Primatologist Jane Goodall has told how the Duke of Sussex felt constrained and desperately wanted his son to grow up away from “pomp and royalty”.

Harry and Meghan are dropping their HRH styles and stepping down from royal duties in search of freedom away from the monarchy, and will raise Archie Mountbatten-Windsor mostly in Canada.

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Earlier this summer HRH The Duke of Sussex met with world renowned ethologist Dr. Jane Goodall for an intimate conversation on environment, activism, and the world as they see it. This special sit-down was requested by The Duchess of Sussex, who has long admired Dr. Goodall and wanted to feature her in the September issue of @BritishVogue, which HRH has guest edited. HRH and Dr. Goodall spoke candidly about many topics including the effects of unconscious bias, and the need for people to acknowledge that your upbringing and environment can cause you to be prejudiced without realising it. The Duke described that “[when] you start to peel away all the layers, all the taught behaviour, the learned behaviour, the experienced behaviour, you start to peel all that away – and at the end of the day, we’re all humans.” • Through @RootsandShoots the global youth service program @JaneGoodallInst founded in 1991, she has created and encouraged a global youth community to recognise the power of their individual strength – that each day you live, you can make a difference. Photos: ©️SussexRoyal / Chris Allerton #ForcesForChange

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The duke interviewed world-renowned activist and chimpanzee expert Dr Goodall for Meghan’s guest editing of Vogue last year and told her they would only have two children, for the sake of the planet.

Harry and Meghan, both huge fans of Dr Goodall, invited her to Frogmore Cottage in June last year, where she cuddled Archie, then five weeks old.

Dr Goodall said of the couple’s decision to walk away from royal life: “Well it doesn’t surprise me, having met them both.”

The Sussex family
Harry and Meghan with baby Archie (Toby Melville/PA)

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I know that Prince Harry really felt constrained and he desperately wants little Archie to grow up away from all the pomp and royalty, I know that.

“I haven’t been in the UK. I haven’t really followed the news… I had no idea that anything like this was going to happen.”

She added of Harry: “I just think he’s a wonderful, wonderful person and we had a great interview … and I gather that Meghan wanted to interview me and he said, ‘No, I’m going to interview Jane’.”

Harry and Dr Goodall
Harry hugs Dr Goodall as he attends her Roots & Shoots Global Leadership Meeting at Windsor Castle (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA)

The Sussexes’ official Instagram account said at the time that Harry and Dr Goodall had “an intimate conversation on environment, activism, and the world as they see it”.