Resurfaced Video Shows Prince Harry Feeling 'Nervous' to See The Royal Family: "It's Like Living..."

A recently resurfaced clip of Prince Harry admitting feeling ‘nervous’ and ‘distant’ from the royal family during his final engagement as a senior royal has gone viral on TikTok. The footage, from the 2022 Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan, shows Harry describing the ‘cold’ reception he and his wife, Meghan Markle, got from family members during the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey in March 2020. The video has since garnered over 270,000 views and nearly 7,000 likes.

In the documentary, Harry recalled the tension of the day, describing the unease he felt in reuniting publicly with the royal family following the announcement of his and Markle's plans to step down. "We were nervous seeing the family," he said. "Because all the TV cameras and everyone watching at home and everybody watching in the audience...it’s like living through a soap opera where everybody else views you as entertainment."

Markle also reflected, stating that it was "the first time we saw the other members of the family in public" since their decision to relocate to the US. The Duke of Sussex went on to describe a sense of separation from his family, emphasizing how much royal protocol focused on appearances over personal feelings. “I felt really distant from the rest of my family,” he shared, adding, "It looked cold. But it also felt cold."

The tension in Harry's expression and body language was visible according to observers at the event. Some mentioned that Harry appeared ‘tense and unsmiling’ throughout the ceremony. One onlooker stated that his expression seemed ‘gloomier’ as the service progressed and that his blinking suggested he may have been ‘fighting back tears.’ The clip also references an earlier incident in the rift between Harry and his family, detailing a confrontation with Prince William that Harry wrote about in his memoir, Spare.

In the book, Harry recalls an altercation in which William allegedly described Markle as ‘difficult,’ ‘rude,’ and ‘abrasive,’ as reported by The Guardian. According to Harry, the confrontation escalated to physical aggression, with William allegedly grabbing him by the collar, ripping his necklace, and pushing him to the floor. Disclosing the fallout from the incident, Harry alleged a lack of support from his family. He said, “Reaction was about as expected…Silence. They never commented publicly, never said anything privately to me. I never heard from Pa, never heard from Granny.”

Harry also questioned the family’s response to Markle's treatment, expressing his disappointment in what he saw as a lack of support for his wife. “It made me think, really think, about the silence that surrounded everything else that happened to me and Meg,” he shared. “Was it all fake? Was it all just a show? Because if we couldn’t stand up for one another, rally around our newest member, our first biracial member, then what were we really?”