King Charles begged his warring sons William and Harry not to make his ‘final years a misery’, the Duke of Sussex‘s bombshell book has revealed.
In a leaked extract of his highly anticipated autobiography, Spare, Prince Harry recounts a meeting with his father and brother after Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021.
In the tell-all memoir, which is set to be released early next week, he recalls Charles stood between himself and the heir ‘looking up at our flushed faces’.
Harry then quotes his father as saying: ‘Please boys, don’t make my final years a misery.’
King Charles begged his warring sons William and Harry not to make his ‘final years a misery’, the Duke of Sussex ‘s bombshell book has revealed
In a leaked extract of his highly anticipated autobiography, Spare, Prince Harry recounts a meeting with his father and brother after Prince Philip’s funeral in April 2021
The extract has been published by The Guardian. It is not known how the newspaper obtained an early copy of the book.
Harry also reportedly claimed he was physically attacked by his brother over the younger prince’s marriage to Meghan Markle.
He alleged the confrontation took place at his London home in 2019 and had left him with a visible injury to his back after the Prince of Wales grabbed his brother by the collar and ripped his necklace before knocking him to the floor.
Harry further claimed William had called the American actress ‘difficult’, ‘rude’ and ‘abrasive’ – comments which the younger brother said parroted ‘the press narrative’ about his wife.
According to The Guardian newspaper, the ‘extraordinary scene’ is ‘one of many in Spare’ which is due to be published on January 10.
The newspaper said it was able to obtain a copy of the book despite ‘stringent pre-launch security around the book’.
Harry also claimed his brother William grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the floor during a heated argument over his wife Meghan Markle
Its article goes on to say that, according to Harry, his elder brother had wanted to discuss ‘the whole rolling catastrophe’ of their relationship and struggles with the press.
But when William arrived at Nottingham Cottage – where Harry was then living – in the grounds of Kensington Palace, the Prince of Wales was already ‘piping hot’.
‘After William complained about Meghan, Harry writes, Harry told him he was repeating the press narrative and that he expected better,’ The Guardian reports.
‘But William, Harry says, was not being rational, leading to the two men shouting over each other.
‘Harry then accused his brother of acting like an heir, unable to understand why his younger brother was not content to be a spare.’
Insults were then exchanged between the two men, before William claimed he was trying to help, claims which Harry found incredulous, and informed his brother of such, angering William.
So much so, Harry writes, the Prince of Wales swore and stepped forwards, scaring him.
He writes: ‘(William) called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor.
‘I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.’
Harry writes that William urged him to hit back but he refused. Shortly afterwards though, the elder brother apologised.
William had then told his brother not to tell Meghan about the confrontation, resulting in Harry saying: ‘You mean that you attacked me?’, to which William responded: ‘I didn’t attack you, Harold.’
Harry said he did not immediately tell his wife but she had noticed ‘scrapes and bruises’ on his back.
It comes as Prince Harry’s suggestions that his family have shown no desire to reconcile with him were tossed aside by royal sources who say his father invited him to visit over Christmas.
Royal sources have said the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were invited to join the family this Christmas. Pictured: King Charles and his wife Camilla lead the Royal Family on a walkabout at Sandringham on Christmas Day
The Duke of Sussex claimed a potential reunion with his relatives in the UK did not seem on the cards, saying his father and brother had ‘absolutely no willingness to reconcile’.
He made the claim in a trailer for an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby, part of the publicity blitz for his memoir, Spare, which comes out next week.
But insiders at Buckingham Palace have poured cold water on the claims, branding them ‘nonsense’ and saying Harry and his wife Meghan had an open invitation to join the rest of the Firm this Christmas.
That is despite the release of their bombshell Netflix programme last month, which saw them launch a series of attacks on the monarchy.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, one source said the latest claim by Harry was ‘complete and unadulterated nonsense’.
They said: ‘It takes some audacity to say that when his father invited him to stay at his house when in the UK, invited him to spend Christmas with the rest of the family and continued to make public statements of support.’
They also told the publication: ‘[The King] has been saddened that he hasn’t had the opportunity to spend time with his grandchildren. He has always left the door open for his son and will continue to do so.’
Representatives of Prince Harry have been contacted for comment.
There have been suggestions by some royal experts though that the already tense relationship between Harry and the rest of his family could become even more frayed upon the release of his memoir.
Insiders fear that the Duke of Sussex and his brother William, the Prince of Wales, will ‘never reconcile’ after Spare is released, with the book set to feature stinging attacks on him and his wife Kate.
A source told the Sunday Times: ‘Generally, I think the book [will be] worse for them than the Royal Family is expecting.
‘Everything is laid bare. Charles comes out of it better than it had expected, but it’s tough on William, in particular, and even Kate gets a bit of a broadside.
There are fears there will be no chance at reconciliation after the publication of Harry’s memoir. Pictured: William, Harry, Meghan and Kate at Westminster Abbey in 2018
‘There are these minute details, and a description of the fight between the brothers. I personally can’t see how Harry and William will be able to reconcile after this.’
The memoir has been penned by ghostwriter JR Moehringer, with some of the proceeds being donated by the duke to charity.
Before it is published next week, two interviews with Harry by Mr Bradby and CBS’s Anderson Cooper, both conducted at a hired ranch in Montecito, will be released.
In a trailer for the sit-down with Mr Bradby, the Duke of Sussex said he would ‘like to have my father and brother back’, adding his family ‘have shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile’.
Harry says ‘it never needed to be this way’ and refers to ‘the leaking and the planting’ before adding ‘I want a family, not an institution’.
He also says, in an apparent reference to the royals, ‘they feel as though it is better to keep us somehow as the villains’ – something not likely to help the frayed relationship between the Sussexes and the rest of the Firm which sources say is already ‘hanging by a thread’.
But one royal expert said Harry and Meghan need to learn ‘silence is common sense’ and that airing dirty laundry in public is not likely to help bring about the reconciliation the duke claims he wants.
Richard Fitzwilliams said proclamations made by the Sussexes in the Press are not helping the fractured relationship.
‘Harry might like to ‘get his brother back’ and ‘his father back’, but must surely know giving this catalogue of woes even more exposure, is not the way to do so.
‘Further accusations of stories being planted against them by the Palace in both interviews show how bitter he and Meghan still are but, though their fans may support it, there will come a time when even the media tire of exposure at this level.
‘Harry says in the trailer for the CBS interview, referring to the Palace’s inability to protect them from false reports, that ‘there comes a point when silence is betrayal’.
‘There is also a point, if they wish any relationship, however distant, with the Royal Family, when silence is common sense. When will the Sussexes learn this?’
In a trailer for his interview with US TV personality Mr Cooper, Harry was asked why he had not communicated his grievances with the family in private.
In response he said: ‘Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife.
‘The family motto is never complain and never explain – it’s just a motto.’
He added: ‘They [Buckingham Palace] will feed or have a conversation with a correspondent, and that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story, and at the bottom of it, they will say they have reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
‘But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.
‘So when we’re being told for the last six years, ”we can’t put a statement out to protect you”, but you do it for other members of the family, there becomes a point when silence is betrayal.’
The clips appear to confirm reports that Harry will use his memoir to reveal details about disagreements between him and his brother the Prince of Wales, 40.
It comes after the duke claimed in his Netflix documentary that William broke a promise to never to leak stories or brief against one another after witnessing the fallout of such actions in their father’s office.
