Prince William will not forgive Prince Harry for spilling their closest secrets, friends of the Prince of Wales have said after Harry revealed how he and William came to physical blows over Meghan Markle in 2019.
On Wednesday, explosive excerpts from Spare, Prince Harry’s memoir due out next week, were leaked to the Guardian and Page Six and included the extraordinary claim that William physically attacked Harry during a heated confrontation at Nottingham Cottage. Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace have so far declined to comment on Harry’s version of the alleged altercation.
In the excerpt published in the Guardian, Harry claims that a furious argument broke out between the brothers in the kitchen of his London home in 2019. During the incident, William is said to have called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive” while Harry accused his brother of “parroting the press narrative” about his wife. But according to Harry, things turned physical when William allegedly grabbed Harry by the collar, breaking his necklace and throwing him to the floor.
“It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor,” he writes in Spare. “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 claims that during the scuffle, William urged him to fight back, saying it was what would happen when they scrapped as children. But Harry claims he refused and that William left and then returned “looking regretful, and apologised.” William then turned and told his brother, “You don’t need to tell Meg about this.” Harry claims he replied, “You mean that you attacked me?” to which William allegedly said, “I didn’t attack you, Harold.”
Prince Harry writes that the first person he called about the melee was his therapist, but he claims that Meghan would later notice the cuts “scrapes and bruises” on his back from the dog bowl. He claims his wife “wasn’t that surprised, and wasn’t all that angry. She was terribly sad.”
The royal family is bracing itself for further damaging revelations in the blockbuster book for which Harry was paid a £35 million dollar advance as part of a two-book deal. Harry started writing the book while the Queen was alive, however the release was delayed so that details of the Queen’s funeral could be included in an updated chapter.
In his autobiography, Harry reveals details of a private conversation between himself, his brother and his father and claims that Charles pleaded with his sons to make peace for his sake and not to make his “final years a misery” during a meeting after Prince Philip’s funeral. It is understood Charles took his sons for a walk around the castle grounds after the service and tried to act as a peacemaker, however, little headway was made and William and Kate were seen leaving shortly afterwards while Harry stayed to spend time with his royal cousins.
The fact that Harry has written about private family moments and the specifics of intimate conversations will be concerning and upsetting for the royals. According to sources close to William, he is furious that Harry has leaked details of their private conversations and the damage that Harry is causing the royal family. The source also said there was “a massive trust issue” between the brothers with William worried that any communication he has with his brother will be made public.
While Harry and Meghan were invited to join the royal family for Christmas at Sandringham, William was said to be particularly concerned about the possibility of the couple joining the family for the holiday. One source who was with William just before Christmas told Vanity Fair: “William worries everything and anything he says will be made public. For now he isn’t going to be commenting or reacting, his plan is to ride this all out. At the end of the day he will still be the Prince of Wales, and that’s what he is focused on.”