EXCLUSIVE: Tory MPs demand Harry and Meghan are stripped of Sussex titles and will push forward legislation to downgrade royal status as they reveal constituents ‘feel badly let down’ after Duke declared America his home in memoir media blitz
- EXCLUSIVE: Under-fire Prince Harry is facing growing calls to be stripped of royal titles
- Duke of Sussex declared the US his home in bizarre TV interview last night
- Tory MPs are planning on passing laws to strip him of official Sussex title
Under-fire Prince Harry is facing growing calls to either voluntarily abandon his royal titles or be stripped of them after launching a string of attacks on the Monarchy in his bombshell memoir, interviews and Netflix docuseries.
The Duke of Sussex has deepened the rift in the House of Windsor by making a slew of allegations against the Royal Family, including claims that his estranged brother William attacked him in a row over Megxit, in his autobiography Spare and primetime TV interviews to plug the book.
But with new polls showing his popularity in Britain nosediving, including among young people, Tory MPs have warned that the prince – who quit royal duties and moved to California with his wife Meghan – should give up his official Sussex title or be stripped of them.
Conservative MP Bob Seely told MailOnline that he is still intending to press ahead with an attempt to pass legislation to allow Harry and Meghan’s royal status to be downgraded.
He is planning a Private Member’s Bill that would allow a vote on amending the 1917 Titles Deprivation Act – last used to strip the German royal family of their UK titles during the First World War. Mr Seely said his amendment would hand the Privy Council – made up of 741 senior parliamentarians – the power to strip the Sussexes of their titles.
When asked about giving them up on US TV network CBS, Harry bluntly asked: ‘What difference would that make?’
Under-fire Prince Harry is facing growing calls to either voluntarily abandon his royal titles or be stripped of them after launching a string of attacks on the Monarchy in his bombshell memoir, interviews and Netflix docuseries. Right, Tory MP Bob Seely
With new polls showing his popularity in Britain nosediving, including among young people, Tory MPs have warned that the prince – who quit royal duties and moved to California with his wife Meghan – should give up his official Sussex title or be stripped of them
‘I think most people are fed up to their back teeth of this and wish he would stop invading his privacy,’ he said. ‘America is going to get fed up, we are fed up. California is going to get fed up with him soon.’
Tory MP Scott Benton added that Harry’s comments on anti-monarchist Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show – where he declared the US his home – and other TV interviews this week including with ITV’s Tom Bradby has sparked fury from his Blackpool South constituents.
He told MailOnline: ‘Many of my constituents are instinctive supporters of the Monarchy and I suspect that they will feel badly let down by Prince Harry and his comments. So much so, that a number of them have written to me demanding that he is stripped of his titles.
‘His comments have reflected badly on the institution, and by virtue of that, have harmed the reputation of this country around the world. The Monarchy is one of the things that makes our country so special and by washing his dirty laundry in public, he has not only come across as spoilt and petty, but has let down the institution which so many of us cherish so much’.
Last month Mr Seely said Harry’s criticism of the Royal Family was equivalent to ‘trashing’ the UK constitution, and that he should ‘voluntarily relinquish his titles’.
If the Duke refuses, Parliament should have the power to remove them, he added.
Mr Seely added: ‘There is a political issue. As well as trashing his family and monetising his misery for public consumption, he is also attacking some important institutions in this country.’
Last month Downing Street refused to back the bill, which is likely to be proposed in early spring.
Labour MP Rachael Maskell also has a Private Member’s Bill giving the monarch powers to remove titles – although the motivation behind her proposed legislation relates to the controversy around Prince Andrew.
Senior Tory Tim Loughton has said he is ‘ashamed that this deeply embarrassing couple bear the title of our great county’ and that it ‘is time to take the title back from someone so clearly lacking any respect’.
Harry last night accused the Monarchy of trying to ‘undermine’ his explosive memoir Spare because its controversial contents ‘perhaps made them feel uncomfortable and scared’.
The 38-year-old held nothing back as he took aim at his family during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, where he lurched between hurling more barbs at his family and making light-hearted jokes including about his ‘frost-nipped’ genitals while swigging a glass of tequila.
Prince Harry with host Stephen Colbert during an interview on The Late Show where he lavished praise on the US
Harry also took part in a skit with Tom Hanks and clinked glasses with Colbert as he praised America as a ‘great place to live’ and said how much he loves ‘beautiful California’, sparking cheers from the audience. He whipped up the crowd on several occasions, offering them all some tequila and talking about his Army career, asking: ‘Are there any veterans in the house?’
One of the more serious moments during the lengthy sit-down saw Harry rounding on his relatives over the backlash to his memoir, with Colbert questioning whether he believes the royals have an ‘active campaign to undermine this book’.
‘Of course,’ the duke responded – adding that ‘the British Press’ has also been complicit in the ‘campaign’, with Colbert chiming in: ‘But aided and abetted by the Palace.’
‘Again of course,’ Harry confirmed. ‘But this is the other side of the story, right? After 38 years, they have told their side of the story. This is the other side of the story.’
The father-of-two then suggested that what he perceives as the royals’ ‘campaign’ against his memoir has come as a result of them being ‘uncomfortable and scared’ over its contents.
‘There is a lot in there that, perhaps, makes people feel uncomfortable and scared,’ he continued.
The wide-ranging interview with Colbert saw Harry address a number of topics ranging from the farcical to the furious, with the Duke launching several tirades against the British Press – accusing it of ‘abusing’ his wife Meghan and bizarrely suggesting that it was ’embarrassing’ for the media when he chose to quit the Royal Family and relocate to the US.
From the get-go, it was clear that the interview – which comes at the end of a transatlantic PR blitz to tout his memoir – would ‘spare’ nobody in the monarchy, with the opening seconds of the show featuring a mocking skit that ridiculed royal tradition.
The show opened with a clip showing Colbert standing alongside two trumpeters wearing replicas of the uniforms traditionally worn by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry.
Prince Harry kicked off the latest in a long line of TV interviews by ridiculing royal tradition and mocking the monarchy – with the help of Hollywood A-lister Tom Hanks
The episode of The Late Show kicked off with a skit featuring Harry and Hanks, 66, being greeted by royal fanfare as they entered the CBS studios
As Harry strolled down a red carpet they began their fanfare, with the duke putting on a mock display of humility and telling the TV host such pomp ‘wasn’t necessary’.
Then Harry leaned on Colbert’s Hollywood pulling power, with actor Tom Hanks joining the prince as the host proclaimed that the trumpets had in fact been intended not for the duke, but for the 66-year-old star all along.
Colbert then performed his traditional opening monologue ahead of his lengthy chat with Harry began, but not before the host poured each of them a glass of tequila.
‘I know that you yourself are a very private person for being a public figure,’ he said, while brandishing a copy of Harry’s book.
‘You are revealing a lot of things in here. It must be on a certain level kind of nerve-wracking to be out there publicly, physically representing the book… Would you like a cocktail before we begin?’
‘Yes please!’ Harry responded as Colbert pulled out a bottle of liquor.
In the first of many audience interactions, the duke turned to the group of spectators – which he revealed later included several veterans – to ask whether the late-night host ‘ever makes you guys a drink’.
In another sign that Harry has adopted a ‘Hollywood’ personality, the duke made several attempts at comedy during the interview, trading banter with Colbert and – in one of the most cringeworthy moments of the sit-down – gleefully expressing mock regret that his frostbitten penis didn’t turn into a rock-solid icicle.
While the interview elicited plenty of laughs from the audience, it is sure to have had Palace insiders rolling their eyes and gritting their teeth as the duke laid bare several intimate stories, ranging from the eye-wateringly awkward to the bitterly brutal – with Harry pulling no punches when it came to his observations about his family.
For the most part, the sit-down addressed many of the same topics that Harry has covered in his other interviews – which have included on-air chats with ITV’s Tom Bradby in the UK and, in the US, with 60 Minutes and Good Morning America, as well as a cover feature and photoshoot for People magazine.
Some critics claimed these more serious interviews failed to properly question or address contradictions in Harry’s book, yet the prince chose to wrap up his media blitz with The Late Show, in what appears to be an attempt to tout his memoir in a more light-hearted manner.
As he has done in every other interview, Harry addressed his sensational claim that his brother, William, physically attacked him during a fight over Meghan – with Colbert taking particular interest in the necklace that the duke accused his sibling of breaking during the altercation.
Harry revealed that he has since had the necklace fixed and pulled it out of his shirt, revealing that it now holds three pendants – two of which were presents from Meghan and are engraved with the heartbeats of their children, Archie and Lilibet, while the other was made for him by a ‘friend in Botswana’ and features a tiger’s eye stone at its centre.
The five times Harry was accused of hypocrisy: From feminism to ‘privacy’ pleas and spat over ‘milking his mother’s death for money’
Prince Harry has been accused of hypocrisy and U-turning on a number of controversial subjects – including his pleas for ‘privacy’ – during his media blitz while promoting his bombshell tell-all memoir.
In his autobiography Spare, and interviews to plug the book, the Duke of Sussex has launched a slew of ‘truth bombs’ including allegations that his estranged brother William attacked him during a row over Megxit and branding Queen Consort Camilla ‘dangerous’.
Amid the media firestorm, however, the prince has come under fire for appearing to openly contradict himself and even backtrack on bombshell claims that he – and Meghan – have previously made.
Here, MailOnline takes a look at what critics claim are examples of the Duke’s hypocrisy and U-turning…
Prince Harry has been accused of hypocrisy and U-turning on a number of controversial subjects – including his pleas for ‘privacy’ – during his media blitz while promoting his bombshell tell-all memoir
In his autobiography Spare, and interviews to plug the book, the Duke of Sussex has launched a slew of ‘truth bombs’ including allegations that his estranged brother William physically attacked him during a row over Megxit and Queen Consort Camilla was ‘dangerous’
1) Harry tells Tom Bradby how he hopes any talks with his family ‘will be in private’… AFTER revealing salacious details about the Royals in his memoir
In his incendiary interview with ITV journalist, and old friend, Tom Bradby, the Duke sensationally said that he hoped any reconciliation with the Royal Family would be in private.
The prince made his plea despite having launched a media blitz on both sides of the Atlantic to promote Spare and having just appeared on a tell-all Netflix docu-series with his wife, Meghan.
Harry said: ‘I don’t know whether they’ll be watching this [interview] or not, but, what they have to say to me and what I have to say to them will be in private, and I hope it can stay that way.’
Hundreds of royal fans took to social media to blast the Duke’s bewildering plea for privacy.
The Duke of Sussex made his plea for privacy despite having launched a media blitz on both sides of the Atlantic to promote ‘Spare’ and having just appeared on a tell-all Netflix docu-series with his wife, Meghan Markle
Ex-BBC broadcaster Jon Sopel and Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent Katie Nicholl both tweeted their disbelief at Harry’s pleas for privacy
Ex-BBC broadcaster Jon Sopel tweeted: ‘Please tell me I misheard this: ‘I hope what I say to my father and brother remains private’.’
Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent Katie Nicholl shared her thoughts in just two words in her own tweet: ‘The irony!’
Another person quipped online: ‘Private? Not a word in Harry’s vocabulary.’
One user tweeted: ‘Harry literally turning the British Monarchy into an episode of The Kardashian’s. This is cringe.’ Another said: ‘If you want communication with your family to be private, why are you doing this interview?! So contradictory.
A third added: ‘He wants any future conversation to stay private but is sitting here telling us what other ‘private’ conversations they have had.’
There was disbelief when Harry told ITV’s Tom Bradby that whatever he says to William in future will remain ‘private’, despite using his memoirs, TV interviews, a Netflix documentary as well as an Oprah special to spill the beans on what his family said to him and Meghan behind closed doors
2) Harry accuses Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell of ‘milking’ his mother’s death in a tell-all book… after the Duke wrote extensively about the late Princess of Wales in his OWN memoir
The Duke condemned Diana’s former butler for releasing a book that made a series of private revelations about his mother – even after writing extensively about the late Princess in his own memoir.
In his controversial autobiography, Harry said Paul Burrell was ‘milking’ Diana’s death for money when he penned A Royal Duty in 2003, adding that it ‘made my blood boil’.
Mr Burrell, who the duke does not name in the autobiography, drew criticism from the Royal Family at the time when he released the book about his former boss Diana. A statement issued by the brothers from Clarence House accused Mr Burrell of ‘a cold and overt betrayal’.
In his memoir, Harry said Paul Burrell made his ‘blood boil’ by releasing a book about Princess Diana called A Royal Duty
In response, Mr Burrell welcomed the suggestion of meeting with the princes to justify his book and tell them about parts of their mother’s life they had not witnessed, adding: ‘I’d love to give them a piece of my mind.’
In Spare, Harry describes how he learned of the book when he was working as an unpaid farmhand in Australia aged 19 in 2003 after leaving Eton. He writes that he received a package from Buckingham Palace, which was full of memos from the Palace communications team about ‘a delicate matter’.
‘Mummy’s former butler had penned a tell-all which actually told nothing,’ he said.
‘It was merely one man’s self-justifying, self-centring version of events. My mother once called this butler a dear friend, trusted him implicitly. We did too. Now this. He was milking her disappearance for money. It made my blood boil.’
Appearing on Australian breakfast show Sunrise yesterday, Mr Burrell said: ‘I first met him in his mummy’s tummy. I don’t recognise the young man I see today. That’s not the boy I knew.
‘What I see now is an angry, petulant, privileged prince who is constantly blaming other people and not taking accountability on his part.’
The Duke of Sussex accused Mr Burrell of ‘milking’ Princess Diana’s death for money (pictured together in 1997)
Speaking from his home in Florida, he said the Duke had ‘changed fundamentally’ and that his mother would be ‘appalled’.
‘She would be angry at these personal, vindictive revelations which don’t just undermine Harry, but his country, his family, the institution – which his mother was very proud of – and his late grandmother’s legacy,’ he said.
Mr Burrell blamed Meghan for the Duke’s ‘vindictive’ behaviour – claiming she was the one ‘driving him behind the scenes’.
He said: ‘This isn’t just a book written by Harry… Meghan’s had a huge influence in this book. She’s beside him steering him on his path. You can’t just blame Harry. You have to blame the both of them.
‘I don’t like to see the rug being pulled beneath the feet of our King and Harry’s brother, who is on his way to being King. And the snipes that have gone forward about Kate [the Princess of Wales]… Kate has never put a foot wrong. But the other side of the story will never be heard because the royals believe there’s great dignity in silence.’
3) Critic accuses ‘self-proclaimed feminist’ Harry of ‘breathtaking hypocrisy’ by making personal attacks on Queen Consort Camilla
‘Self-proclaimed feminist’ Harry has been accused by a critic of ‘tremendous’ and ‘breathtaking’ hypocrisy for making ‘nasty potshot’ attacks on the character of his stepmother Queen Consort Camilla.
In an interview to plug his explosive autobiography Spare, the Duke branded the King’s second wife the ‘villain’ and ‘dangerous’, accusing her of rehabilitating her image at the expense of his.
Later, he appeared to row back the comments by saying that he had ‘huge compassion’ for Camilla. However, royal sources indicated Charles considers the prince’s attacks on the Queen Consort to have crossed a ‘red line’.
Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Camilla’s friend and journalist Petronella Wyatt blasted Harry’s fierce criticisms, accusing the Duke – who she called a ‘self-proclaimed feminist’ – of hypocrisy by ‘taking a very nasty potshot at a 75-year-old woman who can’t answer back’.
Though she claimed that Charles will be ‘devastated’ by Harry’s charges, Ms Wyatt said that the King ‘will forgive his son anything’ because he feels responsible ‘for the way he’s turned out’.
‘Self-proclaimed feminist’ Prince Harry is facing charges of ‘tremendous hypocrisy’ for making extraordinary and ‘nasty’ attacks on the character of his stepmother Queen Consort Camilla in his bombshell memoir
‘I think Harry is a tremendous hypocrite because he’s a self-avowed feminist and yet he takes this very nasty potshot at a 75-year-old woman who can’t answer back. So where is his feminism?’, Ms Wyatt said.
‘If anyone accused Meghan of scheming her way into marriage for the Royal Family… that creates howls from Harry, so why is he doing the same thing to Camilla? And why is he taking absolutely no responsibility for his own mistakes which were not leaked to the Press by Camilla?’.
She continued: ‘There was one example of a leak by one of her aides that was unintentional, and the aide was immediately sacked. But she has never ever briefed against her… she would never do that, she’s a very very kind person, she’s very sensitive where both the princes were concerned, and she’s completely without ambition.’
Though she claimed that Charles will be ‘devastated’ by Harry’s charges, Ms Wyatt said that the King ‘will forgive his son anything’ because he feels responsible ‘for the way he’s turned out’
4) Harry calls Camilla ‘dangerous’ in one interview… then used another interview to say he had ‘huge compassion’ for her
Harry made yet another sensational U-turn in his attacks on the Royal Family – claiming he has ‘huge compassion’ for his father’s wife Camilla, less than 12 hours after he branded her ‘dangerous’ and a ‘villain’ in a 60 Minutes interview to promote his explosive new book.
The 38-year-old’s comments about the Queen Consort – whom he reveals in Spare that he once thought of as an ‘evil stepmother’ – came in a new sit-down with GMA, his third pre-recorded interview in less than 24 hours.
Speaking to host Michael Strahan, who asked Harry ‘what [Camilla] had done’ to prompt both he and his brother to ‘beg’ Charles not to marry her, the Duke of Sussex insisted he actually sympathised with her role as the ‘third person in his parents’ marriage’, claiming that he ‘doesn’t look at her as an evil stepmother’.
Harry’s claims about feeling ‘compassion’ for his stepmother came less than 12 hours after he branded her a ‘villain’ in a pre-recorded sit-down with 60 Minutes host Anderson Cooper
‘I have a huge amount of compassion for her, you know, being the third person within my parents’ marriage,’ Harry told Strahan – despite telling 60 Minutes’ Anderson Cooper that Camilla’s affair with Charles made her a ‘villain’.
When asked where his relationship with Camilla stands, Harry conceded that they ‘haven’t spoken for a long time’, but added that he ‘loves every member of his family’ and that when he and the Queen Consort ‘see each other, we’re perfectly pleasant’.
Harry told Cooper that the Queen Consort was content with bodies being ‘left in the street’ as she tried to rehabilitate her image after her long affair with Charles while he was married to Diana.
Referring back to a 1995 interview in which his mother, Princess Diana, famously referred to Camilla as the ‘third person in her marriage’, Harry said that this admission turned the now-Queen Consort into a ‘villain’, adding: ‘She needed to rehabilitate her image.’
According to Harry, this desire to transform her public image made her ‘dangerous’.
‘That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press,’ he said.
‘And there was open willingness on both sides to trade information and with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being Queen Consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street because of that.’
5) Harry DENIES accusing the Royal Family of racism in bombshell Oprah interview… where he and Meghan alleged an unnamed royal asked about the skin colour of their unborn son Archie
Harry was accused of having ‘hung his family out to dry’ after he ‘failed to correct’ accusations of racism made about the Royal Family in his bombshell Oprah interview and the recent Netflix series.
The Duke of Sussex denied calling the Royal Family racist in his interview with Bradby, but said they were guilty of ‘unconscious bias’ while discussing Meghan’s controversial claim to Oprah that an unnamed royal had expressed ‘concern’ about Archie’s skin colour.
Ms Winfrey asked Meghan in 2021: ‘They were concerned that if he were too brown, that would be a problem? Are you saying that?’ Ms Markle responded: ‘If that’s the assumption you’re making, I think that feels like a pretty safe one, which was really hard to understand, right?’
Harry is facing allegations that he failed to ‘correct the narrative’ around racism in the Royal Family after sensationally accusing an unnamed royal of asking about the skin colour of his and Meghan’s then-unborn son Archie during his bombshell Oprah interview
The Duke of Sussex conceded that the Royal Family were not racist but said they were guilty of ‘unconscious bias’ while discussing the controversial claim in an incendiary interview to plug his new memoir
It prompted a worldwide guessing game about the senior royal who said it and hours later Harry’s estranged brother, Prince William, was forced to publicly remark that they were ‘very much not a racist family’. The Queen gave a rare statement and said ‘the issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning’ but stressed that ‘recollections may vary’.
But in an incendiary interview to plug his new memoir, he told Bradby that the Royal Family is not racist. Bradby was visibly stunned – as were millions of viewers – by his screeching U-turn from previous incendiary claims.
The British broadcaster, a friend of Harry’s, raised the 2021 Oprah interview with Meghan and said: ‘You accused members of your family of racism.’ But Harry snapped back: ‘No I didn’t. The British press said that. Did Meghan ever mention that they’re racist?’
The Duke then insisted the comments made about his son Archie’s skin colour were ‘unconscious bias’.
Bradby appeared taken aback by the answer – while experts said that Harry clearly didn’t understand the term he was now using.
Critics accused the Duke of not understanding the difference between denying the royals are racist while also accusing them of ‘unconscious bias’, arguing they amount to the same thing