Harry offers olive branch as he says illness can help reunite families
Prince also said he’s considered U.S. citizenship — but would forfeit titles
PRINCE Harry held out a very public olive branch yesterday as he revealed he hopes that his father’s cancer fight could help heal bitter royal rifts.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the King revealed his diagnosis, the Duke of Sussex also admitted he has considered becoming a US citizen – a move which would force him to publicly surrender his royal title.
Critics have accused Harry, 39, and wife Meghan, 42, of trading off their royal links while launching repeated public attacks on the family, with many calling for them to be stripped of their titles.
The launch of their Sussex website this week – complete with royal titles and Meghan’s coat of arms – sparked accusations they are in breach of their promise to the late Queen not to exploit their status for commercial gain.
Harry last week jetted from California to see Charles for just 45 minutes at Clarence House. Asked how his visit to London was ‘emotionally’, Harry said: ‘I love my family. The fact that I was able to get on a plane and go and see him and spend any time with him, I’m grateful for that.’
Interviewer Will Reeve, the son of late Superman actor Christopher Reeve who was paralysed in 1995, asked the duke whether an illness in the family could have a ‘reunifying effect’ in his case.
A nodding Harry replied: ‘Yeah, I’m sure. From all these [Invictus] families I see it on a day-to- day basis. Again, the strength of the family unit coming together.’ He declined to reveal further details when asked about the ‘outlook’ on his father’s diagnosis, saying: ‘That stays between me and him,’ but said he has other trips planned to the UK and pledged to see his family as much as possible.
Harry told Good Morning America about his ‘amazing’ life in Montecito, California, since he and Meghan acrimoniously quit frontline royal duties in 2020 – and said he was ‘loving every single day’.
He appeared initially caught offguard when asked if he felt American, saying: ‘No. I don’t know how I feel.’ Quizzed on if he had thought about becoming a US citizen, Harry said: ‘I have considered it, yeah’ and explained that he had ‘no idea’ what would stop him.
He added that US citizenship was a ‘thought [that] has crossed my mind but [is] certainly not something that is a high priority for me right now’.
Under US policy, the duke would have to renounce his royal title if he were to apply to become a US citizen.
The rules state that ‘any applicant who has any titles of heredity or positions of nobility in any foreign state must renounce the title or the position’ in a public ceremony, with the move also impacting his tax affairs.
Asked about life as a dad, Harry initially joked the information was ‘classified’ but later said his two children, Archie, four, and Lilibet, two, are doing ‘great’ and are ‘growing up fast’. He added: ‘They’ve both got an incredible sense of humour and make us laugh and keep us grounded every single day.’
A source close to the Sussexes defended the use of their royal titles for their relaunched website this week, saying: ‘ Prince Harry and Meghan are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
‘That is a fact. It is their surname and family name.’
It also emerged that the couple have adopted the Sussex title as a surname for their children, instead of Mountbatten-Windsor, as they seek to ‘unify’ their family, according to The Times.