Prince Harry has said that no member of the royal family really wants to be king or queen, adding that 'we will carry out our duties at the right time' for the good of the country.
In a revealing interview with Newsweek, the fifth in line to the throne said that the royals were doing what they do not for themselves but for the 'greater good of the people'.
Prince Harry also opened up about his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in the interview with the American magazine which comes twenty years after her death. He spoke in particular about being made to walk behind his mother's hearse at her funeral procession when aged only 12, saying that 'no child should be made to do that'.
He said that his family and he were modernising the Monarchy and that the younger royals were determined to carry on the positive atmosphere generated by the Queen.
'We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people,' he said. 'Is there any one of the royal family who wants to be king or queen? I don't think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time.'
Harry spoke about joining his father, Prince Charles, brother Prince William, who was then 15, his grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh and uncle Earl Spencer, in a procession through London during his mother's funeral in 1997. 'My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television,' he explained.
'I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today.'
In the interview, Harry also praised his mother for how ordinary she made their lives, saying that he often still does his own shopping and is determined to live a relatively normal life.
'My mother took a huge part in showing me an ordinary life, including taking me and my brother to see homeless people,' he said. 'Thank goodness I'm not completely cut off from reality. People would be amazed by the ordinary life William and I live. I do my own shopping. Sometimes, when I come away from the meat counter in my local supermarket, I worry someone will snap me with their phone. But I am determined to have a relatively normal life, and if I am lucky enough to have children, they can have one too.' He added: 'Even if I was king, I would do my own shopping.'
Asked if being too 'ordinary' would take away the 'mystery' of the royals, Harry added: 'It's a tricky balancing act. We don't want to dilute the magic....The British public and the whole world need institutions like it.'
