The BBC has issued a clarification over Radio 4’s “Today” show concerning its coverage of the broadcaster’s recent Prince Harry interview.
In the bombshell conversation, which aired on Friday after the prince lost his appeal for higher security protections in the U.K., he called the outcome of his case a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch-up” and revealed that his father, King Charles III, “won’t speak to him” because of it. However, he said he “would love reconciliation” with the royal family.
In a new statement, the BBC said that Radio 4’s “Today” show should have challenged Harry’s claim of an “establishment stitch-up” in its coverage of the interview. “Claims were repeated that the process had been ‘an establishment stitch-up’ and we failed to properly challenge this and other allegations,” the clarification reads. “This case is ultimately the responsibility of the Home Office and we should have reflected their statement.”
The BBC then published the Home Office’s statement as follows: “We are pleased that the Court has found in favor of the Government’s position in this case. The U.K. Government’s protective security system is rigorous and proportionate. It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.”
The clarification also refers to Buckingham Palace’s statement on the interview, which was included in BBC News’ reporting on the matter: “All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion.”
In conclusion, the BBC called it “a lapse in our usual high editorial standards.”
The program in question featured an interview with former close protection officer Richard Aitch, who responded to the news of the BBC’s clarification in a post on X. “There should not be any need to apologise @BBCNews for opinion based interviews,” he wrote. “Absence of a threat and risk assessment on #PrinceHarry where the focus is on legal process influenced by the recommendations of a committee that is not independent, it defines ‘stitch up.’”
Elsewhere in the interview, the prince said he is “devastated” about losing the appeal, which concerned a judge’s decision last year to uphold the downgrading of his U.K. security arrangements after he and wife, Meghan Markle, stepped back from royal duties. In the case, which has been ongoing for four years, Harry’s lawyer argued that the prince was “singled out” for “unjustified and inferior treatment” and that higher protection is necessary since he and his family still receive security threats. However, the ruling made on Friday stated that the prince’s “sense of grievance” did not “translate into a legal argument.” Because of the loss, Harry told the BBC that it’s unlikely he’ll ever permanently return to the U.K.
“I don’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the U.K. at this point,” he said. “And the things that they’re going to miss is, well, everything. I love my country. I always have, despite what some people in that country have done … And I think it’s quite sad that I won’t be able to show my children my homeland.”