Prince Harry was urged to stay in UK by this former British Prime Minister, new memoir reveals

In his memoir, the former British Prime Minister shares that he attempted a 'manly pep talk' with Prince Harry to reconsider stepping back from royal duties.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged in his memoir, Unleashed that he pushed Prince Harry with a sudden request to remain in the UK as a working royal.

Boris Johnson reveals in his memoir that he attempted to persuade Prince Harry to remain a working royal during a 2020 UK-Africa summit. (Reuters)

In the serialization of his memoir in the Daily Mail, Johnson describes being assigned the task of giving a “manly pep talk” to the Duke of Sussex in January 2020. At the time of Harry’s imminent exit from his royal duties, the chat occurred on the edges of a UK-Africa investment summit in London.

A friend of the Duke told Daily Mail, “It was a man-to-man conversation. They were totally alone. But Harry wasn’t for turning — he was unpersuadable by that point.” This alluding Harry's speech to supporters of his Sentebale charity back in 2020, where he said, “It brings me great sadness that it has come to this. The decision that I have made for my wife and I to step back, is not one I made lightly.”

Johnson's attempt to persuade Prince Harry, a ‘totally hopeless’ mission

Now back to Johnson, the attempt to persuade Prince Harry to reconsider his decision was ultimately futile. He reflects on the encounter as a “totally hopeless” mission, with the prince already mentally prepared to leave his royal life behind. “It was a ridiculous business... when they made me try to persuade Harry to stay. Kind of manly pep talk. Totally hopeless,” Johnson writes.

The UK-Africa investment summit meeting, which lasted around 20 minutes, was a one-to-one “catch-up” without aides present. It came just a day after Prince Harry publicly stated that he had “no other option” but to step down from his royal role.

At the time, this meeting was largely overlooked, with reports only mentioning a brief discussion between the prime minister and the prince. It has since been revealed that Johnson hailed Prince Harry as a valuable asset to “UK plc.”

Johnson's memoir leads one to believe he had been asked to step in on behalf of both Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street. Although he worked hard to persuade Prince Harry, it looked like the young royal was set on blazing a trail away from his official royal obligations.

Johnson points out he was unable to persuade the prince, using his own Brexit story as a reference, smiling that although he led the UK to leave the EU, he couldn’t get Prince Harry to stick with the Royal Family.