Prince Harry once claimed his brother and father were “trapped” in the monarchy, but reports now indicate he is preparing to return to the UK.
Harry, 41, made the explosive “trapped” remarks during his March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey alongside his wife, Meghan Markle, 43. At the time, he had already stepped back from senior royal duties and relocated to Montecito, California, in 2020. “I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped,” he told Winfrey. “Trapped within the system like the rest of my family. My father and my brother are trapped. They don’t get to leave and I have huge compassion for that.”
When Winfrey pressed him on whether William, 44, also wanted to escape, Harry responded carefully. “I don’t know — I can’t speak for him,” he said. He added that his father, now King Charles III, 76, had simply learned to accept his circumstances. “He’s had to make peace with it,” Harry explained.
The Duke of Sussex also opened up about his own mental state before leaving. “I went to a very dark place as well,” he recalled. “I wanted to be there for her. That’s just not a conversation that would be had. I guess I was ashamed of admitting it to them,” He continued, “I don’t know whether they’ve had the same feelings or thoughts. I had no idea. It’s a very trapping environment that a lot of them have been stuck in. I didn’t have anyone to turn to.”
Harry described a family culture of silent endurance. “You know we’ve got some very close friends that have been with us through this process, but for the family, they all had this mentality of ‘this is just how it is. You can’t change it. We’ve all been through it,'” he said.
The brothers’ relationship has deteriorated sharply since 2018, worsening after Harry’s tell-all interviews, the 2022 Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” and his 2023 memoir “Spare.” Their current dynamic remains “so broken,” an reports said last month. A second source confirmed “there has been no movement, especially on William’s side. There is no contact.”
In the viral moment that launched years of royal fracture, Harry’s Oprah comments positioned him as the one who broke free while his relatives remained imprisoned by duty. The interview aired globally and became a defining document of the Sussexes’ split from the monarchy, with Harry’s “trapped” characterization of Charles and William drawing particular backlash from palace supporters.
Despite his earlier insistence that American life fulfilled his late mother Princess Diana’s wishes for him, Harry’s stance has shifted. At the 2024 New York Times DealBook Summit, he spoke warmly of his California existence. “I feel as though it’s the life that my mom wanted for me,” he said. “To be able to do the things I’m able to do with my kids that I undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to do in the UK, it’s huge. I’m hugely grateful for that,” He added, “I very much enjoy living here and bringing up my kids here.”
That same year, he told “Good Morning America” that American citizenship “is a thought that has crossed my mind but is certainly not something that is a high priority for me right now.”
The family recently visited Diana’s childhood home, Althorp, during a European trip last month. Markle shared photos of Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, exploring the estate via Instagram. The visit followed Charles and Queen Camilla welcoming the Sussexes and their children at Highgrove House, marking the first time the monarch had seen his grandchildren in four years.