Prince Harry’s GQ “One More Question” video came out on Tuesday, mid-morning in the US, and soon after the Sultan of Oman’s state visit began in the UK. I doubt Harry chose the timing of the video drop. He gave the interview last month, and GQ held onto it until now for some reason. I would assume GQ chose the timing. Predictably, the interview has aggravated many in royal circles. Not so predictably, many Sussex fans are also rolling their eyes over the interview too, just for completely different reasons. It’s interesting that the royal system is so addicted to responding to the Sussexes though – it would be wiser, especially in this particular instance, for the palace to stay silent and allow Sussex fans to drag Harry all on their own. The royal establishment is invested in keeping this a binary choice too – you’re either a royalist or a Sussex fan, and there’s no middle ground and no nuance. Anyway, Becky English had the big exclusive from her “royal sources,” meaning this is how the palace feels about the GQ interview:

Yet as the pomp and the pageantry of the [Sultan of Oman’s state visit] unfolded, the former working royal known as Prince Harry was dropping another of his ‘truth bombs’ in what is fast becoming a rather repetitive one-man pity party. Seemingly sticking a boot into his brother, Prince William, he somewhat disingenuously referred to ‘sibling disagreements’, a rather quaint way of describing the decidedly one-way volley of attacks in recent years.

‘Some people don’t want it to work it out… I want it to work out… with everything else that is going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile,’ Harry sighed, in what most people have interpreted as a sly dig at the future king.

Since sibling hostility is fast becoming one of his few remaining selling-points, might we be tempted to consider this to be a cunning double-bluff? Perhaps. ‘There’s enough drama in the world and enough drama in people’s lives than to continue with issues with family,’ Harry went on to opine of the family implosion he created and continues to stoke on a depressingly regular basis.

Who knows whether he will ever see the irony of the situation. Many have fumed at the timing of the interview. He just couldn’t help himself, could he, they seethed. The honest truth is that the prince probably had no idea that a State Visit was going on and, even if he had, wouldn’t have been minded to stop it. And that tells you a lot.

It’s worth noting, someone reminded me yesterday, that Harry never attended a full State Visit when he was a working royal (although, according to his pals, it’s patronising not to call him one now since he is, apparently, both working and a royal). In 2019, he kept an awkward distance from US President Trump at only the private lunch at Buckingham Palace. (Meghan – who the Leader of the Free World previously described as ‘nasty’ – happily managed to swerve it as she was on maternity leave.)

Yesterday, Palace aides were once again keeping their counsel at the latest badly timed bombshell from the prince, with only the merest hint of a raised eyebrow at the news that it had been dropped smack bang in the middle of their State Visit. To be fair, they are almost used to it now and, frankly, they had bigger fish to fry.

But as a senior figure in royal circles said to me the other day after last week’s public appearance by the Sussexes (and yet another round of claims that all Harry wants is ‘peace’): ‘Does he really think everyone has collective amnesia after the last few years?’

And that’s the issue. What Harry says is so very different from what he does. Or as another source pithily put it: ‘If he really does want reconciliation, why doesn’t he just bloody shut up about it?’

[From The Daily Mail]

My take is that Buckingham Palace is furious at being overshadowed once again, this time during a state visit which most people weren’t even paying attention to in the first place. I mean, the Windsors did another fancy carriage ride through Windsor and once again, the barricades were empty and it looked like some rain-soaked tumbleweeds rolled past. And then there’s Prince William, off to the side, angry about something else entirely – angry that Harry is publicly getting in his face and putting it out there that William doesn’t want reconciliation. Anyway, as I said at the start – this probably wasn’t Harry’s timing and even if it was, yeah, Harry does not give a sh-t.

Also, just as a sidenote: everything started moving between Harry and his father last year, soon after Harry’s BBC interview. The palace has taught Harry that whenever he speaks publicly, whenever he calls them out on camera, it moves the needle and they’ll start talking to him (to get him to shut up). I think that’s probably in the back of Harry’s mind – that the GQ interview will probably move the needle and break whatever stalemate has been happening behind-the-scenes.

A literal gilded carriage transporting the Prince and Princess of Wales + the Sultan of Oman past empty crowd barriers is certainly sending a message. https://t.co/dUm34Ov9CF

— Henry VIII (@SussexHenryVIII) October 20, 2026

Photos courtesy of Cover Images, screencaps courtesy of GQ’s video.