PIERS Morgan has blasted Prince Harry and Meghan Markle as “spiteful, bitter grafters intent on causing as much damage as they can”.
The former Good Morning Britain host accused the couple of going “toxically rogue” after Harry announced he has been secretly writing a book about his life.
The Duke of Sussex last night revealed his unprecedented publishing deal with Penguin Random House.
The 36-year-old promised the memoir, timed for release during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee year, will examine the “highs and lows” of his extraordinary life as a royal, which culminated in his bitter Megxit split.
Writing in his MailOnline column today in response to the news, Piers urged the Royal Family to “have nothing more to do with Prince Poison and Princess Pinocchio”.
He said: “Harry’s memoirs, for which he’s being paid a reported $20 million – he says it’s all going to charity, but let’s keep a close eye on that claim – will be yet another chance for him to torch his family, and the institution they serve.
“And every time he does this, and allows his wife to do it, he chips further away at the magic that sustains the royals in public life.
“They’ve become a pair of petty, spiteful, bitter little grifters intent on causing as much damage as they can.”
Piers added: “Prince Poison has gone toxically rogue, and the royals should have nothing more to do with him or his wife Princess Pinocchio until or if they stop this horribly destructive vituperative rampage against them all.
“The memoirs are a slap in the face too far for a family that’s surely exhausted all collective patience with the Sussexes.”
Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest updates
He then called for he and Meghan to have all titles taken away from them at once.
“I’ve said this before, and I now say it again: the Queen should strip Harry and Meghan of all their titles with immediate effect,” he said.
“Compel them to do this malevolent, manipulative c**p in their names, not as royals.”
“Hypocritical” Harry wants “all the hugely beneficial trappings of being a royal prince without having to do any of the hard duty graft the rest of his family put in to earn the title”, according to Piers.
“He wants to cash in on the royal status to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, whilst simultaneously bleating on about how much he hates being a royal.”
‘PRINCE POISON’
Both Meghan and Harry gave up the titles His and Her Royal Highness after Megxit, although Harry is still sixth in line to the throne and remains a prince.
The couple also agreed to stop using the word ‘royal’ in their commercial and charitable ventures.
But the couple continue to be known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – titles given to them as a wedding gift in 2018.
It comes as…
- Prince Charles was ‘surprised’ by Harry’s explosive tell-all memoir as Palace officials had no idea about book
- The duke ‘scrambled to tell his family about memoir “moments” before book news was announced – blindsiding Charles’
- Harry ‘received £14.5m advance for memoir’ and will donate proceeds to charity
- Piers Morgan blasts Harry’s upcoming memoir as he rants ‘he hasn’t stopped yapping all year’
- ‘Hugely damaging’ memoir ‘will spark mayhem & deepen royal rift’, say experts
- Queen, Charles and William ‘in despair’ over Prince Harry’s memoir and ‘wonder when rollercoaster will end’, expert says
In a statement from his £11million mansion in Montecito, California, Harry said he was writing his book “not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become”.
He continued: “I’ve worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story – the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned – I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think.
“I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned over the course of my life so far and excited for people to read a first-hand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful.”
The duke will donate any fee to charity after making tens of millions of dollars with Netflix and Spotify.
Publisher Penguin said it was an “honest” and “intimate” autobiography – sparking fears of more revelations after his Oprah interview with Meghan accused the Royal Family of racism.
The explosive televised chat sent shockwaves through the Palace and made the existing rift between Harry and his brother and father even deeper.
Royal expert Phil Dampier thinks their fractured relationship will worsen still thanks to Harry’s decision to publish a first-hand account of his privileged life.
FAMILY ‘IN DESPAIR’
“This book is not going to make the rift any better,” he told The Celeb Report Online.
“Clearly it is as bad as ever. If he was healing the rift with his family, particularly his brother, he wouldn’t be coming out with this book, which is clearly going to cause more hurt.”
To make matters worse, the currently untitled memoir is set to be released during Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee year, a move Phil described as “disrespectful”.
Piers also questioned Harry’s choice of release date, branding it “horrendously selfish”.
He wrote: “The book is coming out next year, 2022 – a year that is supposed to be all about celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, marking her 70 years of service to her country.
“It’s a stunning achievement for a woman who came to the throne when she was just 25 (11 years younger than her grandson is today).
“But now, yet again, focus will be deflected away from Her Majesty and back to the attention-seeking grandson whose visceral hatred of the media is now only matched by his addiction to using the same media for self-promotional reasons.
“He knows how wrong this is but doesn’t give a s**t. Just as he didn’t give a s**t when he spray-gunned the royals on prime-time US TV as his grandfather was dying.”
Harry is said to be working with Pulitzer Prize-winner J R Moehringer, who has written memoirs for tennis legend Andre Agassi and Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
A first draft is nearly completed, with a likely publication at the end of 2022.
