We’re still a few days away from the release of Prince Harry’s highly-anticipated memoir.
But thanks to some excerpts that leaked last night, we already know that Harry will not be holding back on his family in his literary debut.
The segment that’s attracted the most attention is the one in which Harry alleges that he was assaulted by William during a 2019 argument about Meghan Markle.
But that’s certainly not the only excerpt that’s certain to rankle the royal family and complicate Harry’s relationships with his relatives.
And some of the most shocking revelations in Harry’s memoir concern his father, Charles, who became King of the United Kingdom in September, upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
According to Harry, his first encounter with his father’s dark side happened on the very first day of his life.
In the book — which is poignantly titled Spare — Harry claims that when Charles learned that his wife, Princess Diana, had birthed a second son, he celebrated the “wonderful” news by telling her:
“Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare — my work is done.”
Obviously, that’s a repugnant thing to say, but defenders will likely chalk it up to Charles’ famously dry sense of humor.
Were it not for the allegations that the king was abusive to Diana throughout their marriage, perhaps we’d be willing to buy into that explanation.
Harry’s literary debut won’t hit bookstores until January 10, but Page Six and other outlets have already viewed and published excerpts, and insiders say the royals are currently in crisis mode.
In addition to Charles’ snide comment about his second son’s birth, the monarch also stands accused of offering little comfort to his sons in the wake of Diana’s death in a car accident.
“Pa didn’t hug me. He wasn’t great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis?” Harry writes.
Harry also recalls, in heartbreaking detail, the moment when he realized his mother would not be coming home.
“[Dad] sat down on the edge of the bed. He put a hand on my knee. ‘Darling boy, Mummy’s been in a car crash,’” the Duke of Sussex writes in his memoir.
“I remember thinking: Crash … OK. But she’s all right? Yes? I vividly remember that thought flashing through my mind. And I remember waiting patiently for Pa to confirm that indeed Mummy was all right,” Harry continues.
“And I remember him not doing that.”
Harry is as unsparing — no pun intended — in his depiction of himself, admitting that he previously lied to the public about using cocaine and other drugs in his youth.
He also opens up about the infamous 2005 incident in which he wore a Nazi uniform to a costume party.
Not surprisingly, the royals have yet to publicly respond to the leaked excerpts from Harry’s book.
But we think it’s safe to say that Harry won’t be getting back into his father’s good graces anytime soon.
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