Prince Harry interview - live: Royal deflects question about whether he misses his brother and father
Follow the latest updates from the Duke of Sussex’s interview with NBC News’ ‘Today’ at the Invictus Games
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Your support makes all the difference.Prince Harry has said he is making sure his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II is “protected” and has “the right people around her,” while deflecting a question about whether he misses his brother and father.
In an interview with the Today show’s Hoda Kotb on NBC on Wednesday, the Duke of Sussex said it was “just so nice” to see the Queen on only his third trip back to the UK since March 2020.
The royal sat down with Kotb while in The Hague, Netherlands to attend the Invictus Games, with the full interview aired on Wednesday morning.
The interview came just one year after the Duke’s explosive TV special with Oprah Winfrey alongside his wife Meghan, during which the couple detailed a number of concerning claims about their time as royals.
Follow live updates below as we report the latest news from Prince Harry’s visit and learn more about what he said to NBC.
That’s all for our live coverage of Prince Harry’s interview with Today’s Hoda Kotb. Thanks for following along.
As his first child, Archie, is two-years-old, Prince Harry shared that his son has been “asking all of the questions” regarding “why” things happen.
“Questions of the why, he’s into the why thing,” he told Kotb. “‘Why this? Why that?’ And instead of trying to just move it on, I give him the most honest answer that I can.
“And then he goes, on, and on, and on until he’s satisfied,” he added. “And then that’s it. It’s done. Otherwise it ends up with: ‘Because the world is round and that’s the way it goes.”
Speaking about his mental health, Prince Harry said that with “everything going on in the world,” he’s had feelings of “anxiety” and “helplessness”.
“I think that biggest concern that people wrestle with on a daily basis that does provide more anxiety for me and for them is the helplessness,” he explained. “We as human beings are compassionate people, but when your life becomes really hard, it can be, for some, harder to find the compassion for other people.”
Regarding his own compassion, he noted that he’s been able to find it through “helping other people”.
Prince Harry jokes that Queen Elizabeth II is “bored of” her birthday
To Kotb, Prince Harry discussed his relationship with his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and said that they talk about things that she “can’t talk about with anybody else”.
And although the Queen will be celebrating her 96th birthday on 21 April, according to her grandson, she may not be very excited for it.
“I think after a certain age, you get bored of birthdays,” Prince Harry jokingly claimed.
During the first part of the interview, Prince Harry opened up about fatherhood and how much he’s been enjoying it.
“I love every part of it,” he explained to Kotb. “I’ve always wanted to be a dad. I’ve always wanted to have my own kids, and now I got two little people who I’m responsible for.”
As Prince Harry is the father of two children, Archie and Lilibet, he noted that one of his responsibilities as a “parent” is to try to “make the world a better place” for them.
“Otherwise, what’s the point in bringing kids into this world, right?” he told Kotb. “It’s a responsibility that I feel as a parent and that you probably feel as a parent as well.”
The duke said that while he knows that he “can’t fix everything,” he still wants to do what he can to “be there” for other people.
Prince Harry opens up about struggles of working from home with son Archie
‘Archie spends more time interrupting our Zoom calls than anybody else’
During a lighter note, the duke spoke of his and Meghan’s son Archie, and the two year old’s “cheeky” own personality.
When asked whether the toddler shares his father’s cheeky personality, Prince Harry said: “Yeah, and I think so. I always try and keep that. I think that, the cheekiness is something that keeps you alive.”
The Duke of Sussex also spoke candidly about the joy that fatherhood brings him. You can find all of his comments below:
Prince Harry reveals what he loves about fatherhood
‘The reminder of just every element of yourself, your soul’
While the Duke of Sussex noted at one point that he doesn’t know “how many people feel truly peaceful,” he spoke highly of his new life in California with Meghan and their family.
“At times I feel massively at peace,” he told Kotb.
He also discussed his mental health, and his belief that there is a “light at the end of a tunnel for everybody”.
Prince Harry reveals whether he now feels ‘peaceful’
‘I don’t know how many people feel truly peaceful’
Prince Harry also discussed his grandmother the Queen’s “protection,” with the duke at one point telling Kotb that, during his surprise visit to the monarch, he wanted to make sure she is “protected” and has “the right people around her”.
The Duke of Sussex spoke about their relationship as well, which he described as special, and claimed that they “talk about things that she can’t talk about with anybody else”.
Harry’s comments come after he alleged last year during his and Meghan Markle’s interview with Oprah Winfrey that his grandmother is badly advised by those around her.
You can read more about the duke’s comments below.
Prince Harry says he’s ‘making sure’ Queen is ‘protected’
Duke and Duchess of Sussex made surprise visit to Windsor to see the Queen on Thursday
Perhaps one of the most surprising parts of the interview is when Prince Harry chose to deflect a question about whether he misses his brother Prince William and his father Prince Charles.
The moment, which took place after he confirmed that, like many others, he missed his family during the pandemic, saw Prince Harry choose to discuss the importance of his Invictus family and his own family instead.
“For me, at the moment, I’m here to focus on these guys and these families, and giving everything I can,” Harry said of the Invictus competitors and their families. “To make sure that they have the experience of a lifetime.
“That’s my focus here, and then I leave here, I get back, and my focus is my family, who I miss massively.”
Prince Harry deflects question about whether he misses his brother and father
Duke of Sussex says his focus is on his Invictus family and his family at home
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