Prince Harry has accused Royal Family members of getting in “bed with the devil” over their links with the tabloid press as his ITV interview aired.
The Duke of Sussex told presenter Tom Bradby he did not have “any intention to harm” or “hurt” his father Charles and brother William with his memoir Spare, which includes a series of explosive allegations about the royals.
Harry also said it was “important to acknowledge” his past drug use after he admitted in his book taking cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms.
“I love my father. I love my brother. I love my family,” Harry said.
“Nothing of what I’ve done in this book or otherwise has ever been (with) any intention to harm them or hurt them.”
Harry said he had faced “many, many years of lies being told about me and my family”.
Addressing the “relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press”, Harry added: “Those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil, right? – to rehabilitate their image.
“If you need to do that, or you want to do that, you choose to do that – well, that is a choice. That’s up to you.
“But the moment that that rehabilitation comes at the detriment of others – me, other members of my family – then that’s where I draw the line.”
Asked how he could justify the level of disclosure in his book, Harry said there was a family motto of “never complain, never explain”.
“What people have realised now, through the Netflix documentary and numerous stories coming out over the years, is that, that was just a motto,” he added.
“There was a lot of complaining and there was a lot of explaining and it continues now.
“The thing that is the saddest about this… is it never needed to be this way.
“It never needed to get to this point.
“I’ve had conversations, I’ve written letters, I’ve written emails, and everything is just: ‘No, this is not what’s happening… you are imagining it.
“And that’s really, that’s really hard to take.
“If it had stopped, by the point that I fled my home country with my wife and my son fearing for our lives, then maybe this would’ve turned out differently. It’s hard.”
Read more:
Harry cuts a sad, self-indulgent and naive figure in his memoir
Harry’s book is due to be released on Tuesday but Sky News obtained a copy after it was accidentally put out for sale early in Spain.