Prince Harry was ‘worried about his shelf life’ says insider

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Prince Harry made a “spectacularly rude” remark to the press during the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first joint tour, royal correspondent Valentine Low has claimed. Mr Low recalled witnessing the scene as he was part of the press pack who followed Meghan and Harry during their successful tour of Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga.

Writing in his newly-published book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind The Crown, Mr Low said it is a “standard part of the royal tour” to have members of the Royal Family venture, while on a shared aeroplane, in the seating area reserved to the journalists in tow to thank them for their coverage and work.

The royal rota had been informed Meghan and Harry would do this on a five-hour flight bringing them from Tonga to Sydney, and the Duke and Duchess appeared after the plane had landed.

The Duke gave Mr Low the impression he didn’t want to perform this traditional duty, as he “looked like a sulky teenager, forced against his will to talk to some unwelcome visitors.”

Mr Low, who had travelled through Oceania as The Times correspondent, added the Duchess smiled “benignly” to the press but let her husband do most of the talking after a polite exchange.

The royal author wrote in his book: “[Harry] sounded rushed, as if he couldn’t wait to get back into the first-class cabin, away from the media.

“‘Thanks for coming’, he told the assembled press pack, ‘even though you weren’t invited’.

“Even for a man who has a deep mistrust of the press, this was spectacularly rude – and incorrect.

“The media very much had been invited to cover the tour.”

Mr Low went on to claim the Duke was later briefed by his staff on how badly his remark had been received by the press pack.

He wrote: “Later, Harry’s staff, who had spent much of the flight trying to persuade the Duke to speak to us, told him how badly his remarks had gone down.

“He replied: ‘Well, you shouldn’t have made me do it’.”

Express.co.uk has contacted representatives of Meghan and Harry at Archewell for comment.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s first joint tour was reported at the time as a wide success.

Both Meghan and Harry were a big hit in Australia, where they attended among other events the Invictus Games Sydney, held between October 20 and 27 2018, and were warmly welcomed also in the other countries they visited.

The tour itself started with one major announcement, as the world was informed the Duchess was pregnant with the couple’s first child, Archie Harrison.

Two years after this tour was completed, the Duke and Duchess were already settling down in California, having stepped down as full-time working members of the Firm.

Meghan and Prince Harry announced on January 8 2020 their intention to create a new role for themselves within the Firm.

They outlined they still wanted to carry out royal duties and represent the Queen but also desired to become independent from the Sovereign Grant, a move which they hoped would diminish the public scrutiny in their lives.

However, this half-in, half-out solution was not deemed workable by the most senior members of the Firm and, following a summit held in Sandringham a few days after the first bombshell statement, Harry and Meghan agreed to step down from their senior roles.

This move saw them stop carrying out royal duties, stop using their HRH styles and relinquish their military patronages.

In the weeks between their January announcement and their exit from the Firm, the Duke and Duchess also published on the website Sussexroyal.com information focused on how they would operate in the future.

This included a new approach to their relationship with the press, which they said would see them no longer participating in the royal rota system – the press pool covering official engagements of Royal Family members.

In a section of the Sussex Royal website dedicated to the media, Meghan and Harry explained their decision to change their media policy.

The website read: “The Duke and Duchess have chosen to revise their media policy to reflect both their forthcoming change as members of the Royal Family with financial independence, and their wish to reshape and broaden access to their work.”

Since the launch of their organisation Archewell in late 2020, the Duke and Duchess have shared much of their communications directly to the public through the website’s news section.

COURTIERS The Hidden Power Behind The Crown by Valentine Low was published on 6th October by Headline.

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