There’s one crown to rule them all, and the weight of that crown is heavy even for those who are destined never to wear it. Prince Harry knows all too well about the downsides of being part of the Royal family, and one Lord of the Rings icon has a lot of sympathy for him — even if he doesn’t think that highly of Harry’s intelligence.
You might expect Sir Ian McKellen — who was knighted back in 1991 — to be careful and respectful of what he says about the Royals, lest they take away his knighthood, but the Gandalf legend didn’t hold back with his thoughts on the whole Harry situation while speaking to The Times. For starters, McKellen stressed that he thinks the Duke of Sussex made the right call in freeing himself from the “prison” of royal life.
“I’m most definitely on Harry’s side,” McKellen said, on the prodigal prince’s split from his family. “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?”
That said, McKellen also feels that maybe Harry isn’t the brightest diamond in the crown jewels, and even suggested he isn’t sure Harry’s marriage to Meghan Markle was a good idea.
“As for Harry, he’s probably not bright enough or doesn’t have the right friends to really help himself,” McKellen said, with surprising candor. “Mind you, he had the pick of all the pretty women in the world. I hope he’s got the right one.”
“I’m sure she was quite mad at the end”: Ian McKellen reveals “rude” interactions with the late queen
McKellen didn’t stop there either, as he continued to spill the Royal tea by offering his unfiltered thoughts on most of the other senior Royals, both dead and alive — only Prince William and Kate Middleton managed to escape unscathed.
In the same interview, the 85-year-old actor — who recently took a scary tumble off the stage in the middle of a performance — described Prince Philip as “deeply, deeply eccentric and I suspect deeply unhappy.” As for Charles, who he merely dubbed “the present king,” McKellen shared his opinion that he “sort of survives, but he is clearly damaged.”
The Hobbit star went on to voice that he believes the late Queen Elizabeth was “quite mad at the end” after a long life of Royal duty, claiming that she was “quite rude” to him on the “few occasions” they crossed paths.
“When I received a medal for acting (the Companion of Honour in 2008), 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 theater?’” McKellen recalled. “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!’”
Something tells us McKellen has a lot more thoughts about the Royal family to share, and maybe even more juicy anecdotes about his interactions with them, too. Dare he write his own Spare-like memoir to roast the Royals so much it’ll be like they’ve gone for a swim in Mount Doom? Or would that leave him as unpopular with the clan as Harry? I guess when you’ve made as much mint from your time in Middle-earth as McKellen you can afford to ruffle some Royal feathers.