Prince Harry has said he took Meghan Markle and Archie away from the Royal Family to “break the cycle” of the “pain and suffering” of his upbringing.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting a baby girl in the summer and are currently living in Los Angeles after stepping back from Royal Duties in 2018.

Harry compared his childhood to 1998 film, The Truman Show, where Jim Carrey plays a man oblivious that his whole life is a TV show.

In an apparent swipe at his father, Prince Charles, he stressed the importance of taking his children away from the “genetic pain” of his upbringing.  

His comments come in the wake of tensions between Harry and his family after an extraordinary interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this year when he said he felt “really let down” by his father.

Harry has seen his family just once since the interview aired when he travelled back to the UK to attend Prince Philip’s funeral.

Speaking on the podcast Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, he said: "There is no blame. I don't think we should be pointing the finger or blaming anybody, but certainly when it comes to parenting, if I've experienced some form of pain or suffering because of the pain or suffering that perhaps my father or my parents had suffered, I'm going to make sure I break that cycle so that I don't pass it on, basically.

"It's a lot of genetic pain and suffering that gets passed on anyway so we as parents should be doing the most we can to try and say 'you know what, that happened to me, I'm going to make sure that doesn't happen to you'.

"It's hard to do but for me it comes down to awareness. I never saw it, I never knew about it, and then suddenly I started to piece it together and go 'OK, so this is where he went to school, this is what happened, I know this about his life, I also know that is connected to his parents so that means he's treated me the way he was treated, so how can I change that for my own kids?'”

He added: "And here I am, I moved my whole family to the US, that wasn't the plan but sometimes you've got make decisions and put your family first and put your mental health first."

Since stepping down as working royals and moving to the US the Sussexes have forged ahead with their lives.

The couple have signed lucrative deals, thought to be worth well over £100 million, with Spotify and Netflix, that have given them the capital to pursue their new lifestyle and public goals.