Prince Harry addressed the reality of his royal exit and the past few weeks of royal turmoil on Sunday night at a dinner in honour of supporters of the Sentebale charity he founded many years ago.
“Good evening everyone, and thank you very much for being here for Sentenbale,” the prince said, beginning a six-minute long speech that was shared on the Sussex Royal Instagram page.
“Before I begin, I can only imagine what you’ve heard or perhaps read in the past few weeks,” he said. “So, I want you to hear the truth from me, as much as I can share. Not as a prince, or a duke, but as Harry. The same person that many of you have watched grow up in the past 35 years.”
“The UK is my home and a place that I love. That will never change,” he said. “I’ve grown up feeling supported from so many of you and I watched as you welcomed Meghan with open arms, as you saw me find the love and happiness that I’d hoped for all my life.”
“It brings me great sadness it’s come to this,” the duke said of his step back as a working royal, saying that he’d hoped to still serve the queen even as he and Meghan stopped taking public funds, but “there was no other option.”
“The decision that I have made for my wife and I to step back is not one I made lightly. It was so many months of talks after so many years of challenges,” Harry added. “And I know I haven’t always gotten it right, but as far as this goes, there really was no other option. What I want to make clear is we’re not walking away, and we certainly aren’t walking away from you.”
“It has been our privilege to serve you and we will continue to live a life of service,” he said of his “leap of faith” and “next step” alongside Meghan.
Watch more of the speech in the video below: