A handful of words from Prince Harry about who wants the royal feud to end has pushed his four-year silence with Prince William back into the spotlight.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, 42, said in a GQ interview published Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026, that he wants to repair his complicated relationships with his brother and with his father, King Charles III.
Harry told GQ: “Some people don’t want it to work out. I want it to work out. With everything else that’s going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile — that’s the key point.” The line names no one. Readers took it anyway as a reference to the brother he has not spoken to in four years.
Absolutely Not Intended as a Swipe
A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said: “It was absolutely not intended as a swipe at his brother or any other member of his family.” The spokesperson added that Harry made the comment in a general context.
GQ’s Zach Baron recorded the conversation in New York in late September for the magazine’s weekly “One More Question” series, and it ran 42 minutes. Baron asked Harry whether he grieves those two relationships, and Harry said he does. Pressed on whether he genuinely wants that outcome, he said he does. Harry framed the breakdown as something strangers raise with him constantly — sibling disagreements, broken relationships between children and their parents.
The interview went live as the royal family welcomed the Sultan of Oman to Windsor Castle at the start of a state visit. A spokesman for the Sussexes said the publisher alone decided when to run it, and that nothing should be read into the date.
Opportunities for the Family
Harry, Meghan and their two children, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, moved back to Britain in late August, six years after the couple stepped down as working royals and settled in California in 2020. Asked why he returned to the U.K., Harry said: “Opportunities for the family. Being able to put the kids in a British school has meant a lot to me. I didn’t know how important it was to me.”
Charles made clear in a letter that the couple came back as private citizens, not working royals. Harry and Meghan carried out three engagements together in Nottingham on Thursday, Oct. 15, their first joint outing since the return.
The king is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer. Asked whether that illness brought on a kind of anticipatory grief, Harry replied: “Yes, but he’s getting better.” Harry saw his father at Highgrove House in July; since the family’s return, the two are not known to have met, though they are believed to have spoken by phone.
Scars Stick Around Forever
The whole conversation grew out of Harry’s MasterClass on grief, “Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss,” which he teaches with neuroscientist Mary-Frances O’Connor. The session runs 90 minutes, and Harry is believed to have been paid up to $100,000 for it. In it he works through coping with the death of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, when he was 12.
“Scars stick around forever,” Harry told GQ, adding that he would encourage everybody to let go of the past and change how they view what has happened to them.
He does not want public sympathy, he said, citing the support network and the therapy available to him as a prince. Telling his own story strips power from other people who would otherwise tell it for him, he added, and staying quiet does not stop the stories.
The brothers were last known to be in each other’s company in August 2024, at the funeral of their uncle Lord Fellowes, and they are not believed to have spoken. Harry’s 2023 memoir, “Spare,” described a 2019 argument at his London home that escalated after William’s remarks about Meghan, which Harry recounted as “difficult,” “rude” and “abrasive.” Harry wrote that his brother grabbed him by the collar, ripped his necklace and knocked him to the floor, where he landed on a dog’s bowl that cracked under his back.
Strip the Sussex Titles
Royal editor Russell Myers was critical of Harry over the interview on a royal podcast: “I mean talking about scars sticking around forever, he was the one who caused these scars.” Deputy royal editor Jennifer Newton suggested Harry may feel this is the only way to communicate with his brother, who reportedly refuses to answer his calls.
Royal author Robert Jobson urged the removal of the couple’s royal status: “Strip the Sussex titles. Take them off the royal website. They don’t do the work, so why are they listed beside those who do?” He also called Harry a “man-child,” writing: “Every time they let this man-child walk all over them, it costs them more.”
Harry had made a similar appeal before, in a May 2025 interview, while still living in the U.S., that he would love to reconcile with his family and saw no point in continuing to fight. The battles he considered necessary have already been fought, he said, and he now hopes to draw a line under the conflict and leave it behind for the greater good.
