'Three errors' Prince Harry made in explosive BBC interview after security bid
Prince Harry was said to have made three key errors in an explosive interview he gave to the BBC after losing his legal bid to have his UK police protection reinstated
Prince Harry made several missteps during a BBC interview following the rejection of his appeal against the downgrade of his UK security, according to PR expert David Yelland.
After the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec) removed his high-level police protection when he stepped back from Royal duties and moved to the US with his wife Meghan Markle in 2020, the Duke of Sussex, 40, took his case to court.
However, when the Court of Appeal rejected his challenge, he swiftly gave an interview to the BBC, criticising the decision, urging Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to intervene, and stating that his father, King Charles, refused to speak to him amidst the controversy.
Despite this, Prince Harry expressed a desire for reconciliation with his family.
David Yelland, a former Sun newspaper editor and current public relations advisor, expressed sympathy for Prince Harry but also highlighted his mistakes. On the BBC Radio 4 podcast When It Hits the Fan, Yelland pinpointed three key errors made by the Duke.
Firstly, he noted that Harry "went in hot", saying: "You never go into an interview hot with your blood up. You have to be cool, and he wasn't cool. You can see it in his body language and what he said."
Mr Yelland pointed out that the Duke "was not prepared because he thought he was going to win" the case, and went on to say: "And then the third mistake, which he made probably because he was angry and he did expect to win, is that he volunteered what has become an uncontrollable global news story," reports the Express.
In the controversial interview, Harry mentioned the King's cancer treatment and expressed uncertainty about "how much longer my father has left", sparking widespread criticism for fuelling speculation about Charles's health.
"This interview didn't need to be like this," Mr Yelland remarked. "It could have been so much better, or maybe it didn't need to happen at all, now."
Simon Lewis, Mr Yelland's co-host and former communications secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, highlighted that "the central tenet of PR is often timing – when you choose to do things, and secondly how you choose to do them".
He continued: "There was probably someone advising Harry to go on the offensive straight away after the decision.
"The difficult messages about his perceived mistreatment were communicated very directly, to put it mildly."
Mr Lewis suggested that the Duke might have benefited from a pause before making his statements, adding: "Perhaps he should have delivered some of his messages so much more elegantly – as you say, that reference to how much longer he's got.
"A less confrontational tone might have garnered more sympathy."
In an interview, the Duke, who currently resides in California with Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, expressed his inability to bring his family back to the UK without adequate security measures in place.
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