London: Prince Harry’s denial that he accused his family of racism was interpreted in the UK press Monday as a bizarre peace offering, but commentators argued the damage had already been done as his unflinching memoir comes out.
The midnight release of “Spare” is being accompanied by four television interviews, with two more airing in the United States following the first pair on Sunday.
In the first to air, with Britain´s ITV, the Duke of Sussex caused bafflement by insisting he and his mixed-race wife Meghan never accused the royal family of racism over the skin tone of their unborn son.
“No I didn´t. The British press said that,” Harry said, adding that Meghan had also not called the royals “racist”.
The allegation, made in a bombshell interview given by Harry and Meghan in March 2021 to US chat show host Oprah Winfrey, caused a transatlantic uproar.
Harry´s elder brother and the heir to the British throne, Prince William, told reporters at the time that “we are very much not a racist family”, but Harry himself stayed silent then.
The late Queen Elizabeth II, the men´s grandmother, said then that “recollections may vary” about what was said — a line that was repeated ironically by UK commentators in response to Harry´s interviews.
Several described his denial to ITV as an “olive branch”, but one that was contradicted by the Oprah interview and too little, too late, given the incendiary nature of his other allegations in the book.
The Sun newspaper said Harry had “astonished” viewers with his racism “U-turn”, and described the 38-year-old prince as a “troubled, lonely man”.
“Nothing is Harry´s fault and almost everything can be blamed on the press,” the Daily Telegraph wrote.
“Some of it made no sense: Meghan and Harry are fans of Lady Hussey and think it was the press that accused her of being racist?
“The press made up the accusations that the royal family was racist, when the couple were making a very different allegation about ´unconscious bias´?”
The left-leaning Guardian wrote: “If she had lived to see this, it wouldn´t have killed the queen. But it might have made her a republican.”