By Lucy Caulkett-
The Duke Of Sussex, prince Harry gave an intriguing interview in which he touched on his mental health, family life in the U.S, but interestingly, feeling at peace, and wanting to ensure his grandmother, the Queen was being protected, and had the right people around her.
His interview with the Today show’s Hoda Kotb on NBC on Wednesday, was generally warm and reflective, but also playing protector for his grandmother.
Some observers would have been taken aback by his interview, particularly coming from one who has chosen to live the U.K, and who feels more at home in The U.S, and is engaged in a legal battle with the British Home Office over his security.
Being absent from much of Prince Phillip’s memorial service upset many of his critics who consider him to be unpleasantly distant, but the Duke Of Sussex by his own admission has bene dealing with his own form of mental health issues; mainly over the many controversies that has accompanied his royal blood and his many experiences and interpretations of those experiences.
Sounding calm and enthusiastic, he seemed happy to have spent some time with his grandmother, as he spoke fondly of her sense of humour and warmth towards her.
He said it was “just so nice” to see the Queen on only his third trip back to the UK since March 2020.
The royal. who sat down with Kotb while in The Hague, Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games, with the full interview aired on Wednesday morning, also said he wanted to see whether the Queen was being looked after.
Being with her it was great, it was just so nice to see her, she’s on great form.
‘She’s always got a great sense of humour with me and I’m just making sure that she’s protected and got the right people around her’.
‘Both Meghan and I had tea with her, so it was really nice to catch up with her.’
The interview came just one year after the Duke’s explosive TV special with Oprah Winfrey alongside his wife Meghan, during which the couple detailed a number of concerning claims about their time as royals.
After saying he does not know know “how many people feel truly peaceful,” he spoke highly of his new life in California with Meghan and their family.
“At times I feel massively at peace,” he told Kotb.
He also discussed his mental health, and his belief that there is a “light at the end of a tunnel for everybody”.
Prince Harry then discussed his grandmother the Queen’s “protection,” with the duke at one point telling Kotb that, during his surprise visit to the monarch, he wanted to make sure she is “protected” and has “the right people around her”. What exactly he meant by ensuring her protection and having the right people around her isn’t clear, but may have meant in terms of those influencing her mind and mood outside the immediate royal family.
The Duke of Sussex spoke about his relationship with the queen, which he described as special, and claimed that they “talk about things that she can’t talk about with anybody else”.
In response to what his son Archie has been told about Princess Diana, he said he has not told him ‘all the stuff that happened but certainly that “this is grandma Diana”.’
Prince Harry also said he and Meghan Markle have a couple of photos of her up in the house and that he was ‘sure’ Princess Diana would be proud of him.
However, the Duke Of Sussex appeared to dodge the question of whether he misses his father Prince Charles and brother Prince William their ongoing feud – but insisted that he talks with the Queen ‘about things she can’t talk about with anybody else’.
The Duke of Sussex did not address whether he would attend his grandmother’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in London in June amid the ongoing security row with the Home Office, adding: ‘Home for me now is, you know, for the time being, it’s in the States. And it feels that way as well.
Harry and his wife are expected to attend the Monarch’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June. The couple are expected to appear at several family events during the multi-day event.
However, speaking in the Netherlands to NBC’s Today programme, Prince Harry spoke about feeling his mother’s influence “more so than ever before”.
He said it felt as though Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997, had helped his brother William and “now she’s helping me set up”.
“Like he’s got his kids, I’ve got my kids. You know the circumstances are obviously different. But now I feel her presence in almost everything I do.
“Definitely more so in the last two years than ever before, without question. So she’s watching over us,” he told interviewer Hoda Kotb.
If there were fears in Buckingham Palace about a tell-all interview, Prince Harry focused on his own young family, now living in California.
Asked about missing his father and brother, he spoke about focusing on the Invictus Games and then returning to his children.
Prince Harry told the US interviewer about how much he loved being a father. “I love every part of it. I always wanted to be a dad with my own kids.”
Although he said that working from home was “not all it’s cracked up to be” when children interrupted Zoom calls.
“It’s really hard to separate the work from them, because they kind of overlap.”
The spots are said to include the traditional balcony appearance and a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s to celebrate the monarch’s 70 years on the throne.