'Really horrible reaction' by royal family on day queen died, says Harry

Prince says royal family did not gather to 'celebrate life of Granny and mourn her loss'

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, cries as she, Prince Harry, Queen Consort Camilla and King Charles attend the state funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth in London on September 19, 2022. Reuters

There was a “really horrible reaction” among the royal family on the day of Queen Elizabeth’s death, Prince Harry has said.

He told ITV's Tom Bradby of how his family was “on the back foot” when the monarch died in September, and that he witnessed “leaking and planting”.

It was reported that he claimed in his memoir, Spare, that his wife Meghan was “not welcome” at Balmoral, and that the king told Prince Harry not to bring his wife.

Prince Harry said to his father: “Don’t ever speak about my wife that way,” according to The Telegraph.

Speaking about September 8, he told Bradby: “The day that she died was just a really, really horrible reaction from my family members.

“And then by all accounts, well certainly from what I saw and what other people probably experienced, was they were on the back foot and then the briefings and the leaking and the planting.

“I was like, ‘We’re here to celebrate the life of Granny and to mourn her loss. Can we come together as a family?’ But I don’t know how we collectively — how we change that.”

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In the controversial tell-all book Spare, Prince Harry also recounts his final words to his grandmother when he visited her body at Balmoral.

“I whispered that I hoped she was happy and that she was with grandfather now," he said.

“I said that I admired her for having carried out her duties until the end: the jubilee, the welcoming of the new prime minister."