Prince Harry has opened up about Princess Diana in his upcoming Oprah interview with Meghan Markle.
- Prince Harry revealed that his 'biggest concern was history repeating itself' in a teaser clip for the high-publicized interview with Oprah Winfrey.
- The Duke of Sussex reflected on the fate of his mother, Princess Diana, who was tragically killed in a car crash after being chased by the photographers.
- In other Royal News, Prince Andrew will not be attending Queen's birthday parade for Trooping the Colour in June.
Prince Harry has opened up to Oprah Winfrey about Princess Diana in the highly anticipated interview with his pregnant wife Meghan Markle, which will hit British screens on ITV on March 7.
In one of two teaser clips for the CBS 90 minute special, the Duke of Sussex shared his fears for the future with the veteran TV host, alluding to his late mother’s struggles under the spotlight.
“My biggest concern was history repeating itself,” he said, most likely in reference to Princess Diana’s untimely death in 1997. Lady Diana Spencer was tragically killed in a car crash in Paris at the age of 36, after being chased by hordes of photographers.
The accident, which also took the lives of the princess’s romantic partner Dodi Fayed and the vehicle’s driver, Henri Paul, sparked a global outpouring of grief and called into question the press’s treatment of the royal icon.
Princess Diana with Prince William and Prince Harry in 1993.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, who confirmed they are never coming back to the royal family after emigrating to California in January 2020, invited their friend and neighbor Oprah Winfrey to their home in Santa Barbara for a tell-all interview last month. Filmed over two days in their Montecito mansion, the candid conversation will see the couple set the record straight on a wide range of topics, including their resignation as working royals and adjusting to life in the US.
"I just want to make it clear to everybody there is no subject that's off-limits," Oprah said in one teaser.
As well as their withdrawal from the royal family and their stateside relocation, it seems that the sensitive issue of Lady Diana will be a running theme throughout the special. Oprah’s attempts to secure an exclusive interview with the princess when she was alive had reportedly failed, despite meeting with her for an intimate lunch date at Kensington Palace. Now, she is hearing Princess Diana’s painful story retold through the words of her son, who, along with his wife, has also been subject to mistreatment at the hands of the British tabloid press.
“I’m just really relieved and happy to be sitting here talking to you with my wife by my side because I can’t imagine what it must have been like for her, going through this process by herself all those years ago,” Harry said.
"It's been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we had enough other."
Harry and Meghan have confirmed that they will not be returning as working royals.
This isn’t the first time Harry has spoken about the media’s harassment of his mother. He cited the press as a major factor influencing his decision to 'step back’ as a senior royal last year, having previously compared their endless scrutiny of Princess Diana to their treatment of Meghan in 2019.
“I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditized to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces,” he wrote in a statement on the couple’s former website.
At the time, Harry and Meghan were taking legal action against the Mail on Sunday, and its parent company Associated Newspapers, over their publication of the Duchess's private family letter.
While Harry and Meghan have maintained a relatively low profile since their move to California, the couple seems more than ready to share their story in the upcoming interview. "You have said some pretty shocking things here," Oprah said in one of the clips, promising viewers a stripped-back interview with two of the world's most famous individuals.
The teasers come just days after Prince Harry's surprise appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden. The duke shared a number of interesting insights on his bus tour around Los Angeles with the British comedian, including his opinion on Netflix's The Crown and the Queen's sweet gift for her great-grandson. He also spoke about his current role in the royal family, revealing that life in London was destroying his mental health but vowing to 'never walk away'.
