Prince Harry's interview with British TV channel ITV on January 8 has made headlines in the British and international press. Ahead of the global release of his memoir "Spare" on Tuesday, the prince discussed his book, in which he claims that the British press — especially the tabloids — deliberately stirred conflict within the royal family.

In an unusually muted response, British newspapers across the political spectrum have focused on two subjects from the interview. The first is Harry's claims that he never accused the British family of racism, but merely of unconscious bias toward his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex .

Second, he revealed his conflicted emotions about his stepmother Camilla, the queen consort, which made front-page news in the print edition of British newspaper The Guardian on Monday. He said in the ITV interview that he had asked his father King Charles not to marry Camilla, advising him to be with her without tying the knot. However, Harry claimed to have been very happy for them regardless on their wedding day.

Is the British media going easier on Harry?

In the United Kingdom, the print coverage of the interview has been comparably respectful, perhaps in response to the prince's accusations. Some news media have been publishing more searing headlines online, with The Guardian describing the prince's "fury," although Harry did not appear angry during the interview, emphasizing his current private happiness and his love for his family.

Later in the interview, however, he referred to the British monarchy and royal family as "abusers." "Silence only protects the abuser," he said on the ITV broadcast when questioned about his motives for publishing a memoir while insisting the press respect his privacy. He talked at length about the trauma of his mother's early death. Princess Diana, nicknamed "the people's princess" because of her enduring popularity, died in a car accident in Paris in August 1997 while being pursued by the paparazzi. The accident happened a year after Diana and Charles formally got divorced after years in an unhappy marriage.

Asked whether he would attend his father's coronation on May 6 if he received an invitation, Harry said "a lot can happen between now and then," avoiding a direct answer.

Harry challenges the monarchy

Despite a decade of declining support for the British monarchy among the younger generation in the UK, Harry said in the interview that his problem had never been with the monarchy itself, only with its relationship with the press. He claims the royal family feeds information to the British tabloid press, becoming complicit in the harmful relationship between the public and the crown.

Harry also said in the interview that "the world" was asking for accountability from the British royal family for what they have done to him and his wife, while Commonwealth countries from Australia to Jamaica are discussing the possibility of removing the British monarch as their head of state.

Meanwhile, historians in the UK and politicians in the former colonies have been calling for the royal family and Britain to reckon with its colonial oppression and its part in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Media attention on the Sussexes

Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, courted controversy when they released their Netflix documentary "Harry and Meghan" in December. Since leaving the royal family in 2020 and moving to the US state of California, they have had to make a living on their own.

According to polls from late 2022, prior to the release of the documentary and the prince's memoirs, Harry and Meghan had some of the lowest popularity ratings of the royal family, while heir-to-the-throne William and his wife, Catherine, have topped the popularity charts of the British public since the death of death of Queen Elizabeth II in September.