The Duke of Sussex is expected to meet today in New York with the American journalist who claimed that he “smelled of cigarettes” and “exuded alcohol from every pore.”
Prince Harry, 40, is due to attend a panel discussion on global issues called Everything Everywhere All At Once at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.
In addition to Bill Clinton, his daughter Chelsea and Matt Damon, Harry will join American journalist Katie Couric, who previously delivered a scathing verdict on the British royals in her 2021 memoir.
In ‘Going There’, Katie described how Harry, then 27, smelled of cigarettes and alcohol when they met for an interview in Brazil in 2012.
They could meet today to discuss “long-standing international development issues,” including “climate change, rising inequality and natural and man-made disasters,” according to the Clinton Global Initiative.
The Duke of Sussex (pictured yesterday) could cross paths with the American journalist who claimed in her memoir that he stank of cigarettes and “oozed alcohol from every pore” in New York today.
Katie will join Harry at the event following her 2021 memoir, in which she explains how she previously met him at a polo match in Brazil during her “wild oats sowing phase” – two months before his infamous trip to Las Vegas where he played “strip pool” naked in her hotel room.
The American journalist, who met the prince for a special programme on Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, recalled that the smell of cigarettes and alcohol seemed to “ooze from every pore” of his body.
Katie also criticised the Duke of York on Going There, recalling the infamous 2010 dinner at Jeffrey Epstein’s home with Andrew present.
Couric wrote: “I couldn’t imagine what Epstein and Andrew were doing other than trying to cultivate friendships in the media.”
She described Epstein’s New York home as “Eyes Wide Shut with a twist: creepy chandeliers and body part art.”
According to Katie, guests ate lasagna from shallow bowls and Epstein “dominoed” in front of the fireplace with the likes of Chelsea Handler, Woody Allen, Soon-Yi Previn, George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Rose.
On the way home, Katie’s ex-boyfriend Brooks Perlin commented on how young the women who took her coats were.
Introducing her 2012 interview with Harry on ABC, Couric said the prince was “known for his cheeky sense of humor and his love of partying.”
Katie claimed in her new memoir that Prince Harry stank of alcohol and cigarettes when she interviewed him in Belize in 2012 (pictured)
The American journalist is set to discuss global issues at a roundtable discussion taking place today in New York alongside several public figures and world leaders.
She added: “But we were able to see the warm and personal side when we talked about what his grandmother means to him.”
“When we were young, it was very easy to take our grandmother for granted,” Harry told Couric. “To us, she was just a grandmother, and it’s only been in the last five, eight, 10 years that I’ve come to understand how important she is.”
She also spoke of her desire to start a family: “I have wanted to have children since I was very young. I am waiting to find the right person and someone who is willing to take on the work.”
This comes after Prince Harry said in an emotional speech that “carrying on Diana’s legacy is something he takes very seriously” on Monday.
The Duke of Sussex, who recently celebrated his 40th birthday, gave an impassioned speech to a packed house at the Halo Trust anti-landmine event in New York.
The charity gained international prominence in 1997 after Princess Diana walked through an active minefield in Angola.
Harry was greeted with a standing ovation as he took to the stage to deliver an eight-minute speech in which he spoke of the charity work in Angola that means “a lot” to his late mother.
With a solemn expression, he said: ‘Continuing his legacy is a responsibility I take incredibly seriously.
In her memoir, Going There, Katie criticised Prince Harry and spoke out against the Duke of York in relation to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
“And I think we all know how much I would like to see us finish this particular job. We are all here because we are a group of true believers fighting for a world free of mines.”
Dressed in a navy suit and a Halo Trust pin on his lapel, he recalled following in his mother’s footsteps in 2019 when he visited Angola, 22 years after Diana walked through minefields in the African country.
Harry spoke of the many changes he has gone through since his visit five years ago, including becoming a father for the second time with the birth of his daughter Lilibet in 2021.
And he said that while it is not necessary to have children to have “a stake in the future of our planet”, the Duke said his mother would have been “horrified” to learn that someone’s children or grandchildren lived in a world still “infested with mines”.
In an apparent nod to Diana, he raised a rallying cry to “finish the job” when he said: “Tomorrow let us wake up and get back to work, renew our commitments and finish the job for the good of all.”
“So that we too can look back with wonder and relief, and those who began this recovery and regeneration many years ago can rest in the knowledge that we really did finish the job.”
Earlier today, Harry appeared on stage in New York to discuss mental health and climate change with two young winners of a legacy award given in memory of Princess Diana.
Pictured: The Duchess of Sussex and journalist Katie Couric on a panel at the South By Southwest Conference and Festival at the Austin Convention Center in Austin, Texas, US, March 2024
The Duke said his late mother would be “proud” of them as he took part in the 14th annual Concordia Summit in support of the Diana Award on his eight-day solo trip to the East Coast and the UK.
Harry, who cracked his knuckles and looked nervous as he sat on stage, spoke about the importance of mental wellbeing at an event where attendees opened up about their climate anxiety.
He personally interviewed Chiara Riyanti Hutapea Zhang from Indonesia and Christina Williams from Jamaica, who received the Legacy Award in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, joking: ‘For some reason they gave me the microphone to ask the questions.’
She told them: “I applaud you for having the confidence to stand on this stage. I know my mother would be incredibly proud of you. Your activism is true to how my mother lived her life.”
Harry, wearing a navy suit and tie with a Diana Award pin on his lapel, asked: “Do you feel like you are being listened to by leaders and people in positions of power?” adding that he wanted the Diana Award to help his campaign to tackle climate change and build influence around the world.
And when asked what gives him hope for the future, he said: “I’ve said it years ago and I’ll say it again. The younger generation is what gives me hope. The courage they have gives me hope. We all need courage to change the course of this world, probably more than ever. We need to listen and act on it, because it is their future that will be stolen and that is unacceptable.”
His decision to travel alone to New York to meet royals and celebrities before a solo trip to Britain shows he is determined to “seek out” new opportunities and “assert himself” after turning 40, insiders told MailOnline yesterday.
The duke will be away from Montecito for the next eight days and on Saturday attended a charity event in California organised by Kevin Costner, without his American wife.
Harry has always strived to continue his mother’s “unfinished” work, and in 2022 revealed that he felt “obliged” to live out her legacy “as much as possible.”
In a podcast interview, Harry told former rugby player Gareth Thomas: ‘I think once you meet people and you see the suffering around the world, you can’t turn your back on it, I certainly can’t turn my back on that.
“If you add to that the fact that my mother’s work was left unfinished, I feel obliged to try to continue it as much as possible.”
He added: “I could never fill her shoes, especially in this particular space because of what she did and what she stood for and how vocal she was about this issue.”
Harry’s attendance had sparked speculation that he could be in town at the same time as his brother, Prince William, who is believed to be attending the third annual Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit at The Plaza Hotel on September 24.
It is not known for certain whether he will attend, but he was present at the same event last year.
If Prince William does come to New York when Harry is there, the brothers are likely to keep their distance from each other, with a source telling The Sunday Times in August that the brothers had not spoken in “two years.”
The last time they spoke was said to be at the funeral of her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, in September 2022.
The source described the “estrangement” as “terribly sad” and added that Prince William does not even want Harry to be at his coronation when the time comes.
