Prince Harry 'isn’t bright enough to survive' royal life, claims Sir Ian McKellen

7 September 2024, 12:02 | Updated: 12 September 2024, 06:40

The Duke of Sussex is "probably not bright enough" to have survived royal life, Sir Ian McKellen has claimed.

The 85-year-old actor suggested that Prince Harry did not have the right friends "to help himself" but he added that he was "most definitely on Harry's side."

Currently Sir Ian is recuperating after falling from a London stage in June, and spoke about the trials and tribulations of royal life in an interview with The Times.

Having been influenced by the Duke's memoir, Spare, which he was reading, he said: “Hats off to anyone who manages to stay sane in that world.

“Like the (late) Duke of Edinburgh managed to do, although even he was deeply, deeply eccentric and I suspect deeply unhappy.

"Same with the present King. He sort of survives, but he is clearly damaged.

"As for Harry, he’s probably not bright enough or doesn’t have the right friends to really help himself. Mind you, he had the pick of all the pretty women in the world. I hope he’s got the right one.”

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The actor was knighted by Elizabeth II in 1991 and awarded a Companion of Honour medal for services to drama and equality in 2008.

However, he did not have positive words to say about the late Queen, referring to her as "bloody rude".

He said: "The Queen, I’m sure she was quite mad at the end.

"And on the few occasions I met her she was quite rude. When I received a medal for acting, she said, ‘You’ve been doing this for an awfully long time.’I said, ‘Well, not as long as you.’ I got a royal smile for that, but then she said, ‘Does anyone still actually go to the theatre?’

“That’s bloody rude when you’re giving someone a medal for acting. It meant, ‘Does anyone care a f--- about you because I don’t. Now off you go!’”

He also claimed the late monarch used a handshake to dismiss him, and attempted to push him away when he reached for her outstretched palm.

He said: “That was her handshake and it meant, ‘Go! Go!’”

The actor claimed that royal life was difficult, adding: "Imagine being born into the Royal family. I've been in public life a bit, but these people are in prison.

"They can’t do anything normal. Can you imagine having to be nice to everyone you talk to?”

At the moment the two-time Oscar nominee is recovering after losing his footing during a play's right scene at the Noel Coward Theatre, and he went on to experience wrist and neck injuries.

Previously he said that he intended to "take the rest of the year off" from acting.

Sir Ian was two months into a season of Player Kings as John Falstaff when he fell from the stage into the first row of the audience.

He said he had been “left feeling weak physically” from the fall during the production, which was adapted by Robert Icke from Shakespeare’s Henry IV parts one and two, and that he is doing exercises to treat the issue.

However, he also suggested that he may make a comeback as the wizard Gandalf in a new Lord of the Rings film which has been planned by Warner Bros.