Prince Harry 'bigoted' before Meghan Markle with apology over shocking racist slur
Prince Harry spoke out about his ‘bigoted’ behaviour before meeting Meghan Markle, saying he was “naive” when it came to his wife’s ethnicity and the public eye. Harry, 40, spoke openly about his transgressions in an interview with the US TV channel CBS.
Speaking to CBS last year, Harry said of his public relationship with wife Megan, 43: "I went into this incredibly naive. I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. Hell, I was probably bigoted before the relationship with Meghan."
The interviewer, Anderson Cooper, then asked the Prince: "You think you were bigoted before the relationship with Meghan?" Harry replied, considering the question: "I don't know. Put it this way, I didn't see what I now see."
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Harry has also apologised over a shocking racist slur he made in the past, which he opened up about in his book, Spare, which was released last year.
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As the BBC reports, in the memoir, Harry writes that when he was growing up, he heard a racist slur used by "lots of people.” He was referencing an incident from the past - in 2009 footage came out which was filmed a few years earlier, during his military training, which showed him shockingly calling his fellow Sandhurst cadet Ahmed Raza Khan "my little P*** friend".
At the time, the Prince’s handlers released a statement saying: "Prince Harry fully understands how offensive this term can be and is extremely sorry for any offence his words might cause."
Spokesman Patrick Harrison continued: "However, on this occasion three years ago, Prince Harry used the term without any malice and as a nickname about a highly popular member of his platoon. There is no question that Prince Harry was in any way seeking to insult his friend."
More recently, Harry has said that he wanted to issue his own statement, but his father’s staff advised against it.
Writing about the incident in his book, Harry said: "I didn't know [it] was an insult… When I was little, I'd heard lots of people use that word and had never seen anyone scowl or seem upset, and I'd never considered those people [using the word] to be racists.”
He adds: "I was 21, I'd grown up isolated from the real world and surrounded by privileges, and I believed that word was like saying 'Yankee'. Innocuous."
The Prince continues in the book, about the cadet in question: "In any case, Ahmed was the person who mattered… I contacted him directly and asked for his forgiveness. He said he knew I wasn't a racist, that it was alright. But it wasn't alright. And his forgiveness, his natural deference, only made me feel worse."
Though it was first released in 2023, Prince Harry’s best-selling book continues to make headlines. Just last month, Prince Harry's latest move regarding the memoir was called 'great disappointment - but also deemed a move that William and Kate will be celebrating .
