Exiled UK royal Prince Harry readily admitted that the UK is no longer his home — and notably avoided saying whether he misses his dad and brother after their years-long bitter feud.
“Home for me now, for the time being, is in the United States — and it feels that way as well,” the 37-year-old prince told the “Today” show in an interview that aired Wednesday.
Asked pointedly by Hoda Kotb if “you feel like that’s home more for you,” Harry nodded and said, “Yup.”
“I’m sure it will become a thing,” he admitted of having turned his back on the nation his family rules over.
Harry gave a vague “of course” reply when asked if he missed his family, whom he has rarely seen since fleeing Britain and quitting life as a royal at the beginning of 2020.
But he quickly changed the topic when asked if he missed his dad, heir to the throne Prince Charles, 73, and his once-close 39-year-old brother, Prince William.
Prince Harry sits down with Hoda Kotb for an exclusive interview on TODAY.TODAY / NBC“For me, at the moment, I am here focused on these guys,” he said of the military veterans at the 2022 Invictus Games, where he was interviewed.
“That’s my focus here and when I leave here I get back the focus is my family, who I miss massively,” he said of his kids with wife Meghan Markle, son Archie, 2, and daughter Lilibet, 10 months.
Harry pointedly said it was “great” seeing his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, during his recent surprise trip to the UK — again making no mention of also seeing his 73-year-old dad, Charles.
Hoda Kotb seen interviewing Prince Harry.TODAY / NBC“It was really nice to see her — to be able to see her in some element of privacy was nice,” he said.
“We have a special relationship with talking about things that she can’t talk about with anybody else,” he said of the Monarch, who turns 96 on Thursday, joking that by now she must be “bored” of birthdays.
Even so, he conceded that he might not make it over for the queen’s Jubilee this summer — raising fears that she will never get to meet Harry’s daughter nor again see his son, who left the UK with him when he was still a baby.
“This was a life that she signed up for. We were committed to doing together as a couple forever,” Prince Harry said of wife Meghan Markle.Samir Hussein/WireImage“I don’t know yet — there’s lots of things, with security issues and everything else,” Harry said.
“So this is what I’m trying to try and make it possible — that I can get my kids to meet her,” he told Kotb.
In his ongoing absence from the queen, he insisted he was instead “just making sure that she’s, you know, protected and got the right people around her.”
Prince Harry and wife Meghan Markle attend the Invictus Games 2020 at Zuiderpark on April 17, 2022 in The Hague, Netherlands.Getty ImagesDespite pointedly skipping about his dad, Harry said that late mom Diana was “very much” a constant presence in his life, sharing stories about her with his kids.
He said he tells Archie “all the stuff that happened,” with photos in their California mansion of “Grandma Diana.”
“For me, it’s constant, and it has been over the last two years, more so than ever before,” he said of feeling his mom’s presence, saying that it felt like she had “helped” both him and his brother “get set up” with families of their own.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry share a kiss on stage during the Invictus Games.Joern Pollex/Getty Images for Invictus Games The Hague 2020“I feel her presence in almost everything that I do now. But definitely more so in the last two years than ever before.
“So she’s watching she’s — I’m sure she is,” he said.
During his chat, Harry admitted that he often feels “helplessness” with “everything going on in the world.”
Queen Elizabeth II, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry watch a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on July 10, 2018.Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images“I don’t know how many people feel truly peaceful,” he said glumly.
He even complained about how working from his Golden State mansion is “not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“It’s really hard when your kids and you are in the same place,” he said.
Queen Elizabeth II speaks with Prince Harry in a 2019 photo.Getty Images“Archie spends more time interrupting or Zoom calls than anybody else,” he joked of their 2-year-old son, who Harry admitted shares his own “cheekiness.”
Harry insisted that even after stepping back from royal life two years ago, “the focus is very much the same.”
“From my wife’s point of view … this was a life that she signed up for. We were committed to doing together as a couple forever,” he said of Markle.
“Because of the circumstances, we’ve now moved that life of service to the States, and we’ll continue doing what we were doing before. So in that regard, nothing’s changed for us … it’s just a little bit more complicated,” he said.
