King Charles "Didn't Hug" Prince Harry When He Told Him About Diana's Death, But He Was "Fatherly" and "Kind"

Prince Harry's memoir Spare will be released on Jan. 10, but many of its biggest bombshells appear to have been leaked ahead of time.

For example, in his memoir, the Duke of Sussex apparently tells the story of losing his virginity, trying cocaine, and his brother William physically attacking him.

But there are many more revelations to come. Us Weekly, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of its release, printed excerpts from the moment King Charles told Prince Harry his mother Princess Diana had been in a fatal accident.

"[Charles] sat down on the edge of the bed," Harry writes.

"He put a hand on my knee. Darling boy, Mummy’s been in a car crash. I remember thinking: Crash … OK. But she’s all right? Yes? I vividly remember that thought flashing through my mind. And I remember waiting patiently for Pa to confirm that indeed Mummy was all right. And I remember him not doing that."

Describing the type of comfort he received from his dad after receiving the awful news, Harry continues, "Pa didn’t hug me. He wasn’t great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis? But his hand did fall once more on my knee and he said: 'It’s going to be OK.' That was quite a lot for him. Fatherly, hopeful, kind. And so very untrue."

When 12-year-old Harry realized that his mom wasn't coming back, he recalls, "I began silently pleading with Pa, or God, or both: No, no, no."

Elsewhere in the book, the Duke of Sussex explains some of the ways he attempted to deal with his mother's death, including the time he decided to recreate the scene by driving through the same tunnel in Paris at the speed Diana, her boyfriend, and her driver were traveling at.

"Off we went, weaving through traffic, cruising past the Ritz, where Mummy had her last meal, with her boyfriend, that August night," Harry recalls.

"Then we came to the mouth of the tunnel. We zipped ahead, went over the lip at the tunnel’s entrance, the bump that supposedly sent Mummy’s Mercedes veering off course. But the lip was nothing. We barely felt it."

Prince Harry has previously been open about the influence Princess Diana continues to have on his life and his family. Speaking in a video address in July 2022, the duke said, "I see my mum’s legacy when I look at my own children every day."

Harry and his wife Meghan Markle share son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 1.