Prince Harry is speaking up again about his reasons for distancing himself from the royal family as he suggested he needed to break the cycle of "pain and suffering" he experienced growing up.
In a podcast chat with American comedian Dax Shepard, the Duke of Sussex implied that his father, Prince Charles, was not a good parent because he also suffered from his upbringing as the child of Queen Elizabeth and the late Prince Philip. Harry said that Charles treated him the way he was treated while he was growing up, surrounded by the royal staff and the institution.
Prince Harry referred to this as "genetic pain" but he also clarified that he's not pointing fingers or putting the blame on anyone. However, now that he's living a new life in California, the duke believes that he can break this cycle and ensure that his children will not experience this "genetic pain."
He also said that his life as a member of the royal family felt like being in a zoo and on The Truman Show as there was always someone watching his every move. This pushed him to agree to leave the U.K. and find a new life in the U.S. for the mental health of his family.
The Duke of Sussex also said that, since he was in his 20s, he never wanted to become a working royal. He didn't want a job where he could just "grin and bear it." Now that he's away from that kind of spotlight, he feels more "free and comfortable."
This is not the first time Harry has opened up about his feelings for his father as he admitted in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey that there is a lot of hurt between him and Charles. The duke said that he felt his father let him down after he decided to change his path and live in the U.S. with his wife Meghan Markle as Charles cut him off financially.
Harry, however, said that he's working on mending this relationship if it's what he has to do for the rest of his life. Charles and his second son were reportedly in talks when Harry briefly went home to London for the funeral of his grandfather.
Meanwhile, Charles has never publicly addressed the pronouncements of Prince Harry. Sources inside the palace, however, said that the future king is also hurting from the statements made by his son while Buckingham Palace issued a brief statement from Queen Elizabeth saying that they have a different recollection of the events the Duke and Duchess of Sussex discussed in interviews.
