Succession star Brian Cox has clarified comments he made about Meghan Markle earlier this month, which he says were “taken out of context”.
The Scottish actor hit the headlines after he was reported as saying the Duchess of Sussex “knew what she was getting into” by marrying Prince Harry in an interview with Haute Living New York.
The 76-year-old alleged that Meghan had “the childhood dreams of marrying Prince Charming and all that shit we see as fantasy that could be our lives in our dreams.”
However, in a new interview with Radio Times, Brian says he believes both Meghan and Harry are “victims” of the royal institution and that he actually has “enormous sympathy” for the royal couple.
Speaking about the recent headlines, Brian said: “I’m a bit angry about that because that whole thing has been taken out of context.
“I actually have enormous sympathy for them.
“They’re the product of an institution which is moribund and shouldn’t exist any more. But that’s a difficult situation where [Meghan] comes from, and it’s understandable that she sees something [appealing] – and it does look like a fairy tale. But it was a fairy tale that went horribly wrong.”
He then added: “I think they’re victims.”
The actor, who was awarded a CBE in 2002, was resolute when asked if he would ever accept a knighthood.
“Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no,” he told the magazine.
Explaining why he accepted his CBE, he said: “If it wasn’t for my sister, I wouldn’t be here. She was my constant in my life. And she was a great royalist. So the reason I accepted the first time around was [because] it honoured her as much as anything else. Because she was a believer.”
Read the full interview with Brian Cox in this week’s Radio Times, out now.
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