Prince Harry claims he and William ‘begged’ Charles not to marry Camilla amid host of explosive claims
Britain's Prince Harry has branded his brother, William, his “arch nemesis” in his bombshell book, claiming he was physically attacked by William and knocked to the floor during a confrontation over Meghan Markle.
Multiple leaks and the accidental sale of Harry’s memoir, Spare, in Spain resulted in a flurry of explosive revelations from the duke’s autobiography, due out next week.
Harry has also claimed that he and his brother begged their father not to marry Camilla and that he wondered if she would one day be his “wicked stepmother”.
Harry’s autobiography, Spare, which is ghost-written by JR Moehringer, reveals that the royal brothers were aware of Camilla as the “other woman”.
The book includes details of the moment he was introduced to Camilla for the first time, according to The Sun newspaper, which said it obtained a Spanish copy of the book.
Harry reportedly claims he and his brother had separate meetings with her before she married Charles in 2005.
He said seeing her for the first time was like avoiding pain while getting an injection, writing: “This is nothing. Close your eyes and you won’t even feel it.”
Harry also alleges that Camilla appeared “bored” during the meeting and thought about whether she would be his “wicked stepmother” in the future.
In an interview with the PA news agency in 2005, Harry denied that Camilla was a “wicked stepmother”, declaring that he and William “loved her to bits”.
Harry described his father as a “much more relaxed” person since he married Camilla, and urged people to “feel sorry for her”.
“Everyone has to understand that it’s very hard for her. Look at the position she’s coming into. Don’t always feel sorry for me and William, feel sorry for her,” he said at the time.
He added: “She’s a wonderful woman and she’s made our father very, very happy, which is the most important thing.”
Also in the book, Harry claims he and his brother were willing to forgive her if she could make Charles happy, adding: “We saw that like us, he wasn’t.
Harry also claims that he and William told Charles they would welcome Camilla into the family on the condition he did not marry her and “begged” him not to do so.
He alleges that his father did not respond to their pleas.
The brothers feared Camilla would be unfairly compared to their mother, Diana, Harry also claims.
Other revelations from the book include claims that a campaign was launched for Charles to marry Camilla and that his stepmother leaked details of her conversation with William to the press.
Other claims include:
– Harry alleges it was William and his wife, Kate, who encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party 2005 and “howled” with laughter when they saw it.
– Harry killed 25 people as a helicopter pilot in Afghanistan but saw them as “chess pieces” taken off the board.
– Harry took cocaine at 17, and lost his virginity at the same age in a field behind a “very busy pub” to an unnamed older woman who treated him like a “young stallion”.
– Charles pleaded with William and Harry, “Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery”, during a tense meeting at Windsor just after their grandfather’s funeral.
– Charles did not hug Harry when telling him about the death of his mother Diana.
– Meghan upset Kate by saying she must have “baby brain” in the run-up to her and Harry’s 2018 wedding, and William pointed a finger at Meghan and called her “rude”.
– William and Harry call each other “Willy” and “Harold”.
Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace have declined to comment, but the inflammatory claims and intimately personal book are being seen as damaging Harry’s fragile relationship with his brother – a future king – beyond repair.
Harry alleges the heated confrontation with William took place at his then-home in London, Nottingham Cottage, in 2019, The Guardian said.
The newspaper said it had obtained a copy of Spare despite tight pre-launch security.
Harry 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 had wanted to discuss “the whole rolling catastrophe” of their relationship and struggles with the press, but was already “piping hot” when he arrived at the cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
William went on to call Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive” – comments Harry told him parroted “the press narrative” about his wife.
Harry said he accused his brother of acting like an heir, unable to understand why his younger brother was not content to be a “spare”.
Insults were exchanged, the book says, with William saying he was trying to help and Harry replying: “Are you serious? Help me? Sorry – is that what you call this? Helping me?”
Harry said the comment angered William who swore while stepping towards him, scaring him, with Harry going into the kitchen and William following.
Harry writes that he gave his brother a glass of water and said: “Willy, I can’t speak to you when you’re like this.”
He then tells how William called him another name and “then came at me”, with it all happening “very fast” before the alleged physical confrontation.
Harry writes that William urged him to hit back, citing fights they had as children, but that he refused and William left before returning, looking regretful and apologising.
Harry writes that William told him he did not need to tell “Meg” about this and claimed: “I didn’t attack you, Harold.”
Harry reveals he did not tell Meghan straight away but did contact his therapist, and later admitted to his wife what happened when she saw the “scrapes and bruises”.
Harry has also recorded an interview with Good Morning America (GMA), with a clip showing interviewer Michael Strahan asking him: “There is a quote in the book where your refer to your brother as your ‘beloved brother and arch nemesis’. Strong words. What did you mean by that?”
Harry replies: “There has always been this competition between us, weirdly. I think it really plays into or is played by the ‘heir/spare’.”
The book, due out on January 10 and ghost written by JR Moehringer, comes just weeks after Harry and Meghan’s bombshell Netflix documentary, in which he said he was terrified when William screamed and shouted at him during a tense Sandringham summit in 2020.
Meanwhile, US website Page Six said Harry has written about his Nazi uniform scandal in 2005.
He claims he phoned William and Kate to ask them whether he should choose a pilot’s uniform or a Nazi one for the fancy dress party and they said the latter, and howled with laughter when he went home and tried it on for them.
Harry, then 20, sparked outrage and was widely condemned when a photograph of him in the uniform complete with swastika ended up on the front page of a newspaper.
Harry has filmed three interviews to promote his book: one with ITV’s Tom Bradby, which will air on Sunday at 9pm; one with CBS News’s Anderson Cooper, which is out on Sunday evening in the US; and the GMA interview due to be broadcast on Monday morning.
In a clip released on Thursday, Bradby challenges Harry on “invading the privacy of your most nearest and dearest without permission”.
Harry replies: “That would be the accusation from the people that don’t understand or don’t want to believe that my family have been briefing the press.”
ITV News At Ten presenter Bradby – a friend of Harry’s – says: “Wouldn’t your brother say to you, ‘Harry, how could you do this to me after everything? After everything we went through?’ Wouldn’t that be what he would say?”
Harry replies: “He would probably say all sorts of different things.”
The book is being released four months after the death of Harry’s grandmother Queen Elizabeth, and follows years of turmoil for the British royal family amid the Megxit crisis, Philip’s death, accusations of racism in the couple’s Oprah interview and the long-running feud between William and Harry.
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