It’s hard to know exactly what’s going on between Prince Harry and the other members of the royal family from whom he is estranged. Some reports say the prince and his wife Meghan Markle are eager to mend the rift, while others suggest their relationship with King Charles III is at an all-time low. Either way, Sir Ian McKellen knows which side of the feud he’s backing, as he describes Harry’s situation — and being born into royalty in general — as being in “prison.”
Prince Harry has spoken at length about his life as the son of Charles and Diana, making some wild revelations about the royal family along the way. He's done so via his memoir Spare and the docuseries Harry & Meghan (available with a Netflix subscription), not to mention the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview he and Markle did in 2021. It all sounds perfectly dreadful to Ian McKellen, who told The Times (UK):
I’m most definitely on Harry’s side. … Imagine being born into the royal family. I’ve been in public life a bit, but these people are in prison. They can’t do anything normal. Can you imagine having to be nice to everyone you talk to?
Sir Ian McKellen definitely knows a thing or two about life in the public eye, having enjoyed a six-decade career on stage and screen (one that he hopes to continue after he recovers from a bad fall during a performance in June). However, even what he’s experienced doesn’t compare to what Prince Harry and his family endure, likely in part because the Duke of Sussex didn’t ask for the life he was born into.
When it comes to the expectation of being nice to everyone they encounter, that’s something the Lord of the Rings actor has experienced first-hand, as he said Queen Elizabeth II was “quite rude” the few times he met her. The strongly opinionated actor also had some blunt thoughts about other members of the royal family and expounded on his feelings about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, saying:
Hats off to anyone who manages to stay sane in that world. Like the [late] Duke of Edinburgh managed to do, although even he was deeply, deeply eccentric and I suspect deeply unhappy. Same with the present king. He sort of survives, but he is clearly damaged. As for Harry, he’s probably not bright enough or doesn’t have the right friends to really help himself. Mind you, he had the pick of all the pretty women in the world. I hope he’s got the right one.
Prince Harry certainly has made his choice, choosing Meghan Markle’s safety — and that of their two children — over many of the perks he inherited at birth. Whether the relationship can be salvaged between him and his father remains to be seen, or between him and Prince William, as the younger brother wrote about the Prince and Princess of Wales in Spare.
The memoir is being released in paperback form next month, but contrary to some reports, no new chapters will be included. That’s at least one step in the direction of reconciliation, if that’s what Prince Harry is looking for.
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