Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s decision to step down as working royals in 2020 and move across the pond may have come as a shock at the time.

However he revealed in a newspaper interview in 2017 that he had had doubts about royal life for many years, long before he began his relationship with his future wife.

He told the Mail On Sunday when he was 32 that he had initially desired an “ordinary life” but stuck it out due to his love and loyalty to one relative.

The Prince said: “I spent many years kicking my heels and I didn’t want to grow up. I felt I wanted out but then decided to stay in and work out a role for myself.”

Harry also admitted it was his devotion to his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September 2022, that made him choose to keep on with royal duties.

In the same interview he expressed his wish that any children he may have should live out of the spotlight, saying: “I am determined to have a relatively normal life and if I am lucky enough to have children they can have one too.”

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