In the past few years, it’s not as if Prince Harry has been secretive about what he thinks. Since the Duke of Sussex left behind his duties as a member of the Royal Family in 2020, Harry has appeared with his wife Meghan in a bombshell interview on Oprah, and with the help of ghostwriter, his memoir, Spare, became the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time. It’s fair to say Harry has been extremely public about the strained relationship with his family. 

But last week’s court ruling – about the level of security Prince Harry, Meghan and their children receive while in the UK – gave us one of Harry’s most illuminating interviews. Speaking to the BBC’s Nada Tawfik in California, following the result, Harry said losing the case felt like an ‘establishment stitch up’. He also said there was ‘no way back to UK with [his] family’ and that he feels as if he cannot ‘escape’ being a royal.

‘I am who I am,’ he said. ‘I am part of what I’m part of, and I can never escape that. My circumstances will always be the same.’

‘I’ve given 35 years of service to this country, two tours of Afghanistan,’ Harry, who served in the Army from 2005-2015, added. ‘I was born into these risks, they’ve only increased over time.’

But it was perhaps what he said directly to his father, King Charles, which caused the most headlines – as during the interview, he pleaded for a reconciliation. ‘I don’t know how much longer my father has,’ Harry said, ‘he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff but it would be nice to reconcile.’ (Last year, the king was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer, something which he is still receiving treatment for.)

He also revealed that some his family won’t ‘forgive’ him since his frank memoir was released – but he’s keen to move on. In one of the most poignant quotes from the interview, Harry said there was ‘no point in continuing to fight anymore, life is precious’.

So, why has security, as Harry says, ‘always been the sticking point’? Well, when Harry and Meghan moved to the US, and stepped back as Duke and Duchess of Sussex five years ago, it meant they lost their automatic right to tax-funded police protection while in the UK. If Harry wants police protection when visiting, it isn’t guaranteed, and he must give notice – which his legal team have argued could put his family in harm’s way. With the latest legal case, Harry tried to argue that government committee Protection of Royalty and Public Figures hadn’t taken into consideration the threats his family face when their protection was withdrawn in 2020. But his appeal was rejected, with one judge saying that though Harry made ‘powerful and moving arguments’, they couldn’t be ‘translated into a legal argument’.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson told the BBC: ‘All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion.’

It’s clear Harry misses the UK, and he seems devastated that he can’t show his children Archie, six, and Lilibet, three, where he grew up. ‘I miss the UK, I miss parts of the UK, of course I do,’ he revealed, ‘and I think that it’s really quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.’

Despite his latest legal challenge, it at least seems Harry and Meghan are happy in their relationship. During a podcast interview with Jamie Kern Lima last month, Meghan revealed that she’s still very much in love. ‘If you haven’t noticed, my husband is very, very handsome,’ she said, calling him a ‘fox’. ‘But his heart is even more beautiful.’ But, during the discussion, Meghan also made a not-so-subtle swipe at the Royal Family – saying that during the early days, she felt like they were landed into a war zone.

‘You have to imagine at the beginning, everyone has, like, butterflies,’ she said. ‘Then we immediately went into the trenches together. Yeah, right out of the gate, like six months into dating.’ What Meghan was probably referring to was the vile abuse she received when it was discovered, early into their relationship, that the pair were dating; it was so bad the royals had to give an unprecedented statement against the ‘wave of abuse and harassment’.

But Meghan said she felt like the couple were going through ‘more of a honeymoon period’ now. ‘So now, seven years later, when you have a little bit of breathing space, you can just enjoy each other in a new way,’ she added.

While Harry and Meghan continue to be honest about their complicated feelings towards the Royal family, it’s guaranteed the pair will continue to ruffle feathers. There has been a lot of coverage against Harry’s decision to speak out last week, and former Guardian royal columnist Stephen Bates summarised a lot of the nation’s feelings with the headline: ‘Memo to Harry: megaphone diplomacy isn’t working. You could write to your dad – it only costs a stamp.’ But, regardless of anyone else’s thoughts, only time will tell if Harry does make peace with his father.