Diana would've stopped Harry's Oprah interview claims friend

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle sent shockwaves through the royal family — and the rest of the world — when they sat down for a tell-all interview with talk show queen Oprah Winfrey in March.

And now, a close friend of Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, has weighed in on whether or not she would've wanted her son to participate in the CBS special.

Diana's friend speaks out

Dr. James Colthurst, who had a 20-year friendship with the Princess of Wales, says he is sure that Diana would have vetoed the Oprah interview if she were still alive.

According to Dr. Colthurst, Diana would've prevented the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from ever getting to the stage where they felt they needed to publicly air their grievances with the British royal family.

"I'm not sure [Harry] would have got to the interview stage," the 64-year-old medical professional told Radio Times.

"I believe she might have cautioned him beforehand to solve things in some other way," he added.

Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, famously relocated to the US in early 2020 after making the decision to step down as senior members of the royal family.

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After settling into their multi-million dollar mansion in Santa Barbara, California, the couple — who share two-year-old son Archie and newborn daughter Lilibet 'Lil' Diana — sat down with their friend Oprah for an exclusive interview.

During their 90-minute discussion, Harry damned the lack of support they received from the wider royal family when Meghan was struggling to adjust to her new life, so much so that she felt suicidal.

Meghan also said that certain members of the royal family had raised questions about the colour of their unborn son Archie's skin, and that contrary to popular belief it was Kate Middleton who had made her cry before her wedding, not the other way around.

A few months later, Harry told actor Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast that Prince Charles had handed down a "cycle of genetic pain and suffering" to him, which prompted his decision to leave the UK.

And most recently, Harry teamed up with Oprah again for Apple TV+'s The Me You Can't See, in which he opened up about his personal mental health struggles and also accused the royal family of "total neglect".

Two years before her death in 1997, Diana also participated in a sensational interview with BBC journalist Martin Bashir that was watched by more than 20 million viewers in Britain alone.

Both her sons recently denounced the infamous Panorama special after a May inquiry found that Bashir had used deceit to win Diana over and that the BBC had covered it up.

Dr. Colthurst, who will feature in an upcoming ITV documentary on Diana, agrees with Prince William, 38, that the footage should never be shown again.

"It was created in a devious fashion, and I don't think it needed to be that way. So yes, it should be put away," he said.

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