 2024.
