Prince Harry Reveals to James Corden Why He Stepped Back From Royal Family: ‘It Was Destroying My Mental Health’
James Corden gave a tour of Los Angeles to a very special guest on Thursday, Prince Harry, during which the duke opened up about his decision to step back from the royal family.
Just days after it was announced that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were officially no longer working royals, the Duke of Sussex clarified that he will “never walk away” from his family.
“It was never walking away,” Prince Harry told Corden while driving around LA on a Big Bus. “It was stepping back rather than stepping down.”
“It was a really difficult environment as I think a lot of people saw,” he added. “We all know what the British press can be like, and it was destroying my mental health. I was like, ‘This is toxic.’ So I did what any husband and what any father would do and was like, ‘I need to get my family out of here.
Prince Harry went on to promise that he will continue to contribute to the family, but noted that his priority is “public service.”
“So wherever I am in the world it’s going to be the same thing,” he added of his new life in LA.
Later in the interview — sometime after they enjoyed tea on a tour bus but before they took part in an obstacle course — Prince Harry revealed that he has seen hit Netflix show The Crown, a series that his fellow royals rarely comment on.
So, how does he feel about the series that dramatized his family?
“I’m way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family or my wife or myself,” he revealed, adding, “They don’t pretend to be news, it’s fictional.”
“But it’s loosely based on the truth,” he continued, noting that although it’s “not strictly accurate,” it gives viewers “a rough idea about what that lifestyle, what the pressures of putting duty and service above family and everything else, what can come from that.”
As for who he wants to portray him once The Crown catches up to the present-day family — the duke was quick to suggest fellow Brit Damian Lewis.
Watch above, via YouTube.
