Prince Harry "wanted out" of royal family once, he tells newspaper
LONDON -- Prince Harry says he once "wanted out" of the British royal family.
In an interview published in the Mail on Sunday, the prince said the time he spent in the army was "the best escape I've ever had" and that he thought about giving up his title.
He said: "I felt I wanted out, but then decided to stay in and work out a role for myself."
Harry, 32, is fifth in line to the throne.
The comments followed an interview published in Newsweek in which he said he doubted anyone in the royal family wanted to be king or queen.
He said his family "will carry out our duties at the right time" and that they're "not doing this for ourselves, but for the greater good of the people."
As Harry and his brother, Prince William, near the 20th anniversary of the death of their mother, Princess Diana, they have become more outspoken in talking about their own psychological issues -- and have made mental health awareness their signature charity.
Harry opened up to Newsweek about being in the public eye in the troubling days following his mother's death. Seven days after Diana died in a Paris car accident, Harry, William, Prince Charles, their grandfather, Prince Philip, and uncle, Earl Spencer, walked in a procession behind her coffin through the streets of London -- an experience, Harry said, no child should experience.
"I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today," Harry told Newsweek.
In an interview with "CBS This Morning" in 2016, he said he hoped his work on the Invictus Games, a competition of wounded service men and women from around the world that he launched in 2014, would make his mother proud.
"What do you think your mother, Princess Diana, would think about what you've done here for veterans?" co-host Norah O'Donnell asked him.
"I'd hope she'd be incredibly proud," Harry said. "I hope she'd be sitting up there having her own little party and looking down thinking what we've achieved because it's a massive team effort. What we've achieved is absolutely brilliant."