Prince Harry clearly had some things to say to the world after he learned Friday that he had lost his U.K. court appeal over the levels of taxpayer-funded police security that he and his family receive when they’re on British soil.

So, the aggrieved son of King Charles III relied on Meredith Maines, the new chief communications officer for his and Meghan Markle’s Archewell Foundation, to arrange an interview with the BBC. But like the disastrous BBC interview of Harry’s uncle, Prince Andrew, “it’s a wonder that anyone thought this would be a good idea,” Times U.K. assistant royal editor Kate Manley wrote over the weekend.

Maines apparently thought it was a good idea. Or she was goaded into it by Harry, who ended up unleashing a “tsunami” of a media event that probably won’t get him what he wants in terms of security, reconciliation with his family or the ability to spend more time in the U.K. and return to the good will of the British public.

As the king and other royal family members led VE Day commemorations Monday, the reverberations of Harry’s bombshell interview are still being felt, and some of the scrutiny is likely to fall on the Duke of Sussex’s communications team, led by Maines.

(From L to R) Britain’s Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Britain’s Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Britain’s King Charles III, Britain’s Queen Camilla, Britain’s Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain’s Prince George of Wales, Britain’s Prince Louis of Wales, Britain’s Catherine, Princess of Wales and Britain’s Princess Charlotte of Wales watch the flypast over Buckingham Palace after attending the armed forces procession on May 5, 2025 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day also known as Victory in Europe Day, marking the end of the Second World War in Europe. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP) (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images) 

According to the Daily Mail, she is Harry and Meghan’s neighbor in Santa Barbara County, and her LinkedIn page touts her as “experienced brand and communications leader” who previously worked for Google and Hulu and got her undergraduate and MA degrees in communications at Stanford University.

Perhaps Maines didn’t know that Harry’s interview would go off the rails. However, the Times reported that nothing was off limits, unlike previous interviews with him that have been “heavily controlled.”

The BBC team, led by interviewer Nada Tawfik, expected only 10 minutes with Harry at a private home near Harry and Meghan’s Montecito mansion, the Times reported. In the end, he spoke for about half an hour and made all sorts of incendiary claims, alleging mistreatment by his father and supposed shadowy figures in the royal establishment. In Harry’s words, these figures have been in cahoots to “harm” him and his family, like his mother Princess Diana, by denying them appropriate levels of security for the few days each year they might be in the UK.

At the time same, Harry spoke of wanting to reconcile with his family and lamented that his 76-year-old father, who has been battling cancer, won’t speak to him because of his court battle over this “security stuff.”

“There have been so many disagreements between myself and some of my family,” Harry said. “Life is precious.”

According to the Daily Beast, Harry especially upset royal insiders by raising doubts about the king’s health by telling Tawfik. “I don’t know how much longer my father has.”

Tawfik reported that the interview took place at dawn in a “beautiful, expensively landscaped home” near Harry and Meghan’s own $14 million estate, where they live with their children, Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3.

TOPSHOT – Britain’s King Charles III and Britain’s Queen Camilla wave to crowds, on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after attending the armed forces procession on May 5, 2025 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day also known as Victory in Europe Day, marking the end of the Second World War in Europe. (Photo by Adrian DENNIS / AFP) (Photo by ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images) 

Tawfik said Harry arrived “without an entourage,” though it’s not clear if he had least had Maines with him. One person who definitely was not present was Meghan, while she has generally distanced herself from Harry’s court fights in the U.K. over security and his lawsuits against the tabloid media, the Times said.

However, Meghan issued what royal insiders are seeing as more than a show of support for her husband, but “a giant (expletive) you” to the royal family and to his critics, by posting an Instagram photo of Harry walking in the garden of their Montecito home with Archie and Lilibet, the Daily Mail’s royal correspondent Rebecca English reported. 

To Tawfik, Harry came across as down-to-earth and soft spoken during the interview, though “surprisingly candid and forthcoming.” She also said he didn’t get “defensive or combative” when she asked him why British taxpayers should pay for his security, why a change of status wasn’t warranted after he stopped being a working royal and left Britain, and why he wasn’t satisfied with police security being provided to him and his family on a case-by-case during their U.K. visits.

While Harry presented his side, he still betrayed some agitation, according to Tawfik. His foot tapped “frequently” as he explained that his security, “or lack thereof,” was the sticking point preventing a reconciliation with his family, he said.

Many viewers, especially in the U.K., saw something more alarming in Harry’s demeanor.

“Desolation, interspersed with barely contained rage,” Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine wrote. “He seems to veer between wanting to punch someone – and bursting into tears. It’s clear that we are meant to feel desperately sorry for him, poor lamb. He obviously feels desperately sorry for himself, at any rate. The self-pity is palpable, together with the paranoia.”

The Daily Beast’s European editor Tom Sykes said the interview “was shocking to witness — not just because of the tone, but because of the astonishing naivety on display. Harry genuinely seemed to believe that he could go to war with the entire British establishment, from the Palace to the government, and somehow emerge victorious.”

“The interview itself was a mess, riddled with contradictions and misplaced delusions of his own importance,” Sykes also said.

The Daily Mail’s English said it’s understandable that Harry would be concerned about security, given the 1997 death of his mother. She was fatally injured in a Parish car crash while not being protected by U.K. police officers. Then again, she herself turned down round-the-clock protection in an effort to live a more private life.

But English said Harry also won’t get any sympathy from large segments of the British public over his claims that his security fight is the sole cause of his “catastrophic” estrangement from his family. From comments on social media, it also appears that a number of Americans have become weary with Harry’s ongoing complaints, his “victim narrative” and his sense of entitlement, as English also said.

“Oprah, ‘Spare’ (his memoir), all those podcasts and interviews in which he took potshots at his family and repeated their private conversations again and again… is he really saying that has nothing to do with it? Oh please!” a royal source told English.

It’s possible Harry got what he wanted by speaking his “truth” in the BBC interview. If so, Maines did her job by helping her boss fulfill that aim by arranging the interview.

But thus far, it doesn’t look like his interview has moved the king or Buckingham Palace to intercede in Harry’s security fight, which actually has been with Ravec, a government committee for the Home Office that decides on levels of security for royal family members. Following Harry’s interview, Buckingham Palace issued a terse statement: “All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion.”

Harry’s interview also could lead to additional consequences down the road, with the possibility that he and Meghan will lose their royal HRH titles, once William becomes king.

Sources close to the Price of Wales told the Daily Beast that William will act immediately to strip him and Meghan of their honorific “His/Her Royal Highness” (HRH) titles once he becomes king. One friend said that Harry and Meghan’s behavior has been “absolutely vile,” while Harry’s BBC interview has made it clear “he has no interest in reconciling.”

Although such a dramatic move by William has reportedly been under consideration for some time, a former courtier told the Daily Beast it has “gained renewed urgency” following Harry’s interview, which left the royal family stunned and frustrated.