Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II in London in June 2022. PA
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II in London in June 2022. PA
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II in London in June 2022. PA
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leave after a service of thanksgiving for the reign of Queen Elizabeth II in London in June 2022. PA

Prince Harry admits he was 'probably bigoted' before his relationship with Meghan Markle


Gillian Duncan
  • English
  • Arabic

Prince Harry has said he was “probably bigoted” before his relationship with Meghan Markle.

In a new teaser for an interview with CBS News in the US, which is due to air on Sunday, the Duke of Sussex speaks about how he “didn't see what I now see”.

He says “the race element” to the couple's relationship had been “jumped on straight away” by the British press, adding he had no idea how “bigoted” UK media was until his wife and their relationship were thrust into the spotlight.

“I went into this incredibly naive. I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. Hell, I was probably bigoted before the relationship with Meghan.”

Interviewer Anderson Cooper responds by asking the duke: “You think you were bigoted before the relationship with Meghan?”

The duke replies: “I don't know. Put it this way, I didn't see what I now see.”

The interview is part of a media blitz the prince is making ahead of the release of his autobiography Spare on Tuesday.

Final part of Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary released — in pictures

Other interviews will be broadcast in the coming days on ITV and GMB in the UK, as well as a separate appearance on the Late Show on CBS in the US.

The book, whose release was supposed to be tightly controlled, was accidentally put on sale early in Spain. Material has also been leaked by The Guardian in the UK, which obtained a copy in the US.

It does not appear to reveal any more race allegations, following bombshell claims in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s recent Netflix series.

In it, Prince Harry claimed he and Meghan suffered with racism from the outset, and were not supported by his family.

The documentary also referenced when Princess Michael of Kent wore a Blackamoor-style brooch to an event the Duchess of Sussex attended in 2017.

Prince Harry said: “There is a huge level of unconscious bias. It is education, it is awareness. It is a constant work in progress for everybody, including me.”

In another clip from the upcoming 60 Minutes interview, due to air on Sunday, the Duke of Sussex explained why his move away from the royal family has been so public.

“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,” Prince Harry told Mr Cooper. “You know, the family motto is never complain, never explain, but it's just a motto.”

“There's a lot of complaining and a lot of explaining … being done through leaks,” Mr Cooper suggested.

“They will feed or have a conversation with the correspondent,” said the prince.

“And that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story. And at the bottom of it they will say that they've reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment. But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting. So when we're being told for the last six years, 'We can't put a statement out to protect you'. But you do it for other members of the family. It becomes — there becomes a point when silence is betrayal.”

In a teaser for another interview scheduled to air on the same day in the UK with ITV, the prince speaks about seeing “the red mist” in his brother during a confrontation in which he alleged Prince William knocked him to the floor.

“He wanted me to hit him back, but I chose not to,” he tells ITV News at Ten presenter, Tom Bradby.

A poster advertising the forthcoming publication of the book 'Spare' by Prince Harry, in the window of a book store in London on January 6. AFP
A poster advertising the forthcoming publication of the book 'Spare' by Prince Harry, in the window of a book store in London on January 6. AFP

“What was different here was the level of frustration, and I talk about the red mist that I had for so many years, and I saw this red mist in him.”

Mr Bradby, who is a friend of Prince Harry's, says: “Wouldn't your brother say to you, 'Harry, how could you do this to me after everything? After everything we went through?' Wouldn't that be what he would say?”

He replies: “He would probably say all sorts of different things.”

Asked if he will attend his father's coronation later this year, he said: “There's a lot that can happen between now and then but the door is always open, the ball is in their court.”

In another excerpt from the interview, the prince said: “I would like to get my father back; I would like to have my brother back.”

Without saying exactly who he is referring to, he adds “they feel as though it is better to keep us somehow as the villains”, and “have shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile”.

Prince William and Prince Harry through the years — in pictures

TO A LAND UNKNOWN

Director: Mahdi Fleifel

Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa

Rating: 4.5/5

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It is considered to be the US's most superior missile defence system.

Production:

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THAAD is designed to take out  ballistic missiles as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".

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THAAD can target projectiles inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 150 kilometres above the Earth's surface.

Creators:

Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.

UAE and THAAD:

In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then stationed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

What is graphene?

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.

It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.

Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.

By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.

At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.

It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.

But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.

In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties. 

 

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Updated: January 06, 2023, 1:04 PM