Prince Edward said the British royal family’s “rift” with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is “very sad.”
But “families are families,” Queen Elizabeth’s youngest son told CNN’s Max Foster in an interview released on Thursday on what would have been the 100th birthday of his father, the late Prince Philip.
Harry and Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, stepped down from royal duties and moved to the US last year. Tensions rose with the family further following Markle’s bombshell allegations to Oprah Winfrey that she was subjected to racism and other mistreatment as a royal.
Edward sympathised with his nephew and niece-in-law.
“Weirdly we’ve all been there before, we’ve all had excessive intrusion and attention in our lives,” the prince said. “And we’ve all dealt with it in slightly different ways and, listen, we wish them the very best of luck. It’s a really hard decision.”
The birth of Harry and Meghan’s second child, Lilibet “Lili” Diana, last week was “fantastic news,” said Edward. “I hope they will be very happy. It’s, just, families are families aren’t they, really, you know?”
Asked how the queen was handling the rift, Edward said it had been “difficult for everyone, but that’s families for you.” He added that she has been doing “remarkably well” since Philip’s death in April at the age of 99.
The gradual reopening of the United Kingdom amid the easing of coronavirus restrictions was keeping the monarch busy, he said.
“I think there are going to be other times further along the year where I think that it will become a bit more poignant and a bit harder,” he added. “But at the moment … I think that everybody’s in pretty good shape really.”
