PRINCE Harry has branded America’s First Amendment “bonkers” – despite admitting he “doesn’t understand” the constitution’s freedom of speech clause.
The Duke of Sussex has been hit with a wave of backlash following his comments on Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast.
Read our Meghan and Harry live blog for the latest updates
While chatting about life in LA, mental health, his family and future plans, Harry dropped in about his shock at the amount of attention he received while living in Beverly Hills.
He complained about the media “feeding frenzy”.
“I’ve got so much I want to say about the First Amendment as I sort of understand it, but it is bonkers,” he said.
“I don’t want to start going down the First Amendment route because that’s a huge subject and one which I don’t understand because I’ve only been here a short time.
“But, you can find a loophole in anything.
“You can capitalise or exploit what’s not said rather than uphold what is said.”
The First Amendment essentially protects several basic freedoms in the US. This includes freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to assemble, and the right to petition the government.
Its importance in America has left many eyebrows raised at the Duke’s comments. He jetted off to the US with wife Meghan Markle and their son Archie to start a new life last year.
One outraged social media user wrote: “If he has a problem with the constitution then he can go back to Britain.”
“Get the hell out of America,” another chimed in.
Texas Congressman Dan Crewnshaw waded into the tirade of criticism Harry received, adding: “Well I just doubled the size of my Independence Day party.”
Back on UK turf, Nigel Farage gave his two pennies’ worth too, tweeting: “For Prince Harry to condemn the USA’s First Amendment shows he has lost the plot.
“Soon he will not be wanted on either side of the pond.”
In the same podcast chat, Harry blasted dad Charles’s parenting and said he moved to California to “break the cycle” of pain for wife Meghan and their kids.
The Duke, 36, claimed his father, 72, “suffered” due to his upbringing by the Queen and Philip, then “treated me the way he was treated”.
Harry hailed mum Diana’s “immense impact” but said he didn’t cope with her death until Meghan suggested therapy.
In a sweary podcast chat, he described royal life as a mixture of The Truman Show film and being in a zoo.
The royal also revealed he wanted to quit royal duty when he was in his twenties, saying: “I didn’t want this job.”
Elsewhere in the podcast, Harry revealed…
- Prince Harry claims his life is like the film The Truman Show and he is targeted with “vile and toxic abuse” by trolls
- Harry revealed how he and Meghan Markle first met up in a supermarket – and ‘pretended’ they didn’t know each other to avoid attracting attention
- Harry tries to have “compassion” for trolls, but finds it “really hard when you’re on the receiving end”
- The Duke said that life had felt “more free” since his move to LA with Meghan
- Harry doesn’t believe in the “old way of thinking” where girls just “want to be a princess”
- Meghan Markle gave Prince Harry words of wisdom about Royal life – telling him “you can create your own life better than any princess”
He told how he hated his role after the death of his mother Princess Diana and always felt different from the rest of his family.
And he said he moved to the US with Meghan and baby son Archie to escape his “genetic pain”.
The Duke opened up about his mental health struggles in a brutally frank, and profanity-laden, chat with US podcast host Dax Shepard.
He also claimed that he was told “you need help” while he was growing up but rejected it, saying: “There is nothing wrong with me.”
Only weeks after telling Oprah Winfrey in a bombshell interview that his dad was “trapped”, Harry again opened up about their father-son relationship.
He said on the Armchair Expert podcast: “I verbalise it, which is, ‘Isn’t life about breaking the cycle’?
“There’s no blame, I don’t think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody.
“But certainly when it comes to parenting, if I have experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering perhaps my father or my parents suffered, I’m gonna make sure that I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on, basically.
“There is a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway. As parents we should be doing the most that we can to say, ‘You know what, that happened to me, I’m gonna make sure that’s not going to happen to you’.”
Following Harry’s “disgraceful” swipe at Charles’ and Philip’s parenting skills, royal aides reportedly want the Prince and Meghan to give up their titles.
