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Prince Harry's outburst against Charles likely to deepen rift with William

Watch: Prince Harry: I won't pass down my trauma to my kids

Prince Charles will be "bewildered" by the latest comments from Prince Harry about his childhood and upbringing in the Royal Family as he said he did not want to pass on trauma and suffering to his children.

Roya Nikkah, the royal correspondent for The Sunday Times, warned the newest remarks from Harry may also impact the pace of any reunion with his brother William.

In a podcast with Dax Shepard, Harry spoke about wanting to "break the cycle" in his own parenting, saying he did not want to pass on any pain that his father and mother had gone through to his children.

He said: "There is no blame. I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I’m going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically.

"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’."

Describing his thought process as he thought about Prince Charles's upbringing, he said: "OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he’s treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?"

TOPSHOT - Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R), and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, pose for a photo with their newborn baby son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, in St George's Hall at Windsor Castle in Windsor, west of London on May 8, 2019. (Photo by Dominic Lipinski / POOL / AFP)        (Photo credit should read DOMINIC LIPINSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Harry, Meghan and Archie in Windsor soon after Archie's birth in May 2019. He said he moved them to the US for their mental health. (AFP)

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Nikkah told BBC Radio 4 that the comments were "extraordinary" adding: "The Prince of Wales will be bewildered by this latest outburst, for better or worse most people who know the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry and Prince William will know he did his best as a single parent for a lot of the boys childhood.

"They will be bemused.

"We have seen insights quite recently into the warmth of that relationship, a lot of people remember the image of the Prince of Wales walking Meghan up part of the aisle at their wedding when her own father couldn't attend."

She described Harry's latest remarks as a "second stab coming at Charles so soon after the [Oprah Winfrey] interview".

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She said: "All the speculation about any reconciliation we had over the funeral of Prince Philip, that's not coming anytime soon."

Nikkah said it was her understanding that there had been a brief conversation between Harry and William after the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh at the castle but nothing else.

She added: "The Royal Family would welcome a reconciliation and a warmer relationship with Harry across the pond but at the moment with these constant outbursts that's going to be really difficult and it's going to be very difficult looking forward to July 1st when they unveil statue of Diana.

"William will not have enjoyed hearing his father come under fire again so soon after Oprah. It's going to be tough."

Charles, 73, went to Gordonstoun School in Scotland, because his father had gone there, and enjoyed it. However, he did not like it, and dubbed it 'Colditz in kilts'.

Britain's Princes William (L), Charles (C) and Harry look at a mobile phone during the Invictus Games in the Lee Valley Athletics Centre in north London September 11, 2014. The Invictus Games which will run from September 10-14, is an international sporting event for wounded servicemen and women from 13 countries.   REUTERS/Neil Hall (BRITAIN - tags: SPORT - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT MILITARY SOCIETY ROYALS SPORT)
William, Charles and Harry at the Invictus Games in the Lee Valley Athletics Centre in north London in 2014. (Reuters)

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Gyles Brandreth, biographer of Prince Philip, pointed out on This Morning that Charles chose not to send his children to the same school because of his experience there, but that Princess Anne had wanted to go, and sent her two children, when it opened up to girls as well as boys.

Harry and Meghan's decision to step back as senior members of the Royal Family caused a rift between them and the other working royals, but that divide was deepened in March when they gave an explosive interview with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey detailing their pain inside the palace.

Harry said his brother and father were "trapped" in the system, and claimed Charles had stopped taking his calls in the lead-up to their decision to step back from their roles.

Meghan claimed she had been unable to access mental health support and was left feeling suicidal at one point, while they both levelled an allegation of racism, mentioning a conversation that was had about the colour of their then unborn baby's skin.

Buckingham Palace said they would deal with the matters raised privately.

Harry returned to the UK in April when he was able to attend Prince Philip's funeral, but Meghan was not given medical clearance to fly.

He is next due to be in London in July when he and William are to unveil a statue of Diana, their late mother, in the grounds of Kensington Palace.