Prince Harry: 'I want my father and brother back'

Britain's Prince Harry says his troubled relationship with the royal family "never needed to be this way" and wants to get his father King Charles III and brother Prince William "back".

Harry made the comments in an interview with broadcaster ITV, released on Monday.

"It never needed to be this way," the 38-year-old said in the clip.

"They've shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile.

"I would like to get my father back; I would like to have my brother back."

From left: Prince William, Prince Harry, Peter Phillips and King Charles III at the State Funeral...
From left: Prince William, Prince Harry, Peter Phillips and King Charles III at the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey last year. Photo: Getty Images
Harry and his wife Meghan, officially known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, stepped down from royal duties in March 2020, saying they wanted to forge new lives in the United States away from what the said was media harassment.

They have since criticised how they were treated as members of the royal family, including an accusation by Harry that his brother William, Prince of Wales, screamed at him during a meeting to discuss his future.  

In their recent Netflix series, Harry recounted details of the crisis summit held at the Sandringham estate two months earlier he attended along with the late Queen Elizabeth, Charles and William.

"It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me, and my father say things that just simply weren't true, and my grandmother quietly sit there and sort of take it all in," he said.

Harry and Meghan had to sit behind King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, at The Queen's...
Harry and Meghan had to sit behind King Charles and Camilla, Queen Consort, at The Queen's funeral. Photo: Reuters
Over six hours of television, the couple delivered a swathe of accusations against what they portrayed as a tone-deaf institution which was unconcerned about their emotional well-being and prepared for them to suffer if it meant better media coverage for other more senior royals.

A royal source also said neither Buckingham Palace nor representatives of William or other royals had been approached for comment for the series itself, contradicting a Netflix statement that said they had declined to comment.

In a separate interview with CBS News in the US this week, Harry said the Palace had refused to publicly support him and Meghan, while at the same time the institution was briefing against them.

"When we're being told for the last six years, 'We can't put a statement out to protect you,' but you do it for other members of the family, there comes a point when silence is betrayal," he told journalist Anderson Cooper.

Both interviews will be broadcast on January 8, two days before publication of Harry's autobiography titled Spare.

William, Charles and Harry in happier times. Photo: Getty Images
William, Charles and Harry in happier times. Photo: Getty Images
According to a recent YouGov poll, Harry, who once topped such ratings, and Meghan are now the most unpopular royals in Britain apart from his uncle Prince Andrew, who settled a US sex abuse lawsuit in February last year.

William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, were the most popular, although surveys show younger people are much more ambivalent than older Britons about the monarchy in general.