Prince Harry has confirmed he picked a close friend and not his elder brother to be his best man for his May 2018 wedding to Meghan Markle.
He sensationally claimed he was forced to go along with William’s ‘bare-faced lie’ he was the best man at his sibling’s 2011 wedding.
Harry says in his explosive new memoir Spare his brother chose pals James Meade and Thomas Van Straubenzee to deliver the traditional speech at the reception and he acted as a mere compere and introduced them.
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In his controversial 557-page book, which went on unauthorised sale early in Spain earlier this week, the renegade royal confirms William was not his best man either, reports the Daily Mirror.
He said he picked his “old friend” Charlie for that job, claiming in his new memoir the Royal Family lied again about who was really best man and suggesting his elder brother failed to attend a drinks get-together he organised with friends the eve of his big day at five-star Coworth Park Hotel in Ascot because he may have been sulking.
The man he refers to is believed to be Charlie van Straubenzee, his friend since their days at Ludgrove Pep School.
Harry is said to have been best man for his childhood pal at Charlie’s wedding to filmmaker Daisy Jenks in Surrey in the summer of 2018. Up until now businessman Charlie, Thomas' younger brother, had always been described as an usher at Harry's wedding to Meghan.
Harry recounts in an excerpt of his book after revealing William had failed to show for the get-together he organised at Coworth Park and blamed family commitments: “I asked what was really happening.
“Was he sulking because he wasn’t my best man? Was he annoyed because I had asked my old friend Charlie instead? (The Royal Family announced Willy was the best man as they had done with me when he and Kate got married. Did that have something to do with it?)."
Referring to another revelation in the book in which he claimed William ordered him to shave his beard off before his wedding to Meghan and he refused, he added: “Or was this the last throes of Beardgate?”
Harry claimed William refused to offer a proper explanation for his ‘snub’, other than to say "no to everything" after telling him in a last-minute ‘let-down’ he wouldn’t be meeting up with his younger brother at the hotel by saying: “I can’t, Harold. Kate and the children.
Harry said his elder sibling wasn’t even going to accompany him on a meet-and-greet with crowds the eve of the wedding in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, but eventually changed his mind.
He added as they returned to their car after personally thanking well-wishers: “As we moved away, I asked him if he wanted to come and have dinner with me.w
“I mentioned he could even stay to sleep, like I had done before his wedding.
“Please come Willy.
“I can’t Harold. I can’t. The children.”
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