Shortly after meeting Meghan, Harry said he yearned for an "ordinary life". Photo / Getty Images
From the second Harry’s explosive memoir hit shelves across the globe, the world was given insight into the Prince’s immense desolation during his years as a royal.
In 2023, just two years after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s exit announcement caused shockwaves around the UK, Spare was released into the world, documenting in fine detail the sheer frustration and resentment harboured by the man who fled his birthright to pursue a little-known freedom on the other side of the ditch.
One thing Harry’s book made crystal clear was that the Prince’s bitterness had been bubbling for years, long before Meghan came onto the scene in July 2016.
In fact, Daily Mail has revealed that Prince Harry shared his feelings of frustration much earlier, shortly after meeting the woman who would go on to become his wife and mother of his children.
Six years ago, Harry foreshadowed his eventual step-down as a working royal. According to the Mail on Sunday, Harry had confessed that he “wanted out” of the royal family and dreamed of an “ordinary life”.
Speaking to journalist and author Angela Levin in a candid heart-to-heart interview, Harry - who was 32 years old at the time - shared his struggle to find a meaningful role for himself in what he dubbed the “goldfish bowl” of royal life and revealed he had been on the brink of a breakdown a number of times.
Shedding light on his motives, which were primarily driven by his loyalty to the late Queen Elizabeth, he said: “I spent many years kicking my heels and I didn’t want to grow up. I felt I wanted out, but then decided to stay in and work out a role for myself.”
Another telling detail that Harry revealed in the interview was his view that the monarchy would drastically change once his grandmother died - a fate that would come to pass five years after the interview - as well as his claim that “no one in the royal family wants to be King or Queen”.
“We want to make sure the monarchy lasts and are passionate about what it stands for,” he told Levin, who went on to publish Harry: A Biography of A Prince.
“We feel that the British public and the whole world needs institutions like this, but it can’t go on as it has done under the Queen,” shared Harry.
“There will be changes and pressure to get them right.
“Things are moving so fast, especially because of social media, so we are involved in modernising the monarchy.”
What the Prince may have not predicted is just how quickly things would really move. Just four years after the interview, Harry and Meghan not only said farewell to their royal status, they bid goodbye to Britain as well.
The eerily prophetic interview took place in June 2017, about a year after he met the future Duchess of Sussex, whom he married in 2018.
Many wouldn’t have guessed that his highly publicised relationship with the Suits actress would be the catalyst for the Prince’s change of duties - and his ensuing sour relationship with his brother and dad, William and Charles.
However, in 2017, Harry was candid about his brother’s positive role in his life, particularly as the driving force that encouraged Harry to seek therapy at 28 to grieve the loss of his mother. Princess Diana died 16 years earlier when the Prince was only 12 years old.
The image of a young boy solemnly walking behind his mother’s coffin while millions watched was ingrained into the public’s perception of Harry, and was an ever-present factor in his own life.
Grief was the central theme of his autobiography Spare and a subject he touched on briefly in the 2017 interview. The Prince confessed that he suppressed his emotions for so long that he found solace in his partying streak.
“William and I were 14 and 12 when our mother died and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television,” he said.
“I don’t think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. It certainly wouldn’t happen today.”
Diana’s funeral was just the beginning of what Harry would say was years bottling up his feelings. “Instead of dealing with it I buried my head in the sand and let everything around me tear me to pieces,” he recalled.
He expressed his need to be a “bad boy” while at Eton and revealed that it was his time in the army, which he joined in January 2006, that brought a sense of fulfilment.
Unfortunately, his time in the army was cut short at the end of 2007 when, 10 weeks into his deployment in Afghanistan’s Helmand province, a magazine leaked his position and he had to be withdrawn quickly from his post over security concerns.
“I felt very resentful,” he recalled. “Being in the Army was the best escape I’ve ever had. I felt as though I was really achieving something.
“I have a deep understanding of all sorts of people from different backgrounds and felt I was part of a team. I also wasn’t a Prince; I was just Harry.”
What followed were Harry’s wild years, which consisted of partying and endless criticism of the boy who seemed reluctant to do anything meaningful with his privileged title.
It was only during his mid-20s that Harry was ready to come to terms with his grief. He said: “I needed to fix the mistakes I was making and what was going on with me.”
Harry - with the assistance of professional help recommended by his brother - was able to reinvent himself and create his own role within the royal family that gained the public’s respect and love. Rallying with causes such as promoting the cause of injured service men and women and tackling mental health, the Prince did just that.
“We are incredibly passionate with our charities and they have been chosen because they are on the path shown to me by our mother,” he shared at the time.
“I love charity stuff and meeting people. I love to see people excel and succeed. If you give care and consideration to younger people they will flourish.
“Anyone can do anything if you put your mind to it. You just need passion and belief,” he told Levin, who recently wrote the Queen’s biography - Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort.
He spoke about his niece and nephew, Charlotte and George, with love and affection and insisted he did not resent them one bit for pushing him further down the succession line.
“The reason I am now fifth is because of my nephew and niece, and I could never wish them away,” he said. “They are the most amazing things ever.”
In fact, the Prince believed no one in the family actually wanted to be monarch.
“Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be King or Queen?” he questioned. “I don’t think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time.”
It is this line of thought that frames “Megxit” - the Sussexes’ decision to turn their backs on royal life and live as private citizens in the US - in a different light, as it was already in 2017 that Harry was hinting at the prospect of following his own path.
“I am determined to have a relatively normal life and if I am lucky enough to have children they can have one too,” he declared.
“We don’t want to be just a bunch of celebrities, but instead use our role for good.”
He insisted that any change was for the “greater good” of the royal family.
“We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people and the monarchy we represent.”
“There is so much negative in the world – we as a family try to bring something positive.”