Prince Harry and Katie Couric have a strange and complex history.
Despite a series of years smear campaignPrince Harry and Meghan Markle still receive abundant invitations and attend many events. But none of them involve other members of the British royal family.
This week, it’s a series of appearances in New York. Prince Harry is paying tribute to his late mother, Princess Diana.
But the Duke of Sussex may have had an uncomfortable encounter with Katie Couric.
Katie Couric and Prince Harry have met before
This may sound a little random, but bear with us.
On Tuesday, September 24, Prince Harry participated in the Everything Everywhere All At Once panel on global issues at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting.
Prince Harry, Chelsea Clinton, former President Bill Clinton, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the legendary Dame Jane Goodall are all part of the conversation. And so is Katie Couric.
In 2012, Katie Couric interviewed Prince Harry, then 27. This was around the time the late Queen Elizabeth II, his grandmother, was celebrating her Diamond Jubilee.
Katie Couric reflected on this encounter with Prince Harry in her 2021 memoir, Going there. Suffice it to say, the young prince did not make a good impression on her at the time.
According to his recollections, Prince Harry smelled of cigarettes and alcohol, with a noxious odor “coming out of every pore.”
Do Prince Harry and Katie Couric have a beef?
On the one hand, 27-year-olds can drink alcohol pretty much anywhere alcohol itself is legal. At the same time, it’s highly inappropriate to go to an interview while intoxicated. Even if you’re in your 20s.
Of course, there’s no excuse for smoking cigarettes. It’s not a personal choice — the smell, as Katie Couric clearly points out, can be enough to ruin someone else’s day. Not to mention the health risks to others.
We can acknowledge, however, that Europe is strangely relaxed about cigarette smoking in a way that the United States has not been for decades. Although Katie Couric’s journalism career has spanned decades and the globe, she would find it distasteful and unprofessional. As would many of us.
That said, Prince Harry is currently 40 years old. In 2012, he was 27. (His birthday was last week, actually.)
27 is more than old enough to know not to show up smelling like the back door of a nasty bar. However, the thirteen-year gap is more than enough time for Prince Harry to have grown and changed.
At that time, he met the love of his life. He married Meghan Markle. They welcomed two beautiful children. And they also fled the toxic nightmare of the real company to live their own lives.
How was the panel?
Katie Couric moderated Tuesday’s panel. There, Prince Harry discussed a cause near and dear to his royal heart — African parks.
People no report anything going wrong. Harry discussed the role this parks program plays in conservation, combating climate change and more.
Harry’s involvement with African Parks began in 2016. As we noted, a lot has changed since he gave an interview to Katie Couric.