Prince Harry reveals his father Charles stopped taking his calls

Prince Harry has revealed what sparked a huge rift with his father and says his family are “trapped” and cannot leave.

Prince Harry has revealed his father Prince Charles stopped taking his calls as tensions escalated over the decision by Harry and his wife Meghan to step down as working royals.

During the couple’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, the talk show queen asked Harry to tell her in the simplest terms why he left the royal family.

“Lack of support and lack of understanding,” he said, denying he “blindsided” the Queen with his decision: “I have too much respect for her.”

He said he spoke to her over a two-year period about stepping down.

He also had multiple “conversations with my father – before he stopped taking my calls.”

Why did he stop taking his own son’s calls?

“Because I took matters into my own hands,” he says.

Prince Harry also said he had been “trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are. My father and my brother: They are trapped. They don’t get to leave.”

But despite all the tension between the family, Harry insists that he still loves his father.

“There’s a lot to work through there. I feel really let down, because he’s been through something similar. Archie’s his grandson. I will always love him, but there’s a lot of hurt that’s happened. I will continue to make it one of my priorities to heal that relationship.”

As for his relationship with William, he said the relationship is ‘space’, at the moment. “Time heals all things,” he says, choosing his words carefully.

The couple revealed their decision had massive consequences, including being cut off financially and removal of royal security protection.

Meghan said she wrote letters begging the institution, saying even if she and baby Archie weren’t to receive security any more, that they not pull Prince Harry’s security. “I’ve seen the letters, I’ve seen the death threats,” she says, explaining that she was desperate for at least one of them have some level of protection.

The couple say they “never left” the royal family, but instead wanted to step down from being senior royals “to take a breath” – perhaps in a country like New Zealand. They say that request was denied.

“My biggest concern was history repeating itself,” Harry said, referring to his mother Princess Diana’s death: “To receive no help at all and to be told ‘This is just how it is, we’ve all been through it’” …

Harry insisted that he was "trapped" in the royal family. Picture: CBS

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Their side of the story has been explosive. Picture: CBS

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Meghan denies she was the architect of “Megxit,” saying she approached the job wanting to do well but Harry admitted he wouldn’t have left royal life without her.

“I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped.”

Oprah pushed back on his claim, saying Harry is a prince with a life of privilege, so how is he ‘trapped”?

He said it was a mistake to think he was enjoying life in the royal family because you’ve seen him smiling and shaking hands in photos: “That’s part of the job.” He thinks his mother would be “furious” about Megxit, because of the lack of support received that led them to take this drastic action.

Meghan begged the palace to give Harry security. Picture: CBS

Earlier, the Queen spoke out just hours before Meghan’s Oprah interview, praising “dedication to duty” in a Commonwealth Day address alongside other royals on the BBC.

Her Majesty delivered several barbed comments in a special broadcast called A Celebration for Commonwealth Day, which referred to “testing times” and featured Kate and William, Prince Charles and Camilla and Prince Edward’s wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex.

The hour-long program took place to mark Commonwealth Day on Monday – and came ahead of Meghan’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, which airs on CBS in the United States at 8pm-10pm ET on Sunday (12pm-2pm Monday AEDT). The rival broadcasts by the royal family and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex land amid huge controversy over Megan and Harry’s decision to give a tell-all interview on Palace life.

The Duchess of Sussex is also facing allegations of bullying aides during her time as a working royal, which she strenuously denies, with a spokesperson for the couple saying it is “no coincidence that distorted several-year-old accusations aimed at undermining the Duchess are being briefed to the British media shortly before she and the Duke are due to speak openly and honestly about their experience.”

Last month, the Sussexes officially stepped back from royal duties, after announcing they were expecting their second child.