Prince Harry’s Biggest ‘Spare’ Bombshells: William Drama, More

Always second best? Prince Harry got real about his role as Prince William’s younger brother — and the highs of lows of royal life — in his memoir, Spare.

In the book, which comes out on Tuesday, January 10, Harry revealed that the memoir’s title stemmed from the thing he was labeled as the moment he was born. William would become king one day, after their father, King Charles III, while the former military pilot felt he was “the shadow, the support, the Plan B” in their family and in the country.

“I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow,” the royal wrote. “This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life’s journey and regularly reinforced after.”

While feeling less than his sibling was par for the course in Harry’s life, it spawned countless heated arguments to transpire between the two brothers growing up.

Harry detailed one particularly brutal physical fight with William in the book over his wife, Meghan Markle, and claimed that the Prince of Wales took issue with his appearance ahead of their marriage.

“I showed up to my stag ready to party. To laugh, to have a good time, to get clear of all this stress,” the BetterUp CIO wrote, referring to his bachelor party in 2018. “And yet I also feared that if I got too clear, got too drunk and passed out, Willy and his mates would hold me down and shave me.”

He alleged that his brother was not a fan of his beard pre-wedding, so he was ready to force it from his face. “In fact Willy told me, explicitly, in all seriousness, that this was his plan,” Harry continued. “So, while having fun, I was also at all times keeping my older brother in my sight.”

While his tension with William was a big part of the book, Harry also recalled his own personal highs and lows, including drug use and the way in which he lost his virginity.

Elsewhere in the memoir, the duke opened about his true feelings toward stepmother Queen Consort Camilla, who married his father in 2005. He also identified how his mother, Princess Diana, has remained a guiding light throughout his life.

Scroll down to see the biggest bombshells from Harry’s Spare memoir:

Spare hits bookshelves on Tuesday, January 10.

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William Allegedly Knocked Harry Down During a Fight

The Invictus Games founder claimed that after William called Meghan “difficult” and “rude” while at his home in 2019, the two got into a physical altercation. Harry wrote that his brother “grabbed” him by the collar and broke his necklace before he was “knocked” to the floor.

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The Summer 2018 Faceoff

As tension between William, Princess Kate, Harry and Meghan continued in 2018, the foursome had a sit down. Harry claimed that his brother and sister-in-law were “upset” because he and Meghan didn’t give them Easter gifts.

During their confrontation, Harry alleged that Kate asked for the former actress to apologize for saying she had “baby brain” while pregnant with third child Prince Louis. William then “pointed” at Meghan and called her rude, per the book.

“It’s not what’s done here in Britain,” the Prince of Wales allegedly said as the California native “kindly take your finger out of my face.”

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William and Kate Supported His Nazi Costume

Harry claimed that his controversial Nazi costume from 2005 wasn’t all his doing. He recalled trying to decide between a last-minute British pilot’s uniform or a Nazi uniform ahead of Halloween. “I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said. I rented it, plus a silly mustache, and went back to the house,” he wrote. “I tried it all on. They both howled.”

The prince previously apologized for the costume choice, calling it, “one of the biggest mistakes of my life” in the 2022 Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan.

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How He Lost His Virginity — And Which Drugs Has He Done

The Archewell cofounder detailed losing his virginity to an older woman who “liked horses” and “treated me unlike a young stallion.” He noted it was a “quick ride” which ended with the woman smacking him on the “rump” and sending him “to grace.” Harry added: “Among the many things about it that were wrong. It happened in a grassy field behind a busy pub.”

Elsewhere in the memoir, the military veteran opened up about smoking weed and doing cocaine more than once. While he denied trying cocaine during a crazy Las Vegas bash in 2012, he confessed in the book that he’d dabbled in it while at a friend’s country home. “During a shooting weekend, I’d been offered a line, and I’d done a few more since,” he wrote.

Harry revealed that he once tried “mushroom chocolates” while staying at Courteney Cox’s house in Los Angeles. “My mate and I grabbed several, gobbled them, washed them down with tequila,” he explained.

While Harry’s drug use mostly took place when he was younger, he did point out that when he and Meghan briefly lived with Tyler Perry in early 2020, he found himself taking weed breaks late at night. “I’d walk the house, checking the doors and windows. Then I’d sit on the balcony or the edge of the garden and roll a joint,” he wrote.

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Harry Snapped at Meghan After Becoming ‘Sloppily Angry’

The England native recalled having a conversation with his wife that took an “unexpected turn” after Meghan said something to Harry that he took the wrong way. “I was also just over-sensitive that night. I thought: ‘Why’s she having a go at me?’ I snapped at her, spoke to her harshly [and] cruelly,” he wrote in the book. “As the words left my mouth, I could feel everything in the room come to a stop.”

Meghan walked out and when Harry found her, she calmly asked, “’Where did you ever hear a man speak like that to a woman?’” which prompted the royal to admit that he’d heard adults speak that way as a child. The duo agreed that moving forward they would not have a household with “an atmosphere of anger or disrespect.”

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Harry and William Had a ‘Duel’ at Prince Philip’s Funeral

Harry described his April 2021 confrontation with his family as a “duel,” which took place after the group mourned the loss of Prince Philip. “I tried to explain my side of things,” he wrote about the meeting, which took place at Frogmore Gardens and was supposed to be about his royal exit. “I’d vowed not to let this encounter devolve into another argument. But I quickly discovered that it wasn’t up to me.”

He recalled getting into a “heated” discussion with William, which ended with Charles stepping in. The king asked that the boys not “make my final years a misery,” but Harry was left wondering if his loved ones ever really knew him.

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Why Harry and William Drove Through the Same Tunnel as Diana

“Off we went, weaving through traffic, cruising past the Ritz, where Mummy had her last meal, with her boyfriend, that August night,” Harry wrote of going through the tunnel where Diana died in 1997. “We zipped ahead, went over the lip at the tunnel’s entrance, the bump that supposedly sent Mummy’s Mercedes veering off course.” He recalled feeling like the “lip was nothing,” and the experience made him more upset. The tunnel was “short, simple, no-frills,” which made him think that there was “no reason anyone should ever die inside it.”

When Harry told William about his drive, the Duke of Cambridge revealed he too had done that. The brothers then rode through the tunnel together.

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Harry and William’s True Feelings About Camilla

“Despite Willy and me urging him not to, Pa was going ahead. We pumped his hand, wished him well. No hard feelings,” Harry wrote of his father’s marriage to Camilla. “We recognized that he was finally going to be with the woman he loved, the woman he’d always loved, the woman Fate might’ve intended for him in the first place.”

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How Diana Lived on for Harry

Following his mother’s death in 1997, Harry has been vocal about feeling her presence on more than one occasion. The redheaded royal pointed to his and Meghan’s first pregnancy as one of the times Diana was his good luck charm. He explained in the book that Meghan placed two pregnancy tests on his nightstand in 2018 after she was late.

“I only kept a few things there, among them the blue box with my mother’s hair,” Harry wrote. “Right, I thought, good. Let’s see what Mummy can do with this situation.” When the tests both turned blue, meaning they were expecting their first child, the retired military pilot thought, “Thank you, Mummy.” Harry recalled telling his brother that their mother actually helped him find Meghan as well.

Diana’s guidance, however, wasn’t always positive, according to the prince. When Charles prepared to wed Camilla, Harry said there were multiple delays in the proceedings, which he attributed to his mom. He wrote that he felt as if Diana was “blocking rather than blessing their union.”

Elsewhere in the book, Harry revealed that he met with a woman who “claimed to have ‘powers’” and told her during their visit that Diana was there with them. The royal needed “proof” so the woman reminded him of a broken Christmas ornament that his son, Archie, tried to fix. “Your mother says she had a bit of a giggle about that,” he wrote.

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Wedding Accessory Fights

Fans previously learned about Meghan and Kate’s arguments over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress, but according to Harry, there was more drama ahead of the nuptials. He alleged that Queen Elizabeth II’s former senior dresser, Angela Kelly, became “obstructive” when asked to lend Meghan a tiara for her big day.

The prince explained that after calling the dresser on multiple occasions, the tiara was still missing during the bride’s fitting. When it did arrive, Harry pointed out that it would’ve been “easier to have had it sooner,” which got a cold and “clear warning” look from Kelly.

Harry later claimed that he and William argued ahead of the wedding as well, over his choice to keep his beard. The younger duke revealed that his brother was “livid” when he learned that Harry got permission from the queen to keep the beard on his special day.

“He wouldn’t let it go,” Harry wrote of the incident. “At one point he actually ordered me, as the Heir speaking to the Spare, to shave. Are you serious?” The groom-to-be, however, had the final word, and told William that “he could either get on board or not” but he was keeping the facial hair.