The Duke of Sussex says he would like to rebuild his relationship with his father and brother but that the royal family has made no attempt at a reconciliation.
In a trailer for an interview with Tom Bradby to publicise his forthcoming memoir, Prince Harry also says that the family prefers to keep him and his wife, Meghan, as “the villains”.
The ITV interview, which will be broadcast on Sunday, is one of two given by the duke in advance of the publication of Spare, in which he is expected to be heavily critical of his brother, William, the Prince of Wales.
Harry, 38, has also given an interview to Anderson Cooper, a US anchor, which is due to be broadcast on CBS News’ 60 Minutes the same day.
In the trailer for the ITV interview the duke, whose relationship with the King and William has suffered since he and Meghan stepped down as working royals, says: “I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back.”
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But he adds: “They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile . . . They feel as though it’s better to keep us somehow as the villains.”
In the trailer Harry also talks of “the leaking and the planting” and says: “It never needed to be this way.” He adds: “I want a family. Not an institution.”
CBS released a short trailer describing the interview with Cooper as “revealing” and “explosive”.
Harry tells Cooper that he and Meghan have been public in their criticism of the royal family because “every single time I’ve tried to do this privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife”. Stories would appear in which royal correspondents had been “spoon-fed information” by Buckingham Palace, he says.
“So when we are being told for the last six years we can’t put something out to protect you, but you do it for other members of the family, there comes a point when silence is betrayal.”
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Harry’s book, which has been ghost-written by JR Moehringer, will be published two days after the interviews.
Bradby, the presenter of ITV’s News at Ten, has known William and Harry since he was the channel’s royal correspondent when the brothers were teenagers. He previously interviewed Harry and Meghan for a documentary about their 2019 Africa tour.
A source with knowledge of the book told The Sunday Times they did not see how the brothers’ relationship could recover.
“Generally, I think the book [will be] worse for them than the royal family is expecting,” they said. “Everything is laid bare. Charles comes out of it better than I had expected, but it’s tough on William, in particular, and even Kate gets a bit of a broadside. There are these minute details, and a description of the fight between the brothers. I personally can’t see how Harry and William will be able to reconcile after this.”
