London - His image to many is still that of a playboy prince.
But there are signs that Prince Harry might finally be inheriting his father Charles’s outspokenness.
In an interview to mark Sunday’s opening of the Invictus Games, Harry lambasted the rise of social media and shared his fears over budget cuts to the military.
Social media left some children isolated, reliant on digital “friends”, and spending less time playing or taking part in sport, the prince said.
Harry has harnessed social media to promote his Invictus Games, including a tongue-in-cheek Twitter spat with Barack and Michelle Obama.
But he said he had “massive concerns” that some people were spending so much time on the sites that they had less chance to play sport or get to know their neighbours. The prince warned of a darker side to social media, adding: ‘” don’t like how some people use it. It worries me that the majority of people now think that all their friends exist in their hand,” he told The Sunday Times.
‘You go to inner-city communities… and the kids know more about their ‘friends’ on Facebook than they do about their neighbours and the kids that they play with in the playground – if they even go to the playground.”
Harry said he played with toy soldiers in the garden when he was a child, adding: “I had an imagination… now it’s like, ‘There’s an iPad, off you go’. It’s all created for you. All you have to do is press buttons. That worries me.”
In a wide-ranging interview, the 31-year-old royal spoke of his determination to shed his reputation as a playboy and carve out a more serious role, of his need “to be valued in society’ and his desire to ‘earn more respect from a lot more people”.
The fifth in line to the throne said he wanted to use his privileged position to make a difference.
He also spoke about his frustrations over the scrutiny of his private life, and said it would be “absolutely fantastic” to find love.
Asked if veterans were being given enough support, he said: “No, I don’t think enough’s being done. Of course the government could do more.”
He said he worried about the effect of budget cuts on the Armed Forces, adding: “Of course I do. My father does – we regularly talk about it.”
Harry said he missed life in the Army but it had taken a heavy toll on him physically. “I’ve actually been receiving a bit of medical care on my body, which has basically been ruined over the last ten years of Army service,” he added.
But he said life in the military had given him a much-needed “hideaway” from his public role and admitted he had struggled to know what to do after he left.
“I thought long and hard about getting a job,” he said. “I did ten years in the Army – best job in the world. I wanted to be valued in society in that sense. I don’t get any satisfaction from sitting at home on my arse – and that’s a body part, by the way, not a swearword.”
Harry acknowledged that the Royal Family was under scrutiny to show it was relevant in today’s society, adding: “I just hope that people read this article and go, ‘You know, fair enough … he’s doing the best he can’. I need to earn more respect from a lot more people, of course I do.”
In a separate interview with Hello! magazine, Harry said the Queen had “great fun” filming her cameo in his spoof Twitter spat with the Obamas.
“I think it was almost as though you could see that look in her face, at the age of 90, thinking, ‘Why the hell does nobody ask me to do these things more often?’,” he told the magazine.
He added: “She’s so incredibly skilled, she only needs one take. Meanwhile, I was like a gibbering wreck. I was more nervous than anyone else.”
The prince hinted he was ready to take on more roles, including championing sport and spearheading a global project aimed at reconnecting young people with nature and the environment.
He told the Sunday Times he wanted to use his profile, but joked that the increasing popularity of his nephew Prince George might overshadow interest in his own activities in the future.
“I’m in this privileged position and I will use it for as long as I can, or until I become boring, or until George ends up becoming more interesting,” he said.
The prince added that he was ready to take on more royal duties, saying: “I absolutely adore my grandmother and I would take on everything she wants us to. She wants to carry on, which is fine, and there’s a pecking order, but we will be there, ready to support her when need be.”
Scrutiny over his previous girlfriends, including Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas, has left Harry suffering ‘”assive paranoia” about the attention any future romance would receive, he said.
“If or when I do find a girlfriend, I will do my utmos … to ensure that me and her can get to the point where we’re actually comfortable with each other before the massive invasion that is inevitably going to happen into her privacy,” the prince said. “To be fair, I haven’t had that many opportunities to get out there and meet people.
“At the moment, my focus is very much on work.But if someone slips into my life then that’s absolutely fantastic.”
He said he found it difficult to enjoy “downtime”, adding: “I don’t know if someone’s going to try and grab a selfie.”
His mother’s work on issues such as HIV and Aids awareness had a “huge impact” on Harry and he is working with the Elton John Aids Foundation and other charities to develop an “education and convening” role, he said.
The young royal said he felt his mother’s death in 1997 had left “a lot of unfinished business”.
“I don’t consciously channel myself down certain avenues specifically because I think my Mom would be proud,” he said. “But she sure as hell would be proud of me, hopefully, that I’m doing it.”
He added: “What you see is what you get with me. I will always try and bring an element of fun and happiness to everything I do. That probably is subconsciously very much a part of my mother – trying to fill that void. Trying to fill an unbelievable pair of boots, whether it’s her… or especially the Queen. It’s a hard thing to do.”
Harry said he and Prince William wanted to mark the 20th anniversary of their mother’s death with a permanent memorial.
He told Hello! magazine they did not want to repeat the 2007 Concert for Diana.
“We want to make sure there’s something that she’s remembered by and there’s certainly not enough on the right scale in London or anywhere in the UK, that she’s remembered for,” he said.
“And I think myself, William and a few other people, we all agree on that. Something needs to be put in stone or in place as a memory.
“Lots of people still talk about her. Every single day we still think about her, so it would be very fitting on the 20th anniversary to have something that is going to last forever and is a proper recognition of what she did when she was alive.”
Daily Mail