Prince Harry is “broken” after losing his court appeal over his UK security rights earlier this month, a royal expert has said. The Duke of Sussex, 40, spoke to the BBC after the court rejected Harry’s appeal on May 2 to get his UK taxpayer-funded security returned to what it was before he quit royal life in 2020.
In the BBC interview filmed shortly after Harry lost his appeal, the Duke expressed disappointment at the result of his appeal, and also spoke about his family in a fairly critical manner, claiming that his father King Charles “won’t speak” to him and could have “resolved” the security issue. Afua Hagan, royal contributor for CTV News, has now said that the interview showed that Prince Harry can’t separate the issues with the Royal Family and his security.
Instead, the Duke claims the issues are interlinked, and said that the security issue had been one of the reasons behind his rift with some members of the Royal Family – claiming the Palace had a say in the security matter.
Afua Hagan told True Royalty TV: “I don’t think he (Harry) can separate the issues with his family from the issues of security, because it’s all tied up. It is all the same thing.
“The reason why he is in the position he is now is because of the family, because he feels that they are instrumental in taking away that security from his nuclear family, from his immediate family.”
Talking about Harry’s BBC interview, Hagan said to fellow royal expert Sarah Hewson: “Like you said, Sarah [Hewson], he (Harry) was clearly broken. He was clearly distressed.
“You can see the toll that this has taken on him over the past five years, but there was also an element of him saying lots of the quiet parts out loud. And maybe he didn’t deliver it in the best way, but he made some very, very good points.”
After Prince Harry’s interview earlier this month, Buckingham Palace issued a short statement about the court’s decision.
The statement shut down some of Harry’s claims, including the fact the duke said he felt “singled” out when it came to how his security decisions were made.
In response to Harry’s BBC interview, a Palace spokesperson said: “All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion.”
The Palace did not comment on what Harry said about family rifts.