Harry attends the Ripple of Hope Awards, December 2022. Photo Image Press/Shutterstock
A difficult memory. In the final episode of Harry & Meghan, Prince Harry opened up about going back to the U.K. for Prince Philip’s 2021 funeral amid the intense drama with his family.
“It was hard,” the Duke of Sussex, 38, recalled in the docuseries’ finale, which dropped on Netflix Thursday, December 15. “Especially spending time, having chats with my brother and my father, who just, you know, were very much focused on the same misinterpretation of the whole situation.”
Philip died in April 2021 at age 99 — one month after the Sussexes’ bombshell CBS interview, in which Meghan Markle and Harry lobbed multiple allegations against The Firm, including claims of racism and that the royal family did not support them amid the Suits alum’s mental health crisis.
“None of us really wanted to have to talk about it at my grandfather’s funeral, but we did,” Harry continued, noting that he did not get the reaction from his father, King Charles III, and his brother, Prince William, that he was looking for.
“I’ve had to make peace with the fact that we’re probably never gonna get genuine accountability or a genuine apology,” the Invictus Games founder admitted. “You know, my wife and I, we’re moving on. We’re focused on what’s coming next.”
Amid the difficulty of his Philip’s death — and the tough discussions with his estranged family — Harry acknowledged that he was “actually really happy for my grandfather,” explaining that the Duke of Edinburgh died “quietly” and “went peacefully” and “happily.”
While just Harry went to the U.K. for his late grandfather’s funeral, Meghan, 41, accompanied her husband to London in the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s death at age 96 in September.
Prince Harry & Prince Phillip Christmas Day Service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene, 2009. Alan Davidson/Shutterstock
The Archewell cofounders, who were in Europe on business when the queen died September 8, quickly diverted their plans. While Harry did not make it to Her Majesty’s Balmoral Castle in Scotland before her passing, he — and Meghan — stayed in England for nearly two weeks after to mourn the death of his beloved grandmother.
Despite the ongoing royal drama, the Sussexes joined Prince William and Princess Kate, both 40, to greet mourners at the time. William and Harry, who attended the late monarch’s state funeral and memorial service, also held a vigil for the queen along with their cousins.
Charles, 74, in his inaugural speech as king, remarked on Harry and Meghan’s new life across the pond. (The couple, who married in 2018 and share 3-year-old son Archie and 18-month-old daughter Lilibet, moved to California in 2020 after stepping down from their duties as senior royals.)
“I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan, as they continue to build their lives overseas,” the king said in his September address, a comment that royal expert Gareth Russell exclusively told Us Weekly was an “olive branch.”
“I think the king has made it very clear that he wants to heal the rift,” Russell told Us at the time. “Family dynamics, of course, are always complicated, but I think we can all see that there’s a great deal of pain.”
However, things may be muddled again after the release of Harry & Meghan, which no members of the family have yet publicly addressed.