Prince Harry claims Queen Elizabeth was 'sad' but not 'surprised' by royal departure
Queen Elizabeth was "sad" but not "surprised" when Prince Harry quit royal duties.
Queen Elizabeth was "sad" when Prince Harry quit royal duties.
The Duke of Sussex insisted his late grandmother - who died last September - wasn't "surprised" when he and wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex announced in January 2020 that they were stepping back from their positions to start a new life in the UK, but was unhappy with the situation.
Asked by 'Good Morning America' host Michael Strahan if the queen ever said she was "upset" with Harry for "wanting to change [his] role in the family,"he replied: "No. My grandmother and I had a very good relationship. It was never a surprise to anybody, least of all her. She knew what was going on, she knew how hard it was.
"She never said to me that she was angry. I think she was sad that it had got to that point."
The 38-year-old prince claimed he and Meghan - who have children Archie, three, and 19-month-old Lili together - suggested a "hybrid" model that would have allowed them to divide their time between Canada and the UK but the family refused to compromise.
He added: "[That was] really sad because I still to this day believe that this was entirely possible".
And Harry insisted he "can't ever get out" of being part of the royal family.
Michael told him: "There are going to be people who say 'Why don't they either be in or get out, because if you get out there's no hypocrisy'."
Harry replied: "I can't ever get out and I'm incredibly aware of my position.
"I'm incredibly grateful for the life that I've had and continue to live.
"But there's no version of me being ever able to get out of this. I was stunned that my family would allow security to be taken away, especially at the most vulnerable point for us."
The BetterUp CIO also hit out at critics of his memoir 'Spare', insisting he had to protect his family by correcting false stories about them.
He added: "I fully accept that writing a book is feeding the beast anyway."
