(LONDON) — Prince Harry says he wants “a family, not an institution” and wants to get his father and brother back in a new interview ahead of the release of his memoir titled Spare.
In a promo clip for Harry’s interview with Britian’s ITV News network, the duke of Sussex, 38, said “it never needed to be this way,” “I want a family, not an institution,” and “I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back.” Only Harry’s answers, and no questions, are heard.
The memoir’s title, Spare, appears to be a nod to Harry’s birth order. Harry is fifth in line to the throne, behind his brother, Prince William, and William’s three children.
In the same edited ITV clip, Harry also said, “they feel as though it’s better to keep us somehow as the villains,” and “they’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile.”
The highly anticipated memoir will be released on Jan. 10, just weeks after Prince Harry and Meghan’s closely followed docuseries aired and broke records as Netflix’s biggest documentary debut ever, according to the streaming service.
The six-part series, titled Harry & Meghan, made headlines about Harry and Meghan’s decision to step down from their senior royal roles in 2020, with Harry alleging “institutional gaslighting” and Meghan saying she was “being fed to the wolves.”
“To see this institutional gaslighting that happens, it is extraordinary,” Harry said in the docuseries. “And that’s why everything that’s happened to us was always going to happen to us, because if you speak truth to power, that’s how they respond.”
Following their exit, Harry and Meghan settled in California, where they now live with their two young children and run a foundation and a production company, which helped produce the Netflix series.
What we know about Harry’s memoir so far
When Harry’s book was first announced, the duke of Sussex said it would be a “firsthand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful.”
The publisher said the book contains “raw, unflinching honesty” and described it as a “landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.”
Harry last appeared publicly with his brother and family members in England in September, when he and Meghan attended funeral services for Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
The Sussexes’ time in England during the mourning period for the queen marked the first time they both publicly appeared with members of the royal family in more than two years.
It is not known whether the tone or contents of Harry’s memoir changed after the death of the queen, with whom Harry had appeared to maintain a close relationship with despite tensions with his father, King Charles, and brother.
When the book was announced, Harry said he would be writing his memoir as “the man I have become.”
“I’m writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become,” he said in a statement at the time. “I’ve worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story — the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned — I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think.”
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