By ABC Europe correspondent Isabella Higgins in London
Prince Harry and his late mother, Princess Diana. Photo: AFP
Analysis: Prince Harry broke a long standing royal code with his tell-all memoir, the same standard his mother broke some 30 years ago but, decades on, the palace response is still almost the same.
"There is a motto in my family: 'Never complain, never explain'," the Duke of Sussex wrote in his book and, despite countless headline-grabbing claims in his memoir, the royals are remaining quiet.
But in 2023, is silence in the face of serious allegations an acceptable approach for an institution granted millions in public money and expected to uphold and represent British values?
It depends on whether you see Prince Harry's latest book, interviews and Netflix series as showbiz stunts in a sad family feud - or a plea for scrutiny and accountability of the British sovereign and their successors.
Prince Harry is in the public eye over his new book, interviews and a Netflix series. Photo: AFP
Prince Harry has accused Prince William of physically attacking him and claims his father, stepmother, brother and sister-in-law used their press teams to plant media stories about him to save their own public image.
He told British and US journalists during prime-time interviews that it was the negative reporting of about him and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, that eventually drove them to leave the country.
Strip back the fame, fortune and family for a moment, and Harry is a man making allegations against officials for misleading the public and physical assault at the hands of a future king.
In his interviews, the duke paints his physical fight with his brother as a sibling feud, as a sign of how much he's grown from his past trauma through therapy by choosing not to fight back.
Still, it is an accusation made against a man set to become Australia's future head of state.
Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have not commented, so Prince Harry's allegations will stay just as that, allegations.
'No institution immune to accountability'
Still many wonder what has motivated the fifth-in-line to the British throne to break the family code, just as his mother did decades earlier.
Prince Harry claims he is looking for something beyond reputational redemption: accountability.
When Princess Diana spoke with the BBC in 1995 for a sit-down interview she claimed the royal households saw her "as a threat of some kind".
At the time, it was billed as the "tell-all interview of all time", but behind the revelations of a marriage breakdown, secret lovers and mental health struggles, she made a plea for change.
"I do think that there are a few things that could change, that would alleviate this … sometimes complicated relationship between monarchy and public," she told the Panorama programme.
"I think they could walk hand in hand, as opposed to being so distant."
Her son claims he's speaking out because, for decades, "others have written the story about me", he told ITV's Tom Bradby.
"Silence only allows the abuser to abuse. I don't know how staying silent is ever going to make things better. That's genuinely what I believe.
"The level of planting and leaking from other members of the family means that, in my mind, they have written countless books.
"No institution is immune to accountability or taking responsibility. So you can't be immune to criticism.
"I see a lack of scrutiny of my family [from the media] towards a lot of the things that have happened in the last year."
Prince Harry with his older brother, Prince William. Photo: AFP
Royals face crisis in their family and The Firm
Prince Harry has certainly faced criticism for his words in recent months, accused of hypocrisy, privilege, revenge and breaching the privacy of others.
Claims that he killed 25 militants during tours in Afghanistan have sparked a fierce backlash from the British military and Taliban leaders.
There's plenty of other details in the memoir that paint a portrait of young man struggling to find his place in the world as the "spare" to his brother.
There are stories about how he lost his virginity, his teenage drug-taking and grief over his mother's death, visits to clairvoyants and retracing his mother's final moments.
"He knows the family won't reply to this … they won't enter a war of words," Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers told Sky News Australia.
Many royal-watchers predict the palace will paint this as a private family issue and wait for the storm to blow over.
"The family are determined to stick together and maintain a dignified silence," a royal source claimed in the British newspaper.
"They will not be dragged into a tit-for-tat row," they said.
Never complain, never explain: a royal motto that might wear thin on generations who expect greater transparency and integrity from the institutions that represent them.
The British royals will have to confront the problem, as both a family and one of the world's most powerful firms.
- ABC
