Prince Harry Slams Claim He Called Prince Archie 'My Little African Child' in Conversation with Jane Goodall

Prince Harry's spokesperson denies that he introduced Jane Goodall to his son, Prince Archie, as "my little African child," as claimed by journalist Tina Brown.

Brown, a former editor-in-chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, made the statement during an interview on Katie Couric's YouTube show, claiming that it came up during a lunch with Goodall, who died in October.

"Jane Goodall, before she died, I had a lunch with her, and she said that she went to see... she was one of the only people outside the family that went to see Archie when he was born," Brown said. "And Harry said, 'This is my little African child.' "

"It's going to be my child who, you know — wild child, essentially. They were going to have this time together, living a life off the grid as it were," she continued. "She said she was absolutely stunned when he chose the life that he did."

A spokesperson for the Duke of Sussex denied the claim, saying in a statement to PEOPLE: “The Duke of Sussex has never said anything remotely resembling what is being claimed. Tina Brown knows exactly what she’s doing by inventing these words and attributing them to a highly respected woman who is deceased and unable to correct the record.“

In a statement to PEOPLE on Dec. 18, Brown said she misstated the wording of the phrase during her interview.

"On Katie Couric's podcast yesterday (Wednesday, December 17th), I recounted what Jane Goodall said to me in June of this year about Prince Harry. She remembered affectionately Harry saying when Archie was born, 'I want you to come and meet my African Child.' She actually said, 'Africa child,' but I was speaking too quickly. Aside from that inadvertent mistake, everything else in Ms. Goodall’s conversation with me, I rendered accurately," she said.

The initial claim came up as Brown and Couric discussed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepping back from their royal roles in 2020 and relocating to her home state of California.

"I'm told that the Queen always thought that Harry would go off and want to be out of the royal family," Brown said. "But they all thought that he would do something like... they all expected him to kind of go to Africa and become a person who focused on conservation of animals in Africa and live a kind of off-the-grid life, is what they all thought. Nobody expected him to go to Montecito and live the opposite of the off-the-grid life, which is the kind of celebrity life. And I don't think that Harry thought he was going to do that either."

Prince Harry and Goodall met in December 2018 when he invited her to Kensington Palace to discuss their shared concern for the environment and remained close after.

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After the renowned conservationist and animal welfare advocate died in Los Angeles of natural causes while on a speaking tour, Prince Harry and Meghan honored her in a statement.

“Dr. Jane Goodall DBE was a visionary humanitarian, scientist, friend to the planet, and friend to us,” the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said. “Her commitment to changing lives extends beyond what the world saw, and also to what we personally felt."

"She held our son, Archie, when he was first born, and showered love and care to those who were privileged to know her," they added. "She will be deeply missed."