Prince Harry Opens Up to James Corden About His Royal Exit: “It Was Never Walking Away”

Prince Harry did “what any father would do” when he chose to move his family away from the “toxic press” in his native England, as he told his friend James Corden in an interview on The Late Late Show on Thursday night.

Filmed before the Buckingham Palace announcement that he and Meghan Markle would be stripped of their royal patronages, and Harry of his military roles, Harry used his first interview on American television since his royal exit to emphasize that his life will always be dedicated to duty. “It was never walking away,” he told Corden when asked why he and Meghan decided to walk away. “It was stepping back rather than stepping down.”

Talking on top of a double-decker LA tour bus, Montecito resident Harry revealed that he’s in regular touch with the royal family— as Vanity Fair has previously reported, Harry and the Queen have been talking on Zoom. He included the anecdote that his grandfather Prince has a habit of abruptly ending their video calls by slamming the laptop shut rather than hitting the ‘end call’ button.

In a wide ranging interview that also included a stop by the mansion from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and a tea break on top of the bus, Harry talked about his life with Meghan, their whirlwind courtship and how he knew Meghan was “the one” after two dates, describing their relationship as “0-60 in two months.” He also spoke about their typical evening routine— bedtime for Archie, “Meg” cooks dinner, and they jump in the bed to watch Netflix. 

The Sussexes, of course, have a deal with Netflix, which might make them more avid viewers than most. And Harry even took the opportunity to defend Netflix’s The Crown and its depiction of his family: “They don’t pretend to be news, it’s fictional. Of course it’s not strictly accurate. It gives you a rough idea about what that lifestyle, and what the pressures of putting duty and service and family and everything else, what can come from that. I am way more comfortable with The Crown than I am seeing the stories written about my family, my wife, or myself.”

The interview is a major coup for Corden, who secured Harry’s first American TV interview just over a week before Oprah Winfrey will air her sit-down with the Sussexes on March 7. Both TV hosts were guests at Harry and Meghan’s wedding, suggesting that while they may be finally opening up to the press nearly a year after moving to the United States, they are sticking with interviewers they are entirely comfortable with.

Though the Oprah interview is expected to dive deeper into Harry and Meghan’s reasons for stepping down as senior royals, Harry discussed it with Corden too. “My life is public service, so wherever I am in the world it’s going to be the same thing,” Harry said in the interview. “As far as I’m concerned, whatever decisions are made on that side [in Britain], I will never walk away.”

For all the loyalty Harry expressed for his family in the Corden interview, critics in the UK are accusing his interview of overshadowing the Queen’s recent engagement, a Zoom conversation with healthcare workers to emphasize the importance of getting the vaccine. The Queen opened up about her own experience receiving the shot, and urged those hesitant to “think of people other than themselves.” The release of the Queen’s video call and Harry’s Corden interview is something of a scheduling clash, and one “senior source” told the Daily Mail, “This blurring of the lines doesn’t help anyone. When the Queen speaks like this it is her message that should be heard without other distractions. This lack of coordination is unhelpful.”