As anticipation for the royal wedding hits a fever pitch, biographers are taking advantage of the growing excitement by releasing new books in the weeks leading up to the big day.
One of those books, titled “Harry: A Biography of a Prince,” by Angela Levin details the popular red-haired prince’s journey from a reckless troublemaker to a beloved philanthropist. The veteran journalist had exclusive access to Prince Harry and was able to sit down with him for a one-on-one interview for the biography.
Levin told CTV News Channel that she was surprised by the royal’s openness during their chat.
“Suddenly in the middle of a conversation he stopped, and I hadn’t asked anything about his late mother, and he said how terrible he thought it had been that he had to walk behind his mother’s coffin,” she recalled. “That nobody would do that to children now and he thought it was completely wrong.”
The prince shared with Levin how he struggled to come to terms with the death of Diana, Princess of Wales when he was only 12 years old.
“He told me he would bury his head in the sand. He said he refused to let himself think about it,” Levin said. “It must have been in the forefront of his mind, waiting to come out for 20 years.”
In addition to his thoughts on his late mother, Prince Harry talked to Levin about the pressures of being a member of the Royal Family.
“He also said things like, ‘Nobody really wants to be king or queen’ and that was a reference to the fact that they want a private life. He and [Prince] William want to have privacy. They want to do their duty but they also want privacy,” she said.
Levin’s biography details the prince’s partying past and how he eventually matured into the man he is today.
“He’s got the qualities that you can’t actually learn like being empathetic with people, charismatic, all those sorts of things,” she said. “He’s the most extraordinary young man and I think that really surprised me how extraordinary he is.”
A royal romance
Along with writings about Prince Harry himself, the prince’s relationship with American actor Meghan Markle has also taken centre stage in the weeks before their wedding. The biography “Harry: Life, Loss, And Love” delves into the whirlwind romance between the pair.
After interviewing nearly 100 people with knowledge of the Royal Family and Prince Harry, author Kate Nicholl wrote about the prince’s past as well as his present life with Markle in her new book. She told CTV News Channel that Markle is a real departure for Prince Harry when compared to his former girlfriends Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas.
“What she does bring to the table is a wealth of experience. She is older. Some may say she is wiser. Without a doubt she’s a deft hand with dealing the media. She’s incredibly confident and poised in front of the cameras,” Nicholl explained on Wednesday. “I think the fact that she’s been able to handle herself so well, that she wasn’t immediately put off by the spotlight as the other girlfriends had been, was probably a real draw for Prince Harry.”
Although she will be able to enjoy the perks and privileges of royalty, Markle will have to sacrifice a lot in her new role, Nicholl said.
“She’s giving up her nationality, her acting career, she’s giving up a huge amount and that leap into what is often referred to as the gold fish bowl of royalty is a seismic leap. It’s a huge transition,” she said. “She is saying goodbye to an old life.”
As for the wedding itself, Nicholl said this wedding will be different from the Duke of Duchess of Cambridge’s elaborate affair. Heads of state and foreign royals will be swapped for close friends and family instead.
“This is a big royal wedding with all of the pomp and pageantry that we would expect of it, but actually, it’s very much a family wedding,” she said.
