Prince Harry has revealed that he feels "compassion" for his father Prince Charles and his brother Prince William since the two of them are "trapped" in royal life as heirs to the throne.
Speaking candidly in the recent interview with Oprah Winfrey and alongside his wife Meghan Markle, the 36-year-old Duke of Sussex spoke about how his controversial decision to retire from public life in early 2020.
During the interview, Winfrey questioned Harry on whether or not he would have stepped down from the Royal Family if he had never met Meghan.
Oprah questions how Harry felt "trapped":To which, Harry replied: "I wouldn't have been able to because I myself was trapped.
"I didn't see a way out. I was trapped, but I didn't know I was trapped, but the moment that I met Meg, and our worlds collided in the most amazing of ways and then [I began] to see how trapped within the system, like, the rest of my family are."
Harry was then asked by the legendary presenter how he felt "trapped" after being "raised in a palace" and "in a life of privilege".
"Trapped within a system. Like the rest of my family are," he replied. "My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don't get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that."
When Oprah said that Prince Harry has never appeared "trapped" and seemed to be enjoying his life as a Royal, the prince responded by saying: "Enjoying [royal] life because there were photographs of me smiling while I was shaking hands and meeting people?"
Harry then said that it was simply "part of the job".
Per Sky News, Harry also stated that he and his father had suffered a rift in their relationship as a result of his choice to move away from the family, and that the Prince of Wales had stopped answering his calls for a time.
Nevertheless, Harry told Winfrey that he will always love his father, explaining:
"I feel really let down because he's been through something similar, he knows what pain feels like, and Archie's his grandson.
"But at the same time - I will always love him - but there's a lot of hurt that's happened and I will continue to make it one of my priorities to try and heal that relationship. But they only know what they know, or what they're told."
The prince added that there had been discussions about the skin color of his son Archie prior to his birth and that these racial undertones prompted, in part, his decision to leave the Royal Family.
Harry stated: "The family [has] a mentality of: 'This is how it is, you can’t change it, we’ve all been through it.'
"But what was different here was the race element. That triggered the conversations with my family and palace staff where I said: 'This is not going to end well.'"
