Prince Harry: No one in the Royal Family wants to be King or Queen

Prince Harry has suggested that no one in the Royal Family wants to take over from the Queen.

Interviewed by Newsweek magazine, Harry said: "Is there any one of the Royal Family who wants to be King or Queen? I don't think so, but we will carry out our duties at the right time."

He also hinted at a lingering resentment about what he was asked to do at his mother Princess Diana's funeral in 1997, when he was just 12.

"My mother had just died, and I had to walk a long way behind her coffin, surrounded by thousands of people watching me while millions more did on television," he said.

"I don't think any child should be asked to do that, under any circumstances. I don't think it would happen today."

Image:Prince Harry, second from the left, follows his mother's coffin into Westminster Abbey

Harry revealed in April that he had sought help after he "shut down" his emotions following Princess Diana's death in a road accident in 1997.

Regarding Diana's legacy, he said: "I intuitively know what my mother would like me to do and want to progress with work she couldn't complete."

When she was photographed shaking hands with a HIV-positive man in 1987, the notion that HIV/Aids might be passed on through touch was challenged.

In December, Harry was photographed having an HIV test in Barbados.

Image:Princess Diana holding Prince Harry in Mallorca in 1988

He said his mother "had the most wonderful sense of humour and always wanted to make things fun for us, as well as protect us".

Diana also "took a huge part in showing me an ordinary life".

"People would be amazed by the ordinary life William and I live," Harry said. "I do my own shopping. Even if I was King, I would do my own shopping."

But could things become too ordinary, removing the Royal Family's mystery? "It's a tricky balancing act," he said.

"We don't want to dilute the magic. The British public and the whole world need institutions like it."

Image:Prince Harry says he, William and Kate hope to modernise the monarchy

Harry had lots of praise for the Queen, saying: "She is so remarkable."

"The monarchy is a force for good," he said, "and we (Harry, William and Kate) want to carry on the positive atmosphere that the Queen has achieved for over 60 years, but we won't be trying to fill her boots.

"We are involved in modernising the British monarchy. We are not doing this for ourselves but for the greater good of the people."

Concerning which roles he, William and Kate take on, Harry said the Queen "has been fantastic in letting us choose".

He added: "She tells us to take our time and really think things through."