Richard Kay, a journalist and former friend of Princess Diana, has criticised Prince Harry for spouting what he termed as “pure and utter nonsense” during a recent interview in New York.
The Duke of Sussex was interviewed at The New York Times Dealbook Summit by Andrew Sorkin earlier this week, where he made several remarks about his personal life with Meghan Markle, and his late mother, Princess Diana.
Prince Harry expressed that he felt “as though it’s the life my mum wanted”, referring to his new life outside of the Royal family in the USA. He also discussed the impact of his mother’s death in 1997 and voiced one of his biggest fears as “worrying that would happen to me, or to my wife, or to my kids”.
In response, Mr Kay told Palace Confidential that he disapproved of Prince Harry’s decision to “take on the media”, arguing it was a departure from his mother’s approach to journalists.
He stated: “[Diana] took legal action against photographers when they compromised her space, again no-one has any issue with that, but this idea that she didn’t have relationships with the media who were writing about her is pure and utter nonsense.”
Richard added: “Harry knows that because Diana made a point of getting to know many journalists both in the tabloid press and the broadcast media and the broadsheet press; that was part of her modus operandi. Harry has not gone down that road at all so to suggest that he’s doing his mother’s work in taking on the media here is not true.”
Mr Kay also expressed disapproval of the manner in which Harry participated in the event, suggesting that “it wasn’t really an interview” and that the Duke was “largely unchallenged on many of the sweeping statements he made”.
Mr Kay’s remarks coincided with intense speculation surrounding Harry’s new life in the United States, which has been subject to persistent criticism since he and Meghan made the decision to leave the Royal Family in 2020, reports AberdeenLive.
In response to rumors that he was allegedly growing disenchanted with life in the United States, Harry informed the interviewer that he enjoyed “living here and bring up my kids here”.
He further stated that his current living arrangement provided him and his family with greater privacy and the ability to engage in certain activities that they “wouldn’t be able to do in the UK” due to concerns about their safety.
During the interview, Harry also criticized those who had consistently attacked his relationship with Meghan, joking: “Apparently, we’ve bought or moved house 10, 12 times. We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, what? It’s hard to keep up with, but that’s why you just sort of ignore it. The people I feel most sorry about are the trolls.”
Representatives for Prince Harry have been contacted for comment.
