Prince Harry Kept Major Family Secrets From Spare to Protect William and Charles

Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, released three years ago, sent shockwaves through the Royal Family, as the Duke made numerous claims about senior royals. From a physical altercation with Prince William at Kensington Palace to tense moments at Prince Philip’s funeral, Harry appeared to leave no stone unturned in recounting family tensions.

Despite the revelations, Harry later admitted he intentionally omitted a series of major family secrets from the book. Within days of its release, he revealed that he left out certain anecdotes about his father and brother, fearing they would never forgive him if the details were made public.

Harry explained that the original manuscript was twice the length of the final draft, and many interactions with Charles and William were edited out. He told The Telegraph: “It could have been two books, put it that way. And the hard bit was taking things out.” He added, “There are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don’t want the world to know. Because I don’t think they would ever forgive me.”

Royal expert Dr. Ed Owens told the Mirror’s Pod Save The King podcast that Spare had “majorly dented the royals’ image of being the ‘best of British family life.’” He explained that King Charles III originally intended to rule with the support of both William and Harry, but the Sussexes’ public disclosures, coupled with their 2021 Oprah interview and 2022 Netflix docuseries, have “done much damage to the narrative of happy family life.”

Harry also disclosed that he held 50 Zoom calls with his ghostwriter to decide which personal details to include, highlighting the difficult choices he faced in balancing transparency and privacy.