Fans have rushed to defend Prince Harry for speaking about Caroline Flack in his memoir, Spare, in which he recalls having a brief relationship with the late TV presenter, who died by suicide in 2020.
In the tell-all book, which leaked after the memoir was accidentally published in Spain five days early, Harry recalls meeting the former Love Island host in 2009 at a restaurant during a night out with their mutual friend.
Describing Flack as “funny”, “sweet”, and “cool”, Harry wrote: “Very soon after [the media] papped me and Flack, those photos set off a frenzy. Within hours a mob was camped outside Flack’s parents’ house, and all her friends’ houses, and her grandparents’ house.”
“She was described in one paper as my ‘bit of rough’, because she once worked in a factory or something,” he continued. “Jesus, I thought, are we really such a country of insufferable snobs?”
Despite the media intrusion, the pair “kept on” seeing each other, Harry wrote, “because we genuinely enjoyed each other’s company, and because we didn’t want to admit defeat at the hands of these arseholes”.
Eventually, however, they decided to call it quits as press intrusion had “tainted” things between them “irredeemably”.
“We realised it just wasn’t worth the grief and harassment,” he wrote. “Especially for her family.“Goodbye, we said. Goodbye and good luck.”
The remarks initially prompted criticism, with Flack’s former agent Alex Mullen calling the duke’s actions as “gross” and accusing him of using his past relationship to help sell his book.
“Gross for Prince Harry to reveal such private details about Caroline Flack. The way the press spoke about her at that time and the reason they split are both very sad and it’s gross he’s using her name to help sell his book,” he wrote in an Instagram post.
However, now many others have defended Harry for speaking about his relationship with Flack, whose death sparked the #BeKind movement on social media, calling for an end to online harassment.
“I’m 100 per cent on his side and always have been,” tweeted one person. “The British press are vile people who won’t stop until it ends in tragedy, just like Diana and Caroline Flack.
“All Harry is doing is telling his story yet the press have manipulated the public into thinking he’s the problem [sic].”
Another wrote: “‘Using her name to sell his book’… The idea that Caroline Flack would raise Prince Harry’s profile is an interesting take!”
Others have pointed out that Flack wrote about the relationship herself in her own memoir, Storm in a C Cup, in 2014.
“Is he not allowed to discuss what she already wrote about them in 2014??” one person tweeted.
Spare will officially be released on 10 January. Read live updates about the book here.
If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, the Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.
