Prince Harry is facing some major backlash after calling the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution “bonkers” during a podcast appearance last week.
The Duke of Sussex made the comments on an episode of Dax Shepard and Monica Padman’s Armchair Expert podcast.
While chatting about life in Los Angeles, the prince discussed what he called the media “freezing frenzy” resulting from his stay at film producer and actor Tyler Perry’s Beverly Hills mansion. He specifically took issue with the paparazzi.
“I don’t want to start sort of going down the First Amendment route because that’s a huge subject and one in which I don’t understand because I’ve only been here a short period of time,” Harry said. “But, you can find a loophole in anything. And you can capitalize or exploit what’s not said rather than uphold what is said.”
“I’ve got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers,” he continued.
During the podcast, he also discussed his upbringing in the “privileged” environment of the royal family, likening it to being on The Truman Show, “a zoo” and noting the “pain and suffering” his father, Prince Charles, put him through.
DEMOCRACY WATCH
The openness of the discussion, coupled with the fact that the episode came just a month after Harry went to the U.K. to pay his respects to his late grandfather, Prince Philip, has reportedly left several Palace aides, perplexed as to why Harry hasn’t fully relinquished his royal titles.
“People are appalled that he could do this to the Queen when the Duke of Edinburgh is barely in his grave,’ said one aide. ‘To drag his grandfather into this is so shocking and disrespectful,'” one senior courtier reportedly told The Daily Mail.
“The Duke of Sussex has now spent a significant amount of time emphasizing that he’s no different to anyone else and attacking the institution which he says has caused him so much pain. There is a growing feeling that if you dislike the institution that much, you shouldn’t have the titles,” they added.
Harry spoke about mental health during the podcast and wasn’t afraid to get personal and discuss how his own upbringing shaped his view of the world.
“He treated me the way he was treated,” the Duke of Sussex said of his father on the episode.
Harry added, “I’m gonna make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on. It’s a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway… So we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say, ‘You know what? That happened to me, I’m going to make sure that doesn’t happen to you.’ “
“I know this bit about his life, I also know that’s connected to his parents, so that means that he is treating me the way that he was treated. Which means, ‘How can I change that for my own kids’? And well, here I am, I have now moved my whole family to the U.S.,” Harry further explained. “That wasn’t the plan, do you know what I mean? But sometimes you have got to make decisions and put your family first and your mental health first.”
DISCLAIMER: We only feature things that we love. If you buy something through our posts, we may get a small share of the sale.
