British Media Describes Prince Harry Statements as ‘Horribly Sad’ and ‘Word Salad’
LONDON — British media commentators were quick to offer their opinions of Prince Harry‘s Sunday evening interview with Tom Bradby of ITV, with The Guardian describing it as “horribly sad” and The Times of London wondering when “the whingeing will stop.”
The ITV sit-down was one of a series of TV interviews given by Prince Harry in a bid to promote his much-hyped memoir, “Spare,” which is due to be published on Tuesday. The Spanish language version was accidentally released last week, giving critics an early look at the royal’s revelations.
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The Duke of Sussex made his first televised appearance on “Harry: The Interview.” The British broadcast network ITV aired the one hour and 40 minutes interview with journalist Tom Bradby. Shortly after, CNN broadcast its pre-recorded interview between Anderson Cooper and the prince.
On Sunday evening, The Telegraph dedicated its homepage to Prince Harry, with a live blog detailing his revelations in the ITV interview followed by nine stories dissecting what the prince told Bradby.
The stories examined Harry’s allegations that the Prince and Princess of Wales “stereotyped” Meghan, and his accusations that Queen Consort Camilla leaked stories to the press.
The newspaper also concluded that the Princess of Wales “will have better birthdays as Harry drags her back into Meghan row.” Kate Middleton’s birthday is Monday.
The Guardian gave the interview a two-star rating, with the newspaper’s TV critic Lucy Mangan writing that it was “so horribly sad, it could have turned the Queen anti-monarchy.”
Mangan goes on to describe the prince as “charming, articulate and — unless the Windsor clan has reared a world-class actor — telling us the truth as he sees it. In PR terms, it will surely serve its purpose. The book will sell in its millions, his story will appeal to the younger demographic, bolster his celebrity and maybe allow him a more manageable kind of fame than the one he was born into — which is probably his best hope at this point.”
She added: “Speaking as a member of an older demographic who remembers Harry and William being born, Diana’s death, the funeral and all the rest of it, it left me only with a great sorrowful weariness: for all that has been done wrong, all that has been lost and how, in the end, how sad and ordinary every little life, however gilded, can be.”
Sky News, meanwhile, flagged as breaking news comments such as “Harry accuses royals of ‘getting in bed with the devil’ — and admits Meghan didn’t get on with William and Kate ‘from get-go.’”
In the interview, Harry accused Camilla of leaking negative stories about him to the British press in a bid to burnish her own image. He also said that, from the beginning, Kate and William didn’t get along with Meghan.
Of the big nine newspapers in the U.K., Prince Harry’s name was mentioned on seven front covers on Monday.
In the Times of London, columnist Carol Midgley asked “Will there ever come a point, Harry, when this whingeing will stop?”
Nick Hilton, chief TV critic at The Independent, also rated the interview two stars out of five, calling the production “stage-managed and unchallenging from start to finish.”
He said “the rest is the sort of word salad I more typically see on LinkedIn (perhaps, when the book tour is over, Harry can use it to find a job).”
At the same time, Hilton praised Harry for his “crusade. He is self-evidently the lesser of generations, and generations of evils.”
The Irish Times called the prince “a lost man looking for purpose in a life full of privilege,” and asked “does anyone read more tabloids than Harry? Potentially not.”
Last week, “Spare” was published in Spain before the official release date. British media outlets quickly translated it, and reported the details about Harry losing his virginity; taking illegal substances; rivalry with his brother and — most controversially — revealing how many people he killed in Afghanistan while stationed there with the British Army.
The latter revelations are not only damaging to the British armed forces, but potentially jeopardize his own security, and that of his fellow soldiers.
More televised appearances scheduled with Anderson Cooper on “60 Minutes,” as well as interviews with Michael Strahan on “Good Morning America” followed by a special on ABC News Live in the evening.
Launch Gallery: The Farewell Tour: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle Return to U.K. for Final Round of Official Visits
