In advance of his full “60 Minutes” interview, airing tonight, January 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET on CBS, immediately following the network’s NFL coverage, the veteran news program has released clips of Anderson Cooper’s conversation with Prince Harry. In them, Harry talks about how he was “incredibly naïve” about how the British press would treat his relationship with his now-wife Meghan Markle. Harry also noted the relationship has given him a new awareness.
“What Meghan had to go through was similar in some part to what [Princess] Kate and what [Queen Consort] Camilla went through – very different circumstances,” Harry tells Cooper in one clip. “But then you add in the race element, which was what the press, British press jumped on straight away. I went into this incredibly naïve. I had no idea the British press were so bigoted. Hell, I was probably bigoted before the relationship with Meghan.”
In a follow-up, Cooper asked Harry, “You think you were bigoted before the relationship with Meghan?” In his answer, Harry says, “I don’t know.” He further notes, “Put it this way, I didn’t see what I now see.”
Harry’s sitdown with Cooper is his first on American television where he talks about the contents of his new memoir, “Spare,” which is set for release on Tuesday, January 10.
In talking about why he and Meghan’s move away from the royal family became so public, Harry says, “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.” He then pointed out, “You know, the family motto is never complain, never explain, but it’s just a motto.”
On that note, Cooper comments, “There’s a lot of complaining and a lot of explaining … being done through leaks.”
In his answer, Harry says, “They will feed or have a conversation with the correspondent.” He adds, “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.”
Prince Harry’s interview with Anderson Cooper on “60 Minutes” airs tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET on CBS and will also be available to stream on Paramount+.