Prince Harry and Charles reflect on father-son relationship and ‘talking for hours’ in unearthed clip

Prince of Wales calls youngest son ‘darling boy’ in radio interview from 2017

Kate Ng
Tuesday 18 May 2021 06:23 EDT
Comments
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle on 17 April 2021 in Windsor
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex during the funeral of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle on 17 April 2021 in Windsor (Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

A resurfaced interview between Prince Harry and his father, the Prince of Wales, reveals what their relationship was like behind closed doors.

In the clip from BBC Radio 4’s Today programme in 2017, Harry and Charles spoke fondly about being about to “talk for hours”.

The interview clip from four years ago was guest-edited by Harry himself. The father and son talked about climate change and agreed it was the biggest issue facing the world.

Charles said he focused his attention on the climate crisis, adding that people were “beginning to realise that what I was trying to say may not have been quite as dotty as they thought”.

He continued: “At the root of it all, much of it, is climate change which is causing untold horrors in different parts of the world.”

Harry told his father there was “so much hope” among younger people in terms of finding solutions to combat the problem.

“In order for us to make our mark on this planet and in order to be able to preserve it then we have to a) work together but b) also look after nature and allow it to give us those clues that you so rightly talk about,” he said.

Harry added: “We could talk about this for hours and hours, which we always do, but not with a microphone in front of us.

“I totally see it and I totally understand it because of all these years and conversations we’ve been having.”

Charles replied: “Well, darling boy, it makes me very proud to think that you understand.”

In recent weeks, the Duke of Sussex has talked candidly about his father passing on “genetic pain” from “suffering” during his childhood and wanting to “break that cycle” for his own family.

During an interview last week with actor Dax Shepard, host of the Armchair Expert podcast, Harry said: “When it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on.

“We as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say ‘you know what, that happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you’.”

The Duke of Sussex also revealed earlier this year that there was a “lot of hurt” between him and Charles.

In the Sussexes’ bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harry claimed that Charles had stopped taking his calls after the couple stepped down from royal duties in March 2020.

Harry said: “I will always love him. There’s a lot of hurt that’s happened. I will continue to make it one of my priorities to heal that relationship.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in