Prince Harry makes his first television appearance after the leak of his memoirs

prince harry has made his first television appearance since his highly anticipated memoir, “Spare,” leaked Thursday.

The pre-recorded interview with British presenter Tom Bradby, which was broadcast in the UK at 9:00pm local time on the public service broadcaster. itvsaw Harry address some of the book’s most explosive claims, including his drug use and fractured relationship with his family.

He said he was “grateful” for the opportunity to tell his story in the memoir and said that if he had still been a part of the Royal family he would not have had that opportunity.

In a wide-ranging discussion, which aired for 90 minutes with commercial breaks, Harry criticized former “Top Gear” host Jeremy Clarkson after a newspaper column last month in which the “Clarkson’s Farm” star wrote that she “hates” Meghan on a “cellular level” and suggested that she be forced to “parade naked” through Britain while people “threw loads of excrement” at her.

“[It was] horrible, hurtful and cruel to my wife,” Harry told Bradby of Clarkson’s column. “It also encourages other people in the UK and around the world, particularly men, to go and think it’s acceptable to treat women that way.”

British tabloid The Sun, which published Clarkson’s column, later apologized for it, while Clarkson said on Twitter that he was “appalled to have caused so much damage”, although he stopped short of apologizing.

Harry also spoke about his recent six-part Netflix documentary, “Harry & Meghan,” saying he was “relieved” it was complete. “The Netflix documentary and the book [“Spare”], one being our story and the other being largely my story, were retrospective projects,” he explained. “They were necessary, they were essential, for the historical fact. I don’t want my kids or other people that age to grow up thinking, ‘Wow, that’s what happened.’”

“It has been a painful process, cathartic at times, but getting back on old ground to be able to get these projects done right has taken a lot of energy and there is a lot of relief now that both projects are complete and we can now focus on looking forward and I am excited for that,” he continued.

During the interview, Harry told Bradby that he felt “sympathy” for his father telling him that his mother, Princess Diana, had died following a car accident in 1997, as well as detailing his memories of his mother’s funeral, where he walked behind his coffin. on the way to the funeral with his brother Guillermo, his father, King Carlos II, and his grandfather, Prince Felipe. He told Bradby that when he attended the funeral of his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II last September, which he followed the same route as Diana’s, he and William joked to each other “at least we know the way.” .

Harry also discussed the conspiracy theories that continue to swirl around his mother’s death, saying: “There are a lot of things that just can’t be explained.” But, after reviewing the files related to her death, he said he “didn’t really see the point” in opening another investigation.

In the interview, Harry said it was “important to acknowledge” his drug use, which he details in the book, but deflected a question from Bradby about whether his cocaine use as a member of the publicly-funded royal family was a problem. of public interest, and British newspapers covered it from the early to mid-2000s.

Harry insisted that he had not written his memoir with the intention of hurting his brother and father, despite the many intrusive and potentially damaging revelations it contains. “Nothing I have done in this book or otherwise has ever been [with] any intent to harm them,” he told Bradby. But he claimed his family had “slept with the devil” by cooperating with the British press and suggested this was his chance to correct the record.

Harry also went into detail about his and Meghan’s breakup with William and Kate, saying his brother and sister-in-law had been fans of “Suits”: “Who would have thought?” Harry laughed it off, but said there were “lots of different reasons” why he didn’t get along with his wife, including the “stereotype” of Meghan being a “divorced, biracial American actress.” He also repeated his insinuation from the book that his family was jealous of Meghan, leading them to inform the press against him.

“They have shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile,” Harry told Bradby about his current relationship with his family. “I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back.”

“Spare” will be released worldwide on Tuesday, January 10 under maximum security. But retailers in Spain broke the strict embargo on January 5, supposedly to maximize sales ahead of “Three Kings Day” in Spain, which is celebrated annually on January 6 and represents the biggest retail holiday of the year.

The leak sparked a media frenzy as news outlets around the world rushed to get their hands on a Spanish-language copy, locally titled “En la Sombra” (“In the Shadow”) and frantically translated it.

Amid the plethora of stories that sprung from the tome included Harry’s admission to smoking weed, snorting cocaine and even taking magic mushrooms at the home of “Friends” alum Courteney Cox while she was out one night. It also details the night he lost his virginity, how he got his underpants wet hours before his first date with Meghan, the freezing of his penis at William and Kate’s wedding in 2011, his physical altercation with William, how he killed 25 Afghans while fighting for the British Army, his last words to his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, following her death last September, and details of private conversations he had with family members, including his father, King Charles III.

Bradby, who flew to California for the lengthy interview with Harry, is the main presenter of ITV’s “News at 10” and a former royal correspondent. It was said that he had been close to both Harry and his brother, Prince William. In 2010 he was chosen to conduct the engagement interview with newly engaged William and Kate Middleton (now Princess of Wales). And he scored a hit in 2019 with his documentary, “Harry & Meghan: An African Journey,” which followed the royal couple on tour in South Africa and saw them for the first time discuss his unhappiness within the royal family. british. Meghan thanked Bradby for asking how I was doing, saying: “Not many people have asked me if I’m okay,” while Harry told the presenter of his relationship with William: “We’re certainly on different paths at the moment.” […] We don’t see each other as much as before.”

However, reports in the UK media claim that the documentary, while representing a career highlight for Bradby, also brought about the end of her relationship with William.

Prince Harry has three other interviews scheduled with the US media, including “60 Minutes” with Anderson Cooper, which will air tonight, “Good Morning America” ​​with Michael Strahan tomorrow morning and “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday. to become night. It is understood that the interviews with Bradby, Cooper and Strahan were recorded before “Spare” was leaked on Thursday.