Harry and Meghan ‘will not move back to Britain’ and won’t give up titles as popularity plummets to record low
9 January 2023, 14:23 | Updated: 10 January 2023, 06:00
Prince Harry has declared he and Meghan will never return to the UK - as a new poll shows his popularity has plummeted to a record low.
In an interview with Good Morning America, the Duke of Sussex said: “I don't think it's ever going to be possible, I don't think that even if there was an agreement or an arrangement between me and my family there's that third party that's going to do everything they can to make sure that that isn't possible, not stopping us from going back but making it unsurvivable.
“Because that's essentially breaking the relationship between us. There was something in the future where, you know, we can continue to support the Commonwealth that of course is on the table.”
Earlier in another incendiary interview with CBS Harry swerved a question on why the couple haven’t renounced their titles. He told Anderson Cooper “what difference would that make?”
A poll published today shows Prince Harry's popularity has plummeted to a record low after the string of bombshell revelations ahead of the release of his book, Spare.
Around two-thirds of Britons (64%) have a negative view of the Duke of Sussex, up from 46% in September last year, the YouGov poll found.
Just 26% of Britons view Harry favourably, a dramatic drop from a previous high of 81% in November 2017 - after the duke started dating Meghan Markle.
As for the rest of the family, Harry's brother William, who has been hit with a number of damaging claims in the book, has also seen his popularity drop from 84% to 69%.
During the same period, negative views rose from 9% to 20%. This is also a record low for the Prince of Wales has experienced in the ongoing poll, which YouGov started in 2011.
Positive views of King Charles dropped from 70% in September - after the Queen's passing - to 60% in the new poll, while negative views rose from 2% to 28% during the same period.
The poll comes ahead of the official release of Harry's tell-all memoir Spare, which contains a series of damaging claims about his relationship with the rest of his family - including that Prince William physically attacked him in 2019.
The duke has also sat down for two in-depth interviews with ITV and CBS ahead of his book's release. Last night, in an interview with ITV's Tom Bradby, Harry denied accusing members of the royal family of being racist, claiming instead that it was "unconscious bias".
Harry told Bradby he had seen secret government files with photos from the scene of his mother's death, while accusing Charles and other members of the royal family of ‘getting in bed with the devil’ over links to tabloids.
King Charles and Camilla have so-far ignored the claims made by Harry across the two interviews and his book, with Buckingham Palace refusing to comment.
Key claims from Harry's interviews:
- Palace ‘spoon-fed’ the press with disparaging stories about him and Meghan for years
- Harry rowed back in racism storm over Archie’s skin colour now claiming it was ‘unconscious bias’
- Harry saw secret government files with photos from the scene of his mother’s death
- Harry and William rowed over order to shave off beard for his wedding to Meghan
- Harry accused Charles and other Royals of ‘getting in bed with the devil’ over links to tabloids
- Harry wasn’t invited on plane to rush to the Queen’s side in Balmoral when she was gravely ill
- Harry and William begged Charles not to marry Camilla
William has not returned fire on Harry's accusations because "he's dignified and unbelievably loyal", friends of the heir to the throne say - as King Charles was pictured smiling on a walkabout.
"He won’t retaliate, he never would, because he's dignified and unbelievably loyal. William is a sitting duck because Harry knows he isn’t going to retaliate," a close friend of the brothers told The Times.
"How many shots can you take at a sitting duck?
"It's cruel, cowardly and so sad for William to keep taking the punches. He's keeping quiet for the good of his family and the country."
