Prince Harry accuses ‘certain’ Royal Family members of ‘getting in bed with the devil’ as TV interview airs
Prince Harry has accused members of the Royal Family of getting in “bed with the devil” over their links with the tabloid press – and admitted Meghan did not get on with William and Kate “from the get-go”.
In an interview with ITV, the Duke of Sussex insisted he did not have “any intention to harm” or “hurt” his brother or King Charles with his memoir Spare, which includes a series of explosive allegations.
He also denied that accusations of racism were made towards the royals when he and Meghan were interviewed by US TV host Oprah Winfrey.
In the wide-ranging interview with presenter Tom Bradby, Harry said it was “important to acknowledge” his past drug use after he admitted in his book taking cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms.
He also claimed there was a “horrible reaction” from his family members on the day that Queen Elizabeth died, with “briefings”, “leaking” and “planting”.
Addressing the “relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press”, Harry said: “Those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil, right? – to rehabilitate their image.
“If you need to do that, or you want to do that, you choose to do that – well, that is a choice. That’s up to you.
“But the moment that that rehabilitation comes at the detriment of others – me, other members of my family – then that’s where I draw the line.”
Harry accused of being ‘scathing’ about Camilla
Bradby suggested to Harry that he was “pretty consistently scathing” in his memoir about his “stepmother and the press”.
An excerpt read by Harry from his book said he and William “endorse Camilla” but they asked their father Charles not to marry her.
“Shortly after our private summits with her, she began to play the long game,” Harry writes.
“A campaign aimed at marriage, and eventually the Crown, with Pa’s blessing we presumed.
“Stories began to appear everywhere in all the papers about her private conversation with Willie, stories that contained pinpoint accurate details, none of which had come from Willie, of course. They could only have been leaked by the other one other person present.”
Read more:
Harry cuts a sad, self-indulgent and naive figure in his memoir
In his ITV interview, Harry denied being “scathing towards any member of my family, especially not my stepmother”.
The duke said he wanted “reconciliation” with his family but “there needs to be some accountability”.
He told Bradby: “I think there’s probably a lot of people who, after watching the documentary and reading the book, will go: ‘How could you ever forgive your family for what they’ve done?’ People have already said that to me.
“I said, forgiveness is 100% a possibility because I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back.
“At the moment, I don’t recognise them, as much as they probably don’t recognise me.”
William and Kate didn’t get on with Meghan ‘from the get-go’
Discussing Kate and William’s relationship with Meghan, Harry said the couple were “Suits fans” but there had been “a lot of stereotyping” over her being an “American actress, divorced, biracial”.
Bradby said the impression was that the Prince and Princess of Wales “almost from the get-go” did not “get on” with Meghan.
“Fair?” the presenter asked.
“Yeah, fair,” Harry replied.
The prince said his brother “never tried to dissuade” him from marrying Meghan but he “aired some concerns very early” and claimed William told him: “This is going to be really hard for you”.
“Maybe he predicted what the British press’s reaction was going to be,” Harry added.
Harry addresses alleged physical attack by William
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Prince Harry: ‘I saw red mist in William’
In his book, Harry claims he was physically attacked by William during a row over his marriage to Meghan.
He told ITV that he and his brother “used to fight all the time” as younger siblings but there was a different “level of frustration” in the alleged incident.
“I saw this red mist in him,” Harry said.
“I can pretty much guarantee today that if I wasn’t doing therapy sessions like I was, and being able to process that anger and frustration, that I would’ve fought back – 100%.”
Harry said he did not think his brother and father would read his book but added: “I really hope they do.”
Bradby suggested that Harry had “not so much burnt your bridges” with the Royal Family but “taken a flame-thrower to them”.
“Well they’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile up until this point”, Harry replied.
“And I’m not sure how honesty is burning bridges. You know, silence only allows the abuser to abuse, right? So I don’t know how staying silent is ever going to make things better.”
Pic: AP
Charles warned Harry he faced ‘suicide mission’ over press
On his bid to take on the tabloids, Harry said his father warned him it was “probably a suicide mission to try and change” the press.
The duke claimed there was a “distorted narrative” that he and Meghan “wanted to leave to go and make money” when they departed as working royals.
He said the couple decided to put their “mental health first” and asked for “help and support”.
“At that time, I didn’t fully understand how much – or how complicit the family were in that pain and suffering that was happening to my wife,” Harry added.
“The one group of people that could’ve helped or stopped this from happening were the very people that were – that were encouraging it to happen.”
Harry criticises ‘horrific’ Jeremy Clarkson article about Meghan
Pic: AP
Harry branded Jeremy Clarkson’s recent article about Meghan as “horrific”, “hurtful” and “cruel”.
Clarkson was widely criticised for his column, published in The Sun newspaper, which said he was “dreaming of the day when (Meghan) is made to parade naked through the streets of every town in Britain while crowds chant, ‘Shame!’ and throw lumps of excrement at her”.
Harry told ITV: “What he said was horrific and is hurtful and cruel towards my wife, but it also encourages other people around the UK and around the world, men particularly, to go and think that it’s acceptable to treat women that way.”
Harry said “the world” was asking for “some form of comment from the monarchy” but “the silence is deafening, to put it mildly”.
“Everything to do with my wife, after six years, they haven’t said a single thing,” he added. “But they’re willing to defend themselves regularly.”
Harry denies Royal Family were accused of racism in Oprah interview
Pic: CBS
Asked about his interview with Winfrey in June 2021, Harry said his wife’s claims that a family member made “troubling” comments about the skin colour of his son, Archie, related to “unconscious bias” not racism.
The duke also said the recent incident at Buckingham Palace involving black campaigner Ngozi Fulani and Lady Susan Hussey, the late Queen’s lady in waiting, “is a very good example of the environment within the institution”.
After Bradby suggested to Harry that “in the Oprah interview you accused members of your family of racism”, the duke responded by saying “no I didn’t” and added “the British press said that”.
“Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?,” Harry asked.
After Bradby said the duchess claimed troubling comments were made about Archie’s skin colour, Harry said: “There was – there was concern about his skin colour.”
Asked if he would describe that as racist, the duke said: “I wouldn’t, not having lived within that family.”
He continued: “The difference between racism and unconscious bias, the two things are different.”
Harry’s happiness ‘infuriates’ some people
Now living in California, Harry said he was “very happy” and “in a better place than I’ve ever been”.
“I think that probably angers some people, infuriates others, because just by the nature of me leaving,”he added.
“I’m sure… some people always thought that Meghan would leave right, but I don’t think they ever thought that I would leave as well.”
Harry’s book is due to be released on Tuesday but Sky News obtained a copy after it was accidentally put out for sale early in Spain.
Siobhan MacGowan almost looks surprised as she remembers.
“It went very, very quickly. Even the first year went really quickly. Two years… you know,” she tails off.
The 24 months since her brother Shane died have flown by in one sense, but it’s clear that the family’s grief has barely subsided.
“It’s still very raw for me,” Siobhan says. “I can’t listen to Shane’s music, and I can’t watch him on video or listen to him speak.”
Siobhan MacGowan
Legendary frontman of The Pogues, Shane MacGowan died on 30 November 2023 at the age of 65, following a long illness.
He passed away in the lead-up to Christmas, a time when his voice is heard on every radio station and in every pub – in the form of Fairytale Of New York.
Shane and Siobhan on the Tipperary wilds
For his sister, the festive anthem – which he co-penned with the band’s banjoist Jem Finer – is now a visceral torment.
“You can be a genius, the way you can avoid it [the song]”, Siobhan says. “If it’s coming on, I just turn it straight off. If I’m in a supermarket, I just block it out, or I go into the loo, or I go outside, or I do something like that, but I have to block it.”
She can’t listen to Fairytale “at all”. “It’s just pain. Pain in my heart. It’s just so painful.”
We look at a picture of Siobhan and Shane from Christmas Day 1987. Fairytale Of New York was number one in Ireland, but had been pipped by the Pet Shop Boys in the UK.
Christmas in 1987. Family photo
“I remember him saying he wouldn’t have minded if it had been Michael Jackson that had beaten him,” Siobhan recalls. “But he couldn’t forgive the Pet Shop Boys. And it was a terrible cover of Always On My Mind! It was dreadful like, so he couldn’t forgive that.”
But Shane got over it? “No,” she bursts out laughing.
Siobhan and Shane celebrating his 60th birthday , on Christmas Day, in Tipperary, Ireland
On a fresh, clear winter’s day, we are sitting by the banks of the Shannon in Dromineer, Co Tipperary. It’s one of the locations that inspired Shane’s song The Broad Majestic Shannon. Since the death of the singer, born in the UK to Irish parents, fans have made the pilgrimage to this part of Ireland, desperate to seek out the places that shaped his music.
Siobhan, along with Shane’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, has launched a self-guided walking tour called Unravelling Shane, in a bid to give some structure to those journeys.
In the town of Nenagh, we visit some of the spots on the map, including Philly Ryan’s pub, Shane’s favourite watering hole. Philly is behind the bar, an ebullient force of nature, dressed like an undertaker. That’s because he is one. In time-honoured Irish fashion, he is both publican and funeral director.
Shane about to perform at Philly Ryan’s
In one role, he enjoyed many a raucous night with Shane MacGowan. In the other, he planned the funeral of his great friend. “Such a shock,” he says, recalling the phone call from Siobhan after her brother died.
Sitting among endless Shane and Pogues memorabilia, Philly reckons the late singer would enjoy the posthumous boost to Tipperary tourism.
The flag from Shane’s coffin framed in Philly Ryan’s pub in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, Ireland
“Shane loved Nenagh,” Philly says. “He’d have loved to get that attention onto Nenagh as a gift from Shane MacGowan to people of Nenagh. Nenagh was his town and he loved it dearly.”
Fans from all over the world wander into the pub now, looking for a tangible taste of Shane MacGowan’s legacy.
“We’ve had requests from places like Serbia, Italy, Germany, America, Japan,” says Carmel Ormond of the new walking tour. She’s a tourism officer with Destination Lough Derg.
Murals in the town of Nenagh, Co Tipperary
“It’s a huge amount of people interested from Japan, from Australia. We’ve requests from all over the world. We constantly meet people that are rambling around trying to find an area. It has become a huge tourist attraction.”
Another stop in Nenagh is the St Mary of the Rosary church, where Shane used to attend Sunday mass with his mother. Two years ago, it was the venue for his funeral. Attended by Johnny Depp and Nick Cave, it was streamed live around the world, as family members danced in the aisle to Fairytale Of New York.
Shane (wearing cap) and Siobhan (in front of him) on a farm in Tipperary, Ireland
“I danced with my husband and my heart was absolutely breaking,” Siobhan remembers. “I danced through it, and I did it for him. It was a dance of defiance against death. I thought, death is not going to stop this song.”
As his family continue to grapple with their loss this festive period, Shane MacGowan’s legacy is continuing to be shaped. Siobhan says his passing made her finally appreciate the full gifts of her sibling as an artist and a person.
“It was then I realised the huge volume of work and people’s reaction to him and his work that, to me, was extraordinary. Like I thought, wow, look at what you did. That’s what I said, look at what you did, you know.
“It only seems to be getting stronger. His legacy only seems to be getting stronger.”
Puppetry has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years.
With the ability to tell political and philosophical stories, fairy tales and musical adventures, all with equal flair, puppeteers bringing the inanimate to life on stage is back in vogue.
A staple of the festive season, the year-round resurgence has been invigorated by hit West End shows including War Horse, The Life Of Pi, The Lion King and My Neighbour Totoro, boosting a craft that has been traced back as far as the ancient Greeks.
Pinocchio is this year’s Christmas show at Shakespeare’s Globe. Pic: Johan Persson
This year, puppets are centre stage at Shakespeare’s Globe, with Pinocchio their leading man.
The tale of a wooden puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy, Globe associate director Sean Holmes tells Sky News: “It seemed to fit, a boy made of wood in a theatre made of wood.
“There’s something about the kind of challenge of that storytelling, the theatricality, the magic, the puppetry, that really drew us to it.”
The performers – made up of actors and puppeteers – spent 18 months workshopping the show ahead of opening night, perfecting the challenge of skilled puppetry, acting and singing all on an open-air stage. It’s no mean feat.
The show features a range of puppets, including rod, table-top, and large-scale creations that fill the stage and marionettes – small puppets with big impact.
Puppeteer Stan Middleton is a marionette specialist. Pic: Patrick Hutton
Romeo the marionette on the Globe stage. Pic: Patrick Hutton
One of the show’s puppeteers, Stan Middleton, a marionette specialist, operates a marionette Romeo puppet in part of the performance.
He tells Sky News: “I think a lot of people are scared of marionettes because they think, ‘Oh no, they’re too difficult, we can’t do them’.”
He goes on: “It’s so nice to have the marionette moment in this show, because it gives people a chance to see how beautiful they are and how enchanting…
“They’ve got a sort of delicate charm and a sort of like inner silence which I think really captivates people.”
Despite their charms, the intricate skills required to both craft and manipulate long-string marionettes mean they are under threat.
While some puppets – including War Horse-style rod and Totoro-style body ones – are enjoying success on the stage, marionettes are critically endangered.
Globe associate director Sean Holmes. Pic: Patrick Hutton
Unlike dance or circus, puppetry is not recognised in its own right by Arts Council England and is instead grouped with theatre.
It means specialist puppet venues are competing for funding in the highly saturated market of theatre companies producing for children and families, with no special recognition of their craft.
Marionette-making was added to Heritage Crafts’ Red List of Endangered Crafts in 2023.
There are now calls for it to be added to the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) list too, after the UK officially joined earlier this year.
Puppets are big business, but as some types thrive, others are at risk of disappearing completely. Pic: Johan Persson/Patrick Hutton
Little Angel is one of the few UK theatres to have a marionette bridge. Pic: Patrick Hutton
Little Angel Theatre, a hub for British puppetry for over six decades, is one of a handful of UK spaces where puppeteers can perform with long-string marionettes.
Boasting not one but two marionette bridges, puppeteers can walk 360 degrees all the way around the upper part of the stage, working their marionettes from a hidden vantage point above.
Trained by some of the last remaining UK makers, including Little Angel co-founder Lyndie Wright, Little Angel Associate director Oliver Hymans is a central figure in the effort to save the craft.
Little Angel associate director Oliver Hymans. Pic: Patrick Hutton
Inspired by seeing old marionettes hung up at the back of the stage and intrigued by why they were not being used, he is now committed to re-establishing traditional marionette-making.
Hymans tells Sky News: “The marionette is a series of nine different pendulums all wired together. You’re having to work against gravity to keep it in control.
“But the thing about the marionette is you can hide the puppeteer. So, you can completely design and develop a world where there are only puppets and scenery and scenography.”
He says the majority of master marionette makers have retired or are nearing retirement, and warns there may be just a handful left in the country.
He explains: “With the onslaught of AI, we know it’s coming. Jobs where people use their hands are going to be vitally important, and if we don’t protect these crafts, they are going to die out.”
Me at Little Angel Studios. Pic: Ellie Kurttz
The Storm Whale at Little Angel Theatre. Pic: Northedge Photography
Putting their money where their mouth is, Little Angel is nurturing emerging talent, upskilling people in both the art of making and performing with marionettes.
They plan to have a marionette show on stage next summer.
Also joining the fight for the overlooked craft, puppetry director Rachel Warr has organised a celebration of marionettes for the last three years, with the support of the Art Workers’ Guild Outreach Committee.
An industry-focused free event, it brings the puppetry community together – with particular relevance to those who work with marionettes – or who aspire to.
Puppetry director Rachel Warr (R) with Alicia Britt and Anna Smith. Pic. Tom Crame
Some members of the community appear in a forthcoming short documentary about puppets, Untangling, by filmmaker Hester Heeler-Frood.
Warr told Sky News: “People are often more affected by a puppet dying on stage than an actor pretending to die in character. It doesn’t have the artifice of getting up and walking away and getting on the tube at the end of the night.
“There’s something quite vulnerable about the puppet in that sense… We know that it’s not really alive, and yet we’re able to project on to it our own thoughts and feelings. It’s a blank canvas – a powerful tool.”
Meanwhile, as Pinocchio plays at the Globe, the theatre is running accompanying puppetry workshops, encouraging children to get involved in the craft – maybe inspiring future stars of puppeteering.
With their future hanging by a string, the training of the next generation is key to breathing life back into an overlooked craft, reinstating marionettes to their rightful place on the stage.
Pinocchio runs at Shakespeare’s Globe until Sunday 4 January.
The Storm Whale at Little Angel Studios runs until Saturday 24 January, and Me runs at Little Angel Theatre until Sunday 25 January.
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