Pascal Le Segretain, CBS via Getty Images
- Prince Albert II of Monaco spoke out about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's interview with Oprah.
- He said that he understood the pressures they faced but the way they expressed them "bothered" him.
- Albert, a distant relative of the Queen, is the son of Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace Kelly.
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Prince Albert II of Monaco has criticized Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's decision to undertake their interview with Oprah Winfrey, where they discussed their treatment by the British tabloids and senior members of the royal family.
On Thursday, the European royal told BBC World News that the CBS special "bothered" him and the couple should have dealt with any grievances privately.
"It did bother me a little bit," he said in reference to the interview. "I can understand where they're coming from in a certain way, but I think it wasn't the appropriate forum to be able to have these kinds of discussions," he said to BBC correspondent Yalda Hakim.
Albert said that he could understand the "pressure" that Harry and Meghan were under before they stepped back as senior royals in January 2020, but believes that these issues were a family matter.
"These types of conversations should be held within the intimate quarters of the family," he said, adding that "it doesn't really have to be laid out in the public sphere like that."
"I can understand where they are coming from in a certain way, but I think it wasn't the appropriate forum to be able to have these kinds of discussions," he said.
-Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim) March 25, 2021
Albert of the House of Grimaldi is a distant relative of Queen Elizabeth, as well as the son of Prince Rainier III and actress Grace Kelly.
During the widely viewed 2-hour Oprah special, Markle highlighted their reasons for speaking out against the royal family, saying: "I don't know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent if there's an active role that the firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us."
Harry and Markle shared many intimate details about their short time as married working royals, including the concerns an unnamed member of the family had over what color Archie's skin might be and that Markle was denied mental health support after she experienced suicidal thoughts.
In his BBC World News interview, Albert went on to wish Prince Harry the best in his new life, saying: "It's a difficult world out there, and I hope that he can have the judgment and wisdom to make the right choices."
Representatives for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Prince Albert II of Monaco did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.