Prince Harry has suggested that the royal family may thank him “in five or 10 years time” after sharing many shocking revelations about the British royal family and its close relationship with the press in his tell-all memoir, Spare.
The Duke of Sussex’s record-breaking book, Spare, was released on 10 January, selling more than 1.4 million copies in the UK, US, and Canada on its release day. The ghostwritten autobiography has since become the fastest-selling non-fiction book in history.
From his fractious relationship with his brother Prince William to his struggles after his mother Diana’s death in 1997, Prince Harry didn’t hold back when writing his bombshell memoir. For example, the book alleges that Prince William attacked Harry during a confrontation at Nottingham Cottage over his wife, Meghan Markle, after the eldest called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”.
The 38-year-old royal also claimed his older brother and his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, encouraged him to wear the Nazi uniform for which he received major backlash. Harry even said that, after he was born, his father the King told the late Princess of Wales that Harry’s arrival was wonderful because now she had given him an heir and a spare, meaning “his work was done”.
Despite the shocking claims, Prince Harry has maintained that his estranged family may thank him for exposing the inner-workings of the royal family and the monarchy some day.
In a new interview with The Telegraph published on 13 January, journalist Bryony Gordon writes that Harry “accepts that any chance of reconciliation” with his family “is unlikely at the moment.”
He said: “What I’ve realised is that you don’t make any friends, especially within your family, because everyone has learned to accept that trauma [as] part of life. How dare you, as an individual, talk about it, because that makes us all feel really uncomfortable? So right, you may not like me in the moment, but maybe you’ll thank me in five or 10 years time.”
Prince Harry often discusses the trauma he’s experienced throughout his book – from the death of his mother when he was just 12 years old, to killing 25 people while serving in Afghanistan. He cites using experimental drugs as helping him clear “the misery of loss” after Princess Diana’s death, although he now advocates for EMDR therapy as a way to process trauma.
Trauma recovery expert Dr Lisa Turner recently toldThe Independent: “There is this sense that [Harry] really does want to let his family know he’s hurting. Hurt people, hurt others. They do it completely unintentionally, because their hurt is so present, they can’t perceive anyone else’s hurt.”
Speaking to The Telegraph, the prince also revealed that he has enough material to fill another book, but believes the King and Prince William would never have forgiven him for revealing their secrets.
“The first draft was different. It was 800 pages, and now it’s down to 400 pages,” he said. “It could have been two books, put it that way. And the hard bit was taking things out. 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.”
Harry also said he had 50 Zoom calls with his ghostwriter, JR Moehringer, regarding the contents of the book, but he was aware that sharing such personal details was “an absolute no” in his family and that he would “get trashed” for anything he included about these interactions.
“This is not about trying to collapse the monarchy – this is about trying to save them from themselves,” he claimed. “I know that I will get crucified by numerous people [for] saying that.”
