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During a recent interview with Katie Couric, journalist Tina Brown made a shocking allegation about Prince Harry.
Brown described a conversation between herself and the late Jane Goodall in which Goodall claimed that she once witnessed Harry refer to his son as “my little African child.”
“Jane Goodall, before she died, I had a lunch with her, and she said that she went to see… she was one of the only people outside the family that went to see Archie when he was born,” Brown said.
“And Harry said, ‘This is my little African child.’”
Goodall explained that Harry did not intend to be racially insensitive.
Rather, the remark seemed to be his way of saying that he intended to raise Archie in a way that was less stuffy and formal than his own upbringing.
“It’s going to be my child who, you know — wild child, essentially. They were going to have this time together, living a life off the grid as it were,” she continued.
“She said she was absolutely stunned when he chose the life that he did.”
Brown mentioned the incident as evidence of how far Harry has strayed from the life he intended to lead.
But naturally, most media outlets latched on to a different angle, and Harry is now being accused of using wildly tone deaf and insensitive language to refer to his own child.
Reps for Harry were quick to issue a statement denying that he ever made such a comment.
“The Duke of Sussex has never said anything remotely resembling what is being claimed,” the statement read (via People).
“Tina Brown knows exactly what she’s doing by inventing these words and attributing them to a highly respected woman who is deceased and unable to correct the record.“
Brown responded by admitting that she may have misquoted Harry.
“On Katie Couric’s podcast yesterday, I recounted what Jane Goodall said to me in June of this year about Prince Harry,” she said in a statement issued to People.
“She remembered affectionately Harry saying when Archie was born, ‘I want you to come and meet my African Child,’” Brown continued, adding:
“She actually said, ‘Africa child,’ but I was speaking too quickly. Aside from that inadvertent mistake, everything else in Ms. Goodall’s conversation with me, I rendered accurately.”
We’re sure Harry appreciates the clarification. But he probably would have preferred for Brown to just keep that whole anecdote to herself.
