Prince Harry Says He Doesn’t See Himself Returning to Royal Life

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped down from their positions as senior working members of the royal family in early 2020. Now, in a new interview with Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes, Harry is saying that he likely won’t ever return to royal life, per PEOPLE. The Duke of Sussex spoke with the CNN anchor in advance of the release of his memoir, Spare. 

On Monday, 60 Minutes‘ Twitter account released a sneak peek of the interview, which will air on Sunday. At one point, Cooper asked the prince, “Can you see a day when you would return as a full-time member of the royal family?” He replied, “No.” Fans will have to tune in to the program to see how Harry elaborates on that topic. Considering what Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, have already expressed in their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, it’s not totally surprising to see that he wouldn’t want to return to royal life. 

Harry’s interview with Cooper will serve as his first U.S.-based one to discuss his upcoming memoir, which will be released on Jan. 10. He also sat down for a chat with Tom Bradby of ITV to promote the book in the U.K. market. ITV has also released advanced footage from its interview with the Duke of Sussex. In the clip, Harry mirrors much of what he and Meghan had to say in their documentary, as he explained, “It never needed to be this way.” He also addressed “the leaking and the planting” of stories in the British press and even noted that he wants a “family, not an institution.” 

Spare is set to chronicle some major topics, including how Harry navigated the death of his mother, Princess Diana. The title reflects Harry’s position as the “spare” to his brother, Prince William, who is the heir to the British throne. In October, when Spare‘s publisher, Penguin Random House, released the major details about the memoir, the company also shared a description of what the book will cover. 

“It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror. As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on,” the description reads. “For Harry, this is that story at last. With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.”