Prince Harry compares Royal family life to 'living in a zoo', talks about 'genetic pain'

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's splitsville from the Royal family kept the internet buzzing with the Oprah interview revelations plunging the monarchy into its biggest crisis since Princess Diana's death in 1997. Now, in a recent interview, Harry compared his royal experience to being on The Truman Show and "living in a zoo". He further revealed that he contemplated quitting Royal life on several occasions while in his 20s.

Harry said his life felt like 1998 Jim Carrey film The Truman Show that tells a story about Truman Burbanks life being televised through hidden cameras. The Duke of Sussex appeared on the Armchair Expert podcast on May 13 and spoke candidly with host Dax Shepard about issues he faced while living in the Royal family. Further, he also threw light on keeping his relationship with Meghan Markle a secret and dealing with the UK media scrutiny.

Harry wanted to quit Royal life in his 20s

"I don't want this job, I don't want to be here, I don't want to be doing this. Look what it did to my mum," the 36-year-old Harry said. In 1997, his mother Diana died in a car crash at the age of 36 while being pursued by paparazzi in Paris.

He said he had been forced to “grin and bear it”, but added: “I’ve seen behind the curtain, I’ve seen the business model, I know how this operation runs and how it works. I don’t want to be part of this. It’s a mix of being in The Truman Show and being in the zoo.”

“Genetic pain and suffering”

Prince Harry also criticised the way he was raised by his father Prince Charles, discussing the “genetic pain and suffering” in the British royal family. He further stressed that he wanted to “break the cycle” for his children while admitting that "there is no blame."

Discussing his childhood, Harry 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.’”

Life in US feels free

Harry, who now lives in Montecito near Los Angeles with his wife Meghna and son Archie, shifted to the US last year after withdrawing as senior members of UK's Royal family. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved from the UK to north America before relocating permanently to California. Last July, the couple relocated from Los Angeles and made a stunning $14.65 million Montecito Santa Barbara property their family home.

“And well here I am, I moved my whole family to the US, that wasn’t the plan but sometimes you’ve got make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first.”

He feels more liberated after he and his family moved to California. “I can actually lift my head and I feel different, my shoulders have dropped, so have hers, you can walk around feeling a little bit more free, I can take Archie on the back of my bicycle, I would never have had the chance to do that.”

Harry started therapy after speaking to Meghan

During the 90-minute-long show, Harry revealed that he started therapy after a conversation with his wife, Meghan, who “saw it straight away”. He said therapy had helped him “pluck his head out of the sand” and made him realise he needed to use his privileged position to help others. Harry also revealed that he never dealt properly with the death of Princess Diana and therefore started having mental health issues in his 20’s.

He said, “It was a conversation that I had with my now wife. She saw it. She saw it straight away. She could tell that I was hurting and some of the stuff that was out of my control was making me really angry. It would make my blood boil.”

“I’ve never screamed, I’ve never shouted. … For me, prior to meeting Meghan, it was very much a case of certainly connected to the media that anger and frustration of ‘This is is so unjust," he said. 

(With inputs from AP)