Harry says he won't stay silent and refuses to commit to his father's coronation

Prince Harry says he still believes in the British monarchy but refuses to commit to coming to the historic coronation of his own father, the King, later this year.

The Duke of Sussex says “staying silent” won’t make things any better with his family.

Harry again accuses the royal family of briefing the press about him and Meghan and claims that is why he is justified in speaking out against his father and brother.

Further clips of Prince Harry’s interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby this weekend have just been released.

The ITV interview, along with one for the US network CBS, will air on Sunday just ahead of Harry’s book, Spare, which is released next week.

It’s been released on the same day as a Guardian story which claims the two brothers had a physical fight in 2019 which left Harry injured.

The newspaper claims it has seen an unofficial copy of Harry’s memoir, days before its worldwide release.

Asked, in his ITV interview, if he is invading the privacy of the King and Prince William by talking about them in the book and in TV interviews, Harry says: “That would be the accusation from the people that don’t understand - or don’t want to believe - that my family have been briefing the press.”

“I don’t know how staying silent is ever going to make things better”, the Duke said.

Prince Harry, who was last in the UK for the Queen’s funeral in September would not say whether he would come to the King’s Coronation in London on 6 May.

When asked how he'd respond if he is invited to Westminster Abbey, Harry would only say: “There is a lot that can happen between now and then.”

Of his ongoing public spat with the royal family, Harry said: “The ball is in their court.”

And the furthest he would go in extending an olive branch to his family was to say that “the door is always open”.

“There is a lot to be discussed and I really hope that they are willing to sit down and talk about it”, Harry said.

ITV News at Ten anchor, Tom Bradby, who has known both William and Harry for 20 years, asked what William would say about Harry’s public outburst.

Bradby asked: “Wouldn’t your brother say to you, ‘Harry, how could you do this to me after everything we went through’. Wouldn’t that be what he would say?”

In the short clip released by ITV, Harry replied in a manner which exposes the depth of the rift between him and William: “He would probably say all sorts of different things.”

Buckingham Palace has so far remained silent about this weekend’s interviews just as they refused to respond to any of the claims made in Harry and Meghan’s six-part Netflix series late last year.

Despite quitting as working royals in March 2020, Harry insisted that he did still believe in the Monarchy but was deliberately vague about what role he would have in it, in the years ahead.

Asked by Bradby, “do you believe you will play a part in its future?”, Harry simply replied, “I don’t know.”

ITV News has not seen a copy of Harry’s memoir, nor has it seen the programme of Prince Harry’s interview.

The interview took place before Christmas in California, not far from Montecito where Harry and Meghan now live with their children, Archie and Lilibet.

Harry remains 5th in line to the throne and his children are 6th and 7th.

Harry: The Interview will air on ITV1 at 9pm on Sunday

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