Sir Ian McKellen has been very outspoken about his views on the British royal family, including Prince Harry.

The Lord of the rings The actor expressed his thoughts just months after he fell from a theater stage in London in June.

“I am clearly on Harry’s side,” he told Michael Odell in an interview for the British newspaper The times. “Imagine being born into the royal family. I’ve been in public life a little 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?”

McKellen added that he did not think Prince Harry was smart enough to handle his royal duties or even be in the spotlight.

“Hats off to anyone who manages to keep their sanity in this world,” he said, “as the (late) Duke of Edinburgh managed to do, even though he himself was deeply eccentric and, I suspect, deeply unhappy.”

“The same goes for the current king. He somehow survives, but he is clearly damaged.

“As for Harry, he’s probably not smart enough or doesn’t have the right friends to really help himself. Mind you, he had his choice of all the beautiful women in the world. I hope he found the right one,” he said, referring to the prince’s marriage to former actress Meghan Markle.

Elsewhere in The times In an interview, McKellen described how he thought he might die when he fell off the stage during a performance of his West End show, breaking his spine and wrist. Player kings.

The actor was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack while playing John Falstaff in an abridged version of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Parts I and II.

“As I began to slide, I thought, this is the end. I didn’t know what the end was – certainly not the end of the performance that night – but as the speed increased, I was ready to accept that I might soon die,” he told the newspaper.

McKellen had previously stated that his fall was cushioned by the fact that he was wearing a fat suit, which he wore during the performance.

“But I wore a fat suit for Falstaff and that saved my ribs and other joints. So I got away with it really by luck,” he said. Saga Magazine in August. “I thought it (the fall) was the end of something. It was very upsetting… I have to keep reassuring myself that I’m not too old to act and it was just a damn accident.”

The actor added: “I am so ashamed. I had hoped to be able to take part in the play again on tour, but that was not possible.”