Humphrys: Why I said no to Radio 4 with Harry

JOHN Humphrys has revealed that he chose not to present the Today programme on the day Prince Harry was guest editing the show.

The former host of the Radio 4 flagship said he would have wanted to ask questions that the prince’s ‘minders’ would not have liked.

Writing in his Daily Mail column today, Humphrys also reveals there had been talks about him interviewing Prince Charles, but that the royal had ‘wanted only to talk about trees’ and so it was ‘no deal’. But the ‘lifelong republican’ praises Princess Anne as the ‘most hardworking’ royal, adding that ‘she doesn’t believe in’ unearned deference.

In December 2017 Prince Harry was guest editor on the Today programme, which saw him interview his own father, Prince Charles, as well as former US President Barack Obama.

The programme, which included an interview with Harry, was presented by Justin Webb and Sarah Montague. In his column Humphrys, 76, says of Harry: ‘He was invited to be the guest editor of the Today programme nearly three years ago and used it, unsurprisingly, to deliver messages close to his heart.

‘I’m afraid to say I declined the opportunity to present the programme that morning. I knew what would happen. I would want to ask what his minders would regard as impertinent or embarrassing questions and that would be the end of that.’ He added: ‘My then editor Sarah Sands tried hard to get me an interview with his father, but Charles wanted only to talk about trees and I wanted to talk about other things as well. No deal.’

Humphrys left the Today programme in 2019 after 2 years.