PRINCE Harry should “drop out of public life and keep his mouth shut”, claims Princess Diana’s former private secretary.
The Duke of Sussex notoriously stepped back from royal duties in 2020 but has frequently criticised his family in the years that have followed.
These included slamming his family in his bombshell Spare memoir and during his explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Patrick Jephson, who worked for Princess Diana and knew Prince Harry as a young man, said to Grazia: “What is Harry for?
“No one can really answer that and I’m not sure if he can.
“There is a basic inconsistency with what he says he wants and what he’s doing.
“He says he wants a private life, but if you want that freedom, you get a job, drop out of public life, keep your mouth shut and certainly don’t criticise the constitution of your adopted country.”
Harry’s quest for peace
After making his official Megxit announcement, Prince Harry said in a Sentebale speech in Kensington that he hoped their decision would lead to a “more peaceful” life.
He said: “What I want to make clear is: we aren’t walking away and we are certainly not walking away from you.
“Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the Commonwealth and my military associations but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible.
“I’ve accepted this, knowing that it doesn’t change who I am or how committed I am, but I hope that helps you understand what it had come to.
“That I would step my family back from all I have ever known, to take a step forward into what I hope could be a more peaceful life.”
His post-royal ventures have included doing overseas tours to Nigeria in May and Colombia in August, with more in the pipeline.
The Sussexes also signed a £18million deal with Spotify, which has since come to an end, a £80 Netflix deal and they also run their Archewell Foundation.
Harry quitting the royals
Since stepping down, the couple have criticised the royal family via a number of outlets, including their Oprah chat.
During the talk they made a series of damning revelations, including how two royals allegedly questioned the colour of Prince Archie’s skin tone.
Then came Harry and Meghan’s Netflix docuseries, followed by Prince Harry’s Spare book.
In this he recalled an alleged altercation with his brother William which ended with him falling into a dog bowl.
Harry’s father King Charles was also in the firing line for criticism.
He says he wants a private life, but if you want that freedom, you get a job, drop out of public life, keep your mouth shut and certainly don’t criticise the constitution of your adopted country
Patrick Jephson
Harry laid into his father for not hugging him after the death of his mother, Diana, the late Princess of Wales.
He also revealed how William disapproved of Harry’s marriage to Meghan and once called her “difficult,” “rude” and “abrasive.”
Meanwhile, Harry branded Camilla the “villain” and a “wicked stepmother” and accused her of leaking stories to the media about Prince William.
William snub
It comes after The Sun revealed William and Harry stood “virtually back to back” at their uncle’s memorial service.
Harry secretly dashed from his US home to the service for Lord Robert Fellowes, who was married to Princess Diana’s sister Jane.
But the Duke of Sussex and his brother did not exchange a word at Thursday’s memorial in the Norfolk village of Snettisham.
One mourner told The Sun: “They were only five yards from each other.”
William and Harry chatted to mourners as they mingled at their uncle’s memorial service.
At one point the princes were standing “virtually back to back” at the wake.
But both left separately without seemingly exchanging a word, onlookers said.
The Sun revealed Harry, 39, jetted in secret from the US after previously saying he could not attend due to security fears.
A timeline of Prince Harry's family feud
The first hints of friction reportedly came after William was introduced to Meghan when she was staying at Kensington Palace.
Once she’d returned home to Canada, William and Harry sat down for a brother-to-brother chat.
He knew Harry was already head-over-heels for her but it has been claimed he advised him to take it slowly.
The younger prince reportedly didn’t take too kindly to the advice, with one royal source saying he “went mental”.
Then in June 2019 Harry and Meghan officially split off from the charity they shared with William and Kate.
The Royal Foundation will be divided between the Sussexes and Cambridges as the couples focus on their own separate charitable endeavours.
Prince William and Prince Harry first established the Royal Foundation in 2009 before Kate joined two years later shortly after their engagement was announced.
The trio would often appear together at events and the Foundation had huge successes with projects like the Invictus Games for injured veterans and the mental health Heads Together campaign.
The Royal Foundation said the decision was made following the conclusion of a review into its structure – but added both couples will continue to work together in the future.
Harry and Meg were living in close proximity to Kate and Wills within the Kensington Palace estate, but they switched to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor before baby Archie was born.
The move further increased rumours of a fallout.
Harry also hinted in his ITV documentary “Harry and Meghan, An African Journey” that he and his brother had grown apart.
In 2021, Harry and Meghan give their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey where Harry accused his dad of cutting him off financially.
Harry then jetted back to UK to join William in unveiling a statue to their mother Princess Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace. But sources claimed William didn’t want to attend the memorial amid their ongoing rift.
In 2022, just before their grandmother the Queen died, sources claimed Kate acts as a “peacemaker” between the brothers.
Harry claimed his brother “knocked him to the floor” during an argument about Meghan, in his memoir.
In Spare, Harry said William branded Meghan “rude” and “difficult” during a row.
Harry alleged William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.
He said he was left with a visible injury to his back following the argument in 2019 at Nottingham Cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace, where he was living at the time.
In January this year, Harry flew in to be with Charles after the monarch’s shock cancer diagnosis.
Harry flew back to the US the following day – without seeing Wills.
In May he visited the UK for a three-day visit without seeing King Charles or Prince William.