'What difference would it make?' Prince Harry asked why he hasn't renounced royal titles
In an interview with CBS to coincide with the official release of his devastating memoir, Spare, Harry indicated he would not drop his title.
Ross McGuinness
9 January 2023, 6:34 am ·3-min read
Prince Harry told CBS show 60 Minutes he has no plans to renounce his royal title. (Getty Images)
Prince Harry has said he and his wife Meghan Markle have no plans to renounce their royal titles.
He told CBS show 60 Minutes the couple intend to remain the Duke and Duchess of Sussex despite stepping away from royal duties and launching a series of attacks on the monarchy.
In the latest attack, a TV interview with CBS show 60 Minutes to coincide with the official release of his devastating memoir, Spare, Harry indicated he would not drop his title.
Asked by interviewer Anderson Cooper if the couple would "renounce your titles as duke and duchess", Harry replied: "And what difference would that make?"
Watch: Harry explains decision to go public in 60 Minutes interview
Cooper continued: "One of the criticisms that you've received is that okay, fine, you wanna move to California, you wanna step back from the institutional role. Why be so public?
"Why reveal conversations you've had with your father or with your brother? You say you tried to do this privately."
Read more: Harry describes 'heartbreaking' moment William used 'secret, three-word code' about Diana
Harry said: "And every single time I've tried to do it privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife.
"You know, the family motto is never complain, never explain. But it's just a motto. And it doesn't really hold."
Prince Harry talked to 60 Minutes host Anderson Cooper for the TV interview. (Getty Images)
The duke and duchess announced in January 2020 their decision step back from their royal commitments, before moving to the US.
A poll conducted by YouGov at the end of last year following the couple's docuseries on Netflix found that 44% of Britons believe Harry should lose his royal title.
In the same TV interview, Harry called his stepmother, Camilla, the Queen Consort, "the villain" and "dangerous".
In his autobiography, Harry writes that Camilla "sacrificed me on her personal PR altar".
In his 60 Minutes interview, he told presenter Cooper: "She was the villain, she was a third person in the marriage, she needed to rehabilitate her image.
Read more: Everything Harry said about estranged William in his interview with Tom Bradby on ITV
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have no plans to renounce their royal titles. (AFP via Getty Images)
"The need for her to rehabilitate her image... that made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press.
"And there was open willingness on both sides to trade information and with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being Queen Consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street because of that."
In a separate TV interview with ITV's Tom Bradby, broadcast in the UK on Sunday evening, Harry accused Camilla of leaking the details of private talks with his brother, William, Prince of Wales, in a "long game" campaign to become Queen.
The TV interviews are the first two of four given by Harry to coincide with the launch of his book, which has sent shockwaves through the Royal Family.
Watch: Harry admits he still questions Diana's 'unexplained' death
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