Prince Harry Claims His Father Made a Shocking Comment to Diana

Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales leave the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital following the birth of Prince Harry on September 16, 1984 in London, England. — (Image credit: Photo by Anwar Hussein / Getty)

It seems any fears royals have had over Prince Harry's upcoming memoir, Spare, may have been justified.

Though the book comes out on Jan. 10, the Guardian was able to obtain a copy ahead of its publication.

The newspaper shared passages from the memoir that claimed William had physically attacked Harry in 2019, among other shocking revelations.

Among these are the words then-Prince Charles allegedly said to Princess Diana following the birth of Harry in 1984.

According to Harry, Charles said at the time, "Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare—my work is done."

Of course, Charles and Diana had a notoriously unhappy marriage, which makes Charles having said this plausible. However, we will probably never know for sure whether he actually did.

The Guardian reports that the memoir focuses heavily on this theme of the "spare" and its emotional implications for Harry growing up.

This necessarily pits him against his brother, the heir, throughout the book. The Guardian cites another passage in which Harry recalls how his visit to the U.K. for Prince Philip's funeral in April 2021 unfolded.

At the time, which was soon after Harry and Meghan's controversial Oprah interview, William and Harry's relationship was suffering, and they were "warring," in the Guardian's words.

Charles apparently stood in the middle of them, "looking up at our flushed faces," and said, "Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery."

Ahead of the book's publication next week, two interviews with Prince Harry—one in the U.S. and one in the U.K.—will be airing on Jan. 8.

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Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.