Prince Harry has confirmed he thinks ‘one or two kids is probably enough’ after having children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet with wife Meghan Markle.
Speaking at the Invictus Games in Canada, the Duke of Sussex also joked that he knows some people who have five children and tells them it is their ‘own fault’.
Harry, 40, told CTV: ‘I think one or two kids is probably enough… I definitely think that. I know some people who’ve got five. I just say, ‘Well, that’s your own fault!’.’
Speaking in the ‘Prince Harry and the Canadian Heroes’ special last night, he added: ‘Having kids is amazing, but it is… it’s a journey every single day, every single week.
‘They just grow, and they change. I love the questions that they ask and the experiences and the challenges that they give you. It’s great.’
Harry and Meghan married at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 following a whirlwind romance that saw them get engaged in November 2017.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Invictus Games in Whistler, Canada, on Monday
Harry and Meghan shared a rare picture of Archie and Lilibet in their 2024 Christmas card
Archie, now aged five, was born at London’s Portland Hospital just under a year later on May 6, 2019 when they were still working royals, and presented to the media in Windsor.
But they stepped down as royals in early 2020 before moving to Canada and then California, where Lilibet – now aged three – was born at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital on June 4, 2021.
Today’s declaration from Harry comes after he said in September 2019 that the couple would be having ‘two, maximum’.
In an interview with ethologist Dr Jane Goodall for Meghan’s guest-edited issue of British Vogue, Harry reference to environmental concerns for not having more than two.
Discussing having children, Dr Goodall said: ‘Not too many!’, to which Harry replied: ‘Two, maximum!’
He continued: ‘I’ve always thought: this place is borrowed.
Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor after celebrating her first birthday in June 2022
Harry took a video showing Meghan with their son Archie on his first birthday in May 2020
‘And, surely, being as intelligent as we all are, or as evolved as we all are supposed to be, we should be able to leave something better behind for the next generation.’
And on a trip to Ireland with Meghan in July 2018, which was the couple’s first overseas engagement following their wedding – a woman in the crowd said to Harry: ‘My husband also has red hair and he gave me five children — when are you and Meghan going to get going?’
But Harry laughed and replied, ‘Five children? — too many.’
Meghan spent five days with Harry at the Invictus Games in Vancouver and Whistler before heading home on Wednesday to be reunited with their children.
Harry and Meghan’s e-Christmas card last December gave a glimpse of Lilibet, pictured from behind, with long, flowing ginger hair, and Archie next to her.
Also in December, Harry said he has no plans to take his family back to Britain following his 2020 relocation to the US.
The Duke and Duchess hold their son Archie during a trip to Cape Town in September 2019
Prince Harry and Meghan with their newborn son Archie atWindsor Castle on May 8, 2019
Speaking to Andrew Sorkin at The New York Times Dealbook Summit on December 4, Harry was asked if he plans to remain in America for good.
‘I do,’ he said. ‘I very much enjoy living here and bringing my kids up here.’
The Duke then added that his American life, free of royal responsibilities, feels ‘as though it’s the life my mum wanted’ for him.
He said that he, Meghan and their two children are afforded a level of privacy in the US, as well as a life of activities they ‘undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to do in the UK’ due to security concerns.
Harry took legal action against the Home Office over the February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) that he should receive a different degree of taxpayer-funded protection when in the country.
The decision led the Duke to fight for it to be restored in a series of court proceedings, with the High Court rejecting his case in February 2024.
Harry’s initial bid to bring an appeal was refused after he lost a High Court challenge over the decision, but he can now take his case directly to the Court of Appeal.
The Duke added that what concerned him the most was ‘worrying that would happen to me, or to my wife, or to my kids’, referencing his mother Princess Diana’s 1997 death in Paris as paparazzi chased her car through the French city.