HARRY once said his father and brother were “trapped” in a “toxic” royal system — and that he was simply the one who managed to get out.

In a 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, the Duke of Sussex said he’d initially “didn’t see a way out” before leaving the UK in 2020. “I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped,” he said, adding that King Charles III and Prince William were “trapped” too. Harry also stressed he couldn’t speak for William when asked if his brother wanted to leave.

Harry told Winfrey his father had “had to make peace with it” when asked why Charles stayed in what was described as a “toxic environment”. He also said watching Meghan Markle struggle inside royal life changed how he saw the family’s approach, recalling he went “to a very dark place” and felt “ashamed” to admit it to them. He said he felt he had “no one to turn to,” and described a family mindset of, “this is just how it is. You can’t change it. We’ve all been through it.”

That old view now sits awkwardly alongside the latest development: Harry is moving back to the UK with Markle and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

The shift comes after years of public strain between Harry and William. Tension has been ongoing since 2018, and escalated following Harry’s tell-all interviews, the 2022 Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” and his 2023 memoir, “Spare.” An insider recently told People the brothers’ relationship remains “so broken,” with another source claiming there’s been “no contact.”

Harry has also spoken warmly about raising his children in the US. At the 2024 New York Times DealBook Summit, he said life in America felt like what his late mother, Princess Diana, wanted for him, and that being in the US let him do things with his kids he “undoubtedly wouldn’t be able to do in the UK.” Earlier that year, he said on “Good Morning America” that US citizenship had crossed his mind, though it wasn’t a priority.

The Sussexes recently travelled in Europe with their children, including a visit to Diana’s childhood home, Althorp, where Markle shared family photos on Instagram. Their Althorp trip followed a family meeting at Highgrove House, where King Charles and Queen Camilla welcomed Harry, Meghan, and the children — and Charles saw his grandchildren for the first time in four years.