Prince Harry has critiqued his father many times in the past, both in speaking to reporters and in his memoir, Spare, but during his most recent public appearance in Australia, he called him out directly. While talking about parenting and how fatherhood has changed his life, he spoke about wanting to be a better parent than those he was raised by. Keep reading for more information.
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Prince Harry Speaks On Fatherhood; Wanting To Be A Better Parent
At an event hosted by Movember during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's four-day trip to Australia, the father-of-two spoke about his thoughts on parenting, drawing on his experience with his own children, Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4.
"I see parenting evolving over time," he said. "Our kids are our upgrade. Not to say that I upgraded my dad or that my kids upgraded me, but the kids that we bring up in today's world need to be upgraded."
"There's no judgement, there's no blame, there's no pointing the finger," he added. "The reality is that–however you are parenting—that is a personal experience to you, you are going to want to improve on that. Obviously, 40 years ago, there wasn’t social media, so that’s just one example of conversations that are now happening in households between kids and parents that never existed between me and my parents."
Prince Harry also spoke about the importance of therapy, explaining that before he and Meghan even had kids, he was in therapy discussing the effect fatherhood might have on him. "Certainly from a therapy standpoint, you want to be the best version of yourself for your kids," he explained. "And I knew that I had stuff from the past that I needed to deal with, and therefore prepare myself to basically cleanse myself of the past."
Getting vulnerable, he also explained that he felt there was a "disconnection" in the early days of fatherhood. "Certainly I felt a disconnection because my wife was the one creating life, and I was there to witness it," he said.
Social Media Reactions
Across social media platforms, many critics responded quite negatively to Harry's speech, saying if he's trying to be a better parent, he's not doing a great job of it. "Isolated his children from family and cousins," one person wrote on Instagram. "You're doing great, haz!"
"He always has to make a dig at his father or family," another wrote. "He just can't resist hurting them. Surely he can leave them out of his banal monologues."
"Well you are not," another said. "Your children have no relationship with their family and their cousins. They will not be happy when they are Adults, when they realize what you denied them, Family."
"He doesn't have to name drop his father whenever he wants to say whatever he wants to," another user posted.
"He says while going on another 'royal tour' without his kids!" pointed out the next.
"Try being a better brother," another person jabbed.
"Blaming in public, hate it so much," a final user wrote.
