Should Harry and Meghan be stripped of their royal titles? What do you think?

In it, the Duke of Sussex has claimed the King will not speak to him and he does not know “how much longer my father has”, as he spoke of his hopes for a “reconciliation” with his family.

The BBC television interview saw him saying about the court battle that “this, at the heart of it, is a family dispute”.

When asked if Charles had been approached to use his influence in Harry’s legal problems, the duke appeared to imply the King was a hindrance, a comment likely to deepen the rift with his father and his brother, the Prince of Wales. He said: “I’ve never asked him to intervene, I’ve asked him to step out of the way and let the experts do their job.”

The health of the King, who is being treated for cancer, was highlighted by his son, who said: “And I said, life is precious. I don’t know how much longer my father has, he, he won’t speak to me because of this security stuff, but it would be nice to reconcile.”

Harry, who appeared emotional and close to tears through much of the interview, offered an olive branch, saying he could “forgive my family’s involvement”, naming Charles, the Prince of Wales and his stepmother, the Queen, in events since he began dating his wife Meghan in 2016.

The rift between the Sussexes and the royal family opened significantly following their interview with Oprah Winfrey, during which they alleged a member of the family was concerned about their son Archie’s skin tone before he was born. Then the duke claimed in his controversial memoir, Spare, that William had physically attacked him, that the King put his own interests above Harry’s and was jealous of Meghan.

In a series of interviews to promote the book, Harry attacked the reputation of Camilla, saying her willingness to forge relationships with the British press made her “dangerous”, and he said she tried to rehabilitate her “image” at his cost.

And in recent weeks Meghan has come under fire for styling herself HRH - despite the couple agreeing to forgo those titles when they stopped being working royals five years ago.

The Duchess of Sussex used her HRH style privately but not for commercial purposes, sources close to Meghan have said.

Controversy has grown over Meghan’s use of HRH after it emerged she sent a gift basket to make-up entrepreneur Jamie Kern Lima last year, with a monogrammed card reading: “With Compliments of HRH The Duchess of Sussex”.

Kern Lima showed an image of the present in footage of her podcast interview with Meghan which she released on Monday. A source described the basket as a “personal gift”.

It contained a jar of Meghan’s jam which she has started selling as part of her As Ever lifestyle business brand.

As part of their Megxit negotiations with the Palace, Meghan and the Duke of Sussex agreed to stop using “Her Royal Highness” and “His Royal Highness” at the end of March 2020.

They still retain the styles, with Harry having had his since birth, but they are essentially held in abeyance, as is the case for the Duke of York, who also no longer uses his HRH style.

The duchess’s representative denied that the couple used them, but a source then said the Sussexes did not use HRH publicly but retained the style, and did not use it for commercial purposes.

In January 2020, the late Queen issued a statement after Harry and Meghan announced they wanted to step down as senior royals, saying that “together we have found a constructive and supportive way forward for my grandson and his family”.

Buckingham Palace outlined “the new arrangement” for the “next chapter” in Harry and Meghan’s lives. It included the statement: “The Sussexes will not use their HRH titles as they are no longer working members of the royal family.”

No documents were signed or laws passed, but the decision was seen as a blanket ban, with no suggestion that Harry and Meghan were permitted to use the style privately.