What Harry’s old friends are REALLY saying about his ‘disgusting’ interview – as they reveal to RICHARD EDEN what their relationships with the Prince are like now

Of all the public criticism levelled at the Duke of Sussex in recent days, the comments from his old friend Ben Goldsmith were possibly the most significant.

‘Tragic but true – Prince Harry’s behaviour is unforgivable,’ the 44-year-old financier, who grew up with the duke, said this week.

The reference to forgiveness is thought to be in response to Harry’s extraordinary BBC interview last Friday in which the prince admitted that a reconciliation with the Royal Family would be difficult because of his tawdry memoir, Spare, and his criticism in numerous interviews.

‘Of course, some members of my family will never forgive me for writing a book,’ Harry, 40, said. ‘Of course, they will never forgive me for lots of things.’

But the importance of Ben’s intervention this week should not be underestimated.

For the Goldsmith family – particularly Ben’s sister Jemima – were so close to Princess Diana and her sons that rumours persisted that the two were sisters.

Such claims were unfounded even though Diana’s mother, Frances Shand Kydd, was rumoured to have had a long-running affair with Jemima and Ben’s father, billionaire Sir James Goldsmith.

Harry’s extraordinary BBC interview last Friday, in which the prince admitted that a reconciliation with the Royal Family would be difficult because of his tawdry memoir, Spare

Financier Ben Goldsmith, pictured with his wife Jemima Jones, called Prince Harry’s behaviour ‘unforgivable’

Ben is the first former pal of the duke to condemn him publicly. But, if Harry thinks those comments are strong, he should hear what his old chums are saying in private.

For friends tell me they are ‘disgusted’ by Harry’s interview, in which he made a number of explosive personal claims such as that he didn’t know ‘how much longer’ his father had after his cancer diagnosis.

He also claimed that those who ‘wish [him] harm’ would consider his defeat last Friday in a legal challenge over his taxpayer-funded security in Britain as a ‘huge win’.

One friend told me: ‘I don’t know what’s more disgusting – Harry’s comment about his father’s health or his suggestion that people want him dead.

‘It’s very sad, but we all know that he doesn’t want to hear things he disagrees with.’

A handful of British friends are still in touch with Harry, including Mark Dyer who recently stepped down as a trustee from the prince’s beleaguered Sentebale charity, businessman Charlie van Straubenzee and Lord (Charles) Vivian. But, I am told, many are reluctant to say anything out of turn for fear they will be cut off.

Actor Dominic West, once so close to Harry that they trekked to the South Pole together, revealed he had been cut off by the duke

Mark Dyer, who recently stepped down as a trustee from the beleaguered Sentebale charity, pictured with Harry

Harry’s old friend Charlie van Straubenzee, who married Daisy Jenks in 2018

Indeed, anyone in doubt about how willing Harry is to drop friends need look no further than Dominic West.

The Crown actor, 55, was so close to his fellow Old Etonian that they trekked to the South Pole together in aid of the charity Walking With The Wounded in 2013.

However, ten years later, West revealed that he had been cut off by the duke.

A close friend of the actor told me they had fallen out after the expedition with injured servicemen and women, including double amputees, when West told a series of anecdotes about the trip at a joint press conference.

West revealed they had celebrated completing their 208-mile trek by drinking champagne from one of their co-adventurers’ prosthetic legs.

‘Two of the Aussie guys stripped naked and ran round the pole but most of us – Harry included – just went on a two-day bender with the Icelandic truck drivers who had brought some lethal home brew with them,’ West told the press conference in 2014.

‘There was a lot of liquor drunk. We all drank champagne out of [one of the team’s] favourite prosthetic legs.’

But it seems the prince did not see the funny side of his disclosures.

‘Harry threw a s*** fit,’ West’s friend told me in 2022. ‘He accused Dominic of invading his privacy. Dominic told him not to be ridiculous. They haven’t spoken since.’

West, who also starred in US drama The Wire, appears to have backed up the claims. Speaking of his broken friendship with Harry in 2023, he said: ‘We sort of [lost touch because] I said too much in a press conference, and so, we didn’t speak after that.

‘I think I was asked what we did. What we did to celebrate when we got [to the South Pole] and I probably said too much.’

If only the increasingly isolated Harry was prepared to listen to those who say ‘too much’ again, he might find a way to mend fences with old friends – and, perhaps, with members of his own family.