Loose Women star Janet Street-Porter gave Prince Harry two blunt words of advice during Wednesday's episode of This Morning: "Shut up." The ITV daytime programme, hosted by Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley, opened with a discussion about the Duke of Sussex's latest comments on reconciling with his family.
Harry's comments on reconciliation
Speaking to GQ Magazine, Harry said he wants to repair his complicated relationships, but "some people don't want it to work out." He addressed "broken relationships," adding: "Some people don't want it to work out. I want it to work out. With everything else that's going on in the world, the most important thing is to reconcile - that's the key point."
He continued: "Scars stick around forever. But what your perception is, and what your mindset is to those things that have happened, letting go of the past, that's something that I would encourage everybody to do." Harry's comments come after his move back to the UK with Meghan Markle and their two children, with reports circulating about the Sussexes reconciling with King Charles and Prince William.
Janet Street-Porter's blunt advice
Following Harry's comments, a spokesman for the Sussexes said the reference to "some people don't want it to work out" was not a swipe at his brother Prince William or any other member of his family in particular, according to the BBC.
On This Morning, Janet began: "I know I'm not an Agony Aunt, but I'd give two words of advice: Shut up. Because, I don't doubt that he very, very much wants to reconcile with his brother, but I'm just baffled by his decision to even mention it or allude to it in a public interview with a magazine like GQ, I just don't understand the logic of it."
Bryony Gordon's response
Journalist Bryony Gordon disagreed, saying: "I don't find it baffling at all. In fact, he says in the interview why he's done it, and he says, 'Why not share your story?' because he puts it out there or the machine puts it out there. For him, it's like taking control of the narrative."
She added: "I think Harry has very much taken the decision that if people are going to be writing about him, he's going to be saying the words. I love that he talks about this stuff because this is part of a much wider interview about grief and its effects." Bryony recalled interviewing Harry after his mother's death, adding: "I love that he continues to talk about this."
Janet said she "applauded" Bryony's comments, before referring to her "extremely fractured" relationship with her own sister. She continued: "I think that Harry just doesn't get why William is not going to respond. I think they are two very different characters and two very different personalities, but you don't resolve this by discussing it."
Ben Shephard responded: "We understand that the way that the royal family has worked typically is to not talk about these things and to do it inside, and that feels like yet again, Harry is going to be trying to talk about these things and his dad and brother are going to recoil from it."
Bryony added: "I think times are changing, aren't they, we expect people to talk about this stuff a bit more and maybe we don't expect the royal family to. That's part of Harry's appeal, he always surprises us by going there. It's incredibly complicated and let's not forget they are a family just like the rest of us." She concluded: "William and Harry, they are different and that's ok, and they're going to go about things in different ways. Just let them be."
This Morning airs weekdays from 10am on ITV1 and ITVX.
