Zoff, cocaine and a goddamn criminal record – What’s in Harry’s memoir

A few days before the official publication of Harry’s memoirs, the explosive descriptions of the renegade prince are already causing quite a stir. Royal pundit Michael Cole called them the “most sensational and destructive royal revelations” in nearly 30 years on Sky News on Saturday. Prince Charles biographer Jonathan Dimbleby compares them to Britain’s BBC Radio 4 with the confessions of a “B celebrity”. The autobiography ‘Spare’ accidentally ended up in Spanish bookstores early on Thursday. Since then, details have come to the public, which have everything – an overview in ten points.

Prince Harry has reportedly accused his brother Prince William of not actually being best man at his wedding to Kate in 2011. He was forced to play along with the “outrageous lie” and would only be used for the big show to see the two best his brother’s friends to spare the public eye for their person, the “Mirror” quotes Harry. The traditional witness speech at the wedding reception would have been Williams’ friends James Meade and Thomas van Straubenzee. According to Harry, Prince William would have been “nice” and smelled of alcohol a few hours before his wedding.

One bad word too many, one push from William – and Prince Harry lies on the floor, injured by shards from a broken dog bowl. At least that is how the 38-year-old describes what is probably the most violent dispute between him and his brother to date. “Everything happened so fast. Very fast. He grabbed my collar, ripped my chain and threw me on the ground,” The Guardian quoted Harry as describing the altercation more than three years ago. Prince William (40) is said to have previously described Harry’s wife Meghan as “troublesome” and “rude”, after which Harry accused his brother of taking over the story from the British tabloid press.

The rivalry with the big brother is already reflected in the title of the book: “Spare” (in German: “Reserve”). That’s what his father would have said about him after he was born, Harry claims, according to the reports. The brothers, once considered inseparable and affectionately referred to as “Willy” and “Harold,” have long been bitterly competitive. Harry refers to William in the book as a “beloved brother” but also a “nemesis”.

Before Harry and Meghan’s wedding, the two brothers would even have argued over Harry’s facial hair. “At one point he actually ordered me – as heir to the throne turning to the reserve – to shave me,” writes Prince Harry, according to a report from the “Mirror” about his brother. It is said that even the queen gave him her blessing to marry a beard. William was concerned that Harry would not enjoy something he himself was being denied, the prince claims in “Spare”.

Camilla was known to him early on as his father’s “other woman,” Harry writes. After his mother’s death, he feared she would 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 not to let their father marry again were ignored: Charles and Camilla married in 2005. She is now the king’s consort. Harry, like other royals, accuses her of secretly providing information to the press.

At a gathering after Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021, King Charles III. (74) – heir to the throne at the time – asked his sons: «Please guys. Don’t make my last years miserable,” Harry recalled, according to The Guardian.

Prince Harry allegedly accused Charles of being jealous of his wife Meghan. His father is said to have been afraid that the “new and smart” actress could steal the spotlight from him. His father had “been through this before and had no interest in it happening to him again,” writes Harry, referring to the popularity of his late mother, Princess Diana. Charles is also said to be jealous of the public attention paid to William and Kate.

The tragic circumstances of the death of his mother Diana, who died in an accident in Paris in 1997 while on the run from paparazzi, continue to worry Harry to this day. He does not believe the official research results. He accuses the royal family of not letting William and himself publicly demand a reopening of the investigation. He testifies to his father’s emotional coolness. According to The Sun, Harry complained that he didn’t even hug him when he told him the devastating news of his beloved mother’s accident. Shortly before her death, according to “People” magazine, the prince is said to have raced through the accident tunnel in Paris at the same speed as Diana – an attempt at the age of 23 to come to terms with the bitter loss of his mother.

Harry also admits that he used cocaine when he was 17 to “feel different”. Experiences with mushrooms came later. He claims to have had his first sex as a teenager with a much older woman in a field behind a pub, who treated him “like a young stallion”. It was a “humiliating episode,” Harry summed up. Harry partly blames William and his wife Kate (40) for the biggest misstep of his younger years. They allegedly encouraged him to attend a costume party in a Nazi costume in 2005 – pictures of Harry wearing a swastika bracelet quickly made the rounds in the press and caused a scandal. Harry had to apologize publicly.

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 to Sky News. A senior Taliban member subsequently accused Harry of war crimes. “Those you killed weren’t pawns, they were people; they had families waiting for their return,” Anas Hakkani wrote on Twitter on Friday. 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 view their opponents as less human or as “pawns”. (sda/dpa)