Prince Harry’s spokespeople have insisted he wasn’t taking a swipe at his brother William during comments about his hopes for a reconciliation with estranged family members.

In what was described by some media outlets as a “bombshell” interview with GQ magazine, the 42-year-old Duke of Sussex was asked about his relationship with William and his father King Charles, which soured when he moved to California with wife Meghan six years ago.

The brothers have barely spoken for years, and Harry, Meghan and their two young children only recently met up again with Charles before their relocation to the UK in August.

When GQ’s Zach Baron asked the duke about his “complicated relationship” with his father and brother, Harry said he understood family disagreements were a relatable issue for many people.

“That’s probably why there’s so much fascination. And then people maybe look at us and go, ‘How are you going to work it out?’ And then, maybe, how I see you’re going to work it out, maybe that will help me work my stuff out.

“And some people don’t want it to work out. I want it to work out.”

Some commentators believed the latter comment was aimed at William, with UK tabloid The Sun claiming Harry had “put his foot in his mouth” and was himself the obstacle to a family reconciliation.

However, a spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex later said his comment “was absolutely not intended as a swipe at his brother or any other member of his family”.

“The comment was made in a general context and was not directed at his family in any way.”

Harry went on to tell ⁠GQ that while “scars stick around forever”, he encouraged everybody to let ‌go of the past.

“For me, there’s enough drama in the world and enough drama in people’s lives than to continue with issues with family,” he said.

“It’s not worth it.”

In the lengthy interview, Harry discussed themes he has previously talked about, such as the effect of losing his mother Princess Diana when he was 12 and his mental health struggles.

But he also talked about why he had returned to the UK, saying that being able to put his children in a British school “has meant a lot to me”.

“I didn’t know how important it was to me. I always thought it was going to be something that we would try and do, but now they’ve been in ‌school for two weeks. They’re loving it and it’s just giving them a whole different experience.”

The interview comes amid reports that Harry and Meghan hate the phrase “working members of the royal family” because they are “members of the royal family and they work”.

Although the King clarified the couple’s positions on their return to England, their visit to several charities in the city of Nottingham last week looked very much like a traditional royal engagement.

Harry told GQ he hoped that his fraught relationship with the UK press, which partly led to him leaving in the first place and has led to a number of lawsuits against newspaper groups, would also now be better.

“My hope is that it will change,” he said.

“There have been some battles that have been fought, necessarily so. But hopefully we can all draw a line under that.”

The interview was published as King Charles praised Prince William while hosting the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tarik al Said, at Windsor Castle during his state visit to the UK.

In a banquet speech, Charles said there can be “few happier symbols of success” than watching a relationship passed between generations – a reference to Prince William and Sayyid Theyazin, who were joint patrons of an Omani expedition  following the route of British explorer Bertram Thomas in 1928.

“Our connections matter deeply and, in this regard, I have been especially delighted to see our sons, the Prince of Wales and His Highness Sayyid Theyazin, become joint patrons of the Jewel of Arabia Expedition,” the King told the Sultan.

William and Theyazin sat together among 160 banquet guests, who included Camilla, the Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal, Prime Minister Andy Burnham and senior Cabinet members.

–with Reuters