The Duke of Sussex talks about life in the British royal family and how he and Meghan Markle went to great lengths to keep their romance secret during their early relationship.

• May 14, 2021

AceShowbiz - Prince Harry has compared his life as a member of Britain's royal family to Hollywood movie "The Truman Show and living in a zoo."

The Duke of Sussex compared life in the royal spotlight to the all-seeing cameras of "The Truman Show", in which Jim Carrey's character was the unwitting star of a TV show.

In a chat with Dax Shepard's "Armchair Expert" podcast streaming on Wednesday (13May21) he discussed his early courtship with wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, mental health and why he wanted to leave the royal family years ago.

The 36-year-old royal explained how he and his now-wife went to great lengths to keep their romance under wraps and communicated by text message between the aisles when stocking up for a break together for the first time.

"The first time Meghan and I met up for her to come and stay with me, we met up in a supermarket in London, pretending we didn't know each other, texting each other from the other side of the aisles," he said. "There's people looking at me, giving me all these weird looks, and coming up to me and saying 'hi.' "

"I texted her saying, 'Is this the right one,' and she said, 'No you want parchment paper,' and 'I'm like where's the parchment paper?!' "

"I had baseball cap on, looking down at the floor, trying to stay incognito. It's amazing how much chewing gum you see, it's a mess!"

Shepard and co-host Monica Padman asked what it was like to be among a "a tiny group" of royals "watched by millions," which Harry described as "a mix between The Truman Show and living in a zoo."

"It's the job right? Grin and bear it. Get on with it. I was in my early 20s and I was thinking I don't want this job, I don't want to be here. I don't want to be doing this," he said. "Look what it did to my mum. How am I ever going to settle down and have a wife and family, when I know it's going to happen again?"

"I've seen behind the curtain, I've seen the business model and seen how this whole thing works and I don't want to be part of this," he said, adding Meghan encouraged him to go to therapy. "And then once I started doing therapy it was like the bubble was burst. I plucked my head out of the sand and gave it a good shake off and I was like, You're in this position of privilege, stop complaining and stop thinking you want something different - make this different - because you can't get out. How are you going to do these things differently, how are you going to make your mum proud and use this platform to really affect change?"

Harry, Meghan, and their two-year-old son Archie stepped back from royal duties and moved to Los Angeles last year (20) and now he - who will become a father for the second time in the coming months - admitted his life in the U.S. feels "more free" than it did when he was in the U.K.

He said, "Living here now I can actually lift my head and actually I feel different, my shoulders have dropped, so has hers, you can walk around feeling a little bit more free."

"I can take Archie on the back of my bicycle. I never had the chance to do that."