“I’m definitely on Prince Harry’s side,” Sir Ian McKellen said this week.
It’s not the kind of comment you might expect from the legendary actor, who controversially accepted and was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II in 1991.
But his vehement opinions on the royals don’t end there: following his fall from a London stage just weeks ago, Sir Ian has certainly had some time on his hands to consider things while recovering at his London home.
In an interview with Michael Odell of The timesHe called Harry “not smart enough” to cope with royal life, the late queen “rude” and “quite crazy” in her later years, and King Charles “damaged.”
Since Prince Harry moved to the United States with his wife Meghan Markle, where they live in Montecito with their two children Archie and Lilibet, Sir Ian, 85, appears to have reflected on life in the public eye.
Actor Sir Ian McKellen receives the Companion of Honour medal for his services to drama and equality from Queen Elizabeth II in 2008
Sir Ian added that Prince Philip seemed “deeply unhappy” and Charles III appears “clearly damaged” by life in the royal family.
Sir Ian said he is “on Prince Harry’s side” and compared the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s royal life to being in “a prison”
But while she still has some semblance of privacy, at least at home, she compared life in the royal family to being in a prison.
The Duke of Sussex is “probably not clever enough” to help himself having lived a lifetime as a working royal, Sir Ian has claimed.
She added that Prince Philip seemed “deeply unhappy” and Charles III seemed “clearly damaged” by his life in the royal family.
But it was the late Queen whom the Lord of the Rings star met personally on several occasions.
He said that when he was awarded the Companion of Honour medal in 2008, the Queen told him: “You’ve been doing this for a long time.”
He is then reported to have added: “Does anyone really go to the theatre anymore?” – a statement Sir Ian described as “very rude”.
He added that his handshake signaled “go away.”
“We take our hats off to anyone who manages to keep their sanity in that world,” Sir Ian concluded.
Sir Ian said the Queen was “very rude” after she asked him in 2008 if “anyone goes to the theatre anymore”.
The current King Charles and Ian McKellen attend the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts gala dinner in 2008
The actor said Charles (pictured with his wife Queen Camilla) is “clearly damaged” by life in the institution.
The actor said Prince Philip seemed “deeply unhappy” with life in the royal family.
Sir Ian said Harry did not have the right friends around him to sustain his life as a working royal.
The royal family has been plagued by conflict in recent years, with recent health issues surrounding Kate and Charles’ cancer diagnoses earlier this year sidelining key royals.
In 2020, the Sussexes moved to California, which would trigger a long feud between Harry and the rest of his family, especially his brother, Prince William.
A Netflix show and controversial memoir, Spare (of which Sir Ian has a copy), caused further tension after the prince made serious allegations against his brother, including that he once physically attacked him.
Harry has returned to the UK several times since stepping down as a working royal, including to visit his father following his diagnosis, but has not seen his brother since 2022.
Sir Ian had little to say about the Prince and Princess of Wales, although as he is on the Sussex side, it may have been for the best.
His comments came after he tripped and fell off the stage during a production of Robert Icke’s Player Kings at the Noel Coward Theatre on June 17.
He fractured a vertebra and a wrist after falling off the stage onto a member of the audience. Both were taken to hospital.
Sir Ian had little to say about the Prince and Princess of Wales, although as he is on the Sussex side, it may have been for the best.
The 85-year-old actor was playing John Falstaff in the production at the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End on June 17 when he lost his balance during a fight scene and fell from the stage into the audience.
In July, Sir Ian took to X, formerly Twitter, to share a health update with his legions of fans.
Speaking during an appearance at the premiere of his latest work, Sir Ian said he felt “guilty” about having to cancel the remaining shows.
“I felt ashamed of myself, I felt like I had let the audience down and I felt guilty,” the star told Sky News.
Sir Ian has told how he braced himself for death as he fell through the air, before bursting into tears as he realised he would not be able to complete his performance.
Speaking after the fall, he told Saga magazine: ‘My splintered vertebrae and fractured wrist are still not healed.
‘I don’t go outside because I get nervous that someone might bump into me, and I have excruciating pains in my shoulders from the shock to my entire body.
“But I was wearing a fat suit for Falstaff and that saved my ribs and other joints. So I was really lucky to escape.”
He added: “I’ve relived that fall I don’t know how many times. It was horrible.”
But his acting career seems far from over: his latest product, the film The Critic, is due to be released next week.
In it, Sir Ian plays the English theatre critic Jimmy Erskine, who is gay. The film is set in the 1930s, when homosexuality was still a crime.
The actor, who also played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings series, came out as gay in 1988 amid anger over Margaret Thatcher’s anti-gay legislation, including Section 28.