Prince Harry’s Childhood Priest Warns Against Playing the 'Victim’: 'He Has Said Too Much...'

Prince Harry sits down with the BBC for an interview.
May 16 2025, Published 10:17 a.m. ET
Prince Harry’s bombshell BBC interview reportedly sent shockwaves within the royal household. In the sit-down, the Duke of Sussex claimed to have forgiven his family, despite later making scathing allegations against them. Reflecting on the interview, the Duke’s childhood priest, Angela Tilby, dubbed Harry's claimed forgiveness inauthentic. She urged him to stop playing the 'victim' and try to genuinely reconcile with his family.
Tilby, who attended Harry’s late mother Princess Diana's funeral, warned him that his actions have 'worsened his alienation from his family'. As reported by the Daily Mail, she penned, “He has said too much for relationships to heal. He claims to have forgiven his father and the Royal Family, but it is clearly a qualified forgiveness.” She added, “What he might have picked up from attending morning service in Eton chapel was that forgiveness involves not only making peace with the offender, but, eventually and at great cost, giving up the role of victimhood.”
Tilby, who is Canon Emeritus of Christ Church Cathedral, said she was invited to preach at Eton College, which was where the Duke did his schooling. She shared, “Five years earlier, I had been present at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and heard Earl Spencer berate the Royal Family for its treatment of Diana and promise to protect her two sons.” The priest opined that Harry was a 'decent man' but had found no way to 'switch off' the 'trauma' in his head. She continued, “The logic of the Christian faith suggests that it is only when victims forgive 'from the heart' that they themselves can find liberation.”
In his BBC interview, Harry alleged that his estranged family was behind the removal of his state-funded security to dissuade him from moving to the US. He claimed he was the victim of a “good old-fashioned establishment stitch-up.” Tilby believed that some of Harry’s explosive remarks against his family were 'cruel and vulgar.' She explained, “His BBC interview last week, in which he said that his security concerns had been dismissed by ‘a good old Establishment stitch-up,' reveals his ongoing grief and confusion.” The priest explained, “The insistence that his father could simply sort this out by ordering it sounds as though it comes from the 12-year-old who was required to walk behind his mother’s coffin.”
Echoing Tilby's claims, a royal source told Hello! magazine that the interview has eroded the family’s trust in Harry even more. The insider added, “The family feels that private conversations with Harry are not possible.” It’s widely reported that a reconciliation between the Duke and his family remains unlikely given his many damaging remarks.