A few days before the official publication of Harry’s memoirs, the prince’s descriptions caused a great stir. Royal expert Michael Cole calls them the “most sensational and devastating royal revelations” in almost 30 years. The autobiography “Spare” will be available from next Tuesday, but it accidentally made it into Spanish bookstores last Thursday. Since then, more and more details have become public.
The rivalry with Harry’s big brother William is already reflected in the title of the book: “Spare”. That’s what his father is said to have said about him after he was born, Harry claims, according to the reports. The brothers, who were once considered inseparable, have long faced each other in bitter competition. Harry refers to William in the book as a “beloved brother” but also as a “nemesis”.
The tragic circumstances of the death of his mother Diana, who died in an accident in Paris in 1997 while fleeing paparazzi, still concern Harry to this day. He does not believe the official investigation result. He accuses the royal family of not allowing William and himself to publicly demand a reopening of the investigation. He attests to his father’s emotional coldness. According to Harry, he didn’t even hug him when he gave him the shocking news of his beloved mother’s accident Sun.
He doesn’t regret killing 25 Taliban
Harry wrote that Camilla was known to him early on as his father’s “other woman”. After his mother’s death, he feared she might turn out to be a “wicked stepmother,” according to media reports. Because she made Charles happy, he welcomed her into the family. But the brothers’ alleged pleas that their father not marry again went unheeded: Charles and Camilla married in 2005. She is now the king’s consort. Harry accuses her, like other royals, of secretly giving information to the press.
Prince Harry has reportedly accused his father Charles of being jealous of his wife Meghan. He is said to have feared that the “new and bright” actress could steal the limelight from him. His father had “experienced this before and had no interest in it happening to him again,” Harry wrote, referring to the popularity of his late mother, Princess Diana. Charles is also said to be jealous of the public attention to William and Kate.
Harry also admits to using cocaine when he was 17 to “feel different”. Experiences with mushrooms came later. Harry partly blames William and his wife Kate (40) for the biggest misstep of his younger years. They are said to have encouraged him to attend a disguise party in a Nazi costume in 2005 – photos of Harry with a swastika armband soon made the rounds in the press and triggered a scandal. Harry had to make a public apology.
On the other hand, he feels no remorse for killing 25 Taliban fighters during his military service as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan. “It wasn’t something that made me happy, but I wasn’t ashamed either,” Harry wrote on Sky News. A military veteran told Sky News that Harry’s comments would fuel further hatred towards him and paint a false picture of British military training. It is by no means the case that British soldiers are taught to see their opponents as less human or as “pawns”.
Shortly before the official publication of his memoirs, Harry makes his family an offer to talk. “The door is always open,” he says in a teaser for an ITV interview that the British broadcaster plans to air in full on Sunday night. He hopes his family is willing to sit down and talk about everything. When asked if he wanted to attend his father’s coronation in May, the 38-year-old replied evasively: “A lot can happen by then.” In the same interview, Harry reveals he wishes William and his father “back”. The ball is now in the playing field of the palace.
A few hours later, another interview with Harry will be broadcast on Monday night on US television. In excerpts from this conversation that have already been published, the prince is less forgiving: journalists were secretly fed negative information about him and his wife Meghan, and the couple’s requests for counterstatements to press articles were always rejected by the royal family. That’s why he decided to go public himself, Harry said. “There comes a point when silence becomes treason.”