Prince Harry released his debut book, “Spare,” on Tuesday. In the memoir, Harry shares new details about his childhood, his relationship with King Charles, and his rift with Prince William and Kate Middleton.
While the book has been widely reported on, there are many anecdotes that readers may have missed, from King Charles’ headstand routine to Meghan Markle’s first meeting with Charles and Camilla.
Representatives for the Duke of Sussex, Buckingham Palace, and Kensington Palace did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
While “Spare” deals with sensitive topics, such as Princess Diana’s death and Meghan Markle’s mental health struggles, Harry also writes about light-hearted memories of his childhood.
In one portion of the book about his time at Balmoral Castle, the royal family’s holiday estate in Scotland, Harry writes about Charles doing headstands against the door of his room.
“Doors became identical, rooms interlocked. Easy to get lost. Open the wrong door and you might burst in on Pa while his valet was helping him dress. Worse, you might blunder in as he was doing headstands,” Harry wrote.
“Prescribed by his physio, these exercises were the only effective remedy for the constant pain in Pa’s neck and back. Old polo injuries, mostly. He performed them daily, in just a pair of boxers, propped against a door or hanging from a bar like a skilled acrobat,” he added.
“Balmoral had 50 bedrooms, one of which had been divided for me and Willy,” Harry wrote, adding that adults referred to it as the nursery.
Harry said William had the larger half of the room, and that he never asked why.
“But I also didn’t need to ask. Two years older than me, Willy was the Heir, whereas I was the Spare,” he wrote.
“I was 20 the first time I heard the story of what Pa allegedly said to Mummy the day of my birth: ‘Wonderful! Now you’ve given me and Heir and a Spare — my work is done,'” Harry wrote.
“A joke. Presumably,” he added. “On the other hand, minutes after delivering this bit of high comedy, Pa was said to have gone off to meet his girlfriend. So. Many a true word spoken in jest.”
Harry wrote that Diana’s sister Sarah gifted him and William a box each that contained Diana’s hair, which she’d taken after she died in Paris in 1997.
Harry wrote that he was initially unwilling to believe that his mother had died, and considered the possibility that she had faked her death.
“No, this could be anybody’s hair. Mummy, her beautiful blonde hair intact, was out there somewhere,” he wrote.
Harry wrote that during his childhood, Charles had trouble communicating and being “intimate face-to-face,” so he would write letters instead.
“On occasion, after a long multi-course dinner, I’d walk upstairs and find a letter on my pillow. The letter would say how proud he was of me for something I’d done or accomplished. I’d smile, place it under my pillow, but also wonder why he hadn’t said this moments ago, while seated directly across from me,” Harry wrote.
Later in the book, Harry described his and Meghan’s first meeting with Charles and Camilla at Clarence House, their residence in London, just a few weeks after Meghan met the late Queen Elizabeth II in October 2016. Harry wrote that Meghan wore her hair down for the meeting, which he suggested because Charles and Queen Elizabeth liked it when women wore their hair in this style.
“She often commented on ‘Kate’s beautiful mane,'” Harry said of the Queen.
Meghan also wore little makeup, which Harry said he also suggested because Charles “didn’t approve of women who wore a lot.”
Harry described a conversation with Charles before he proposed to Meghan, in which he said his father asked if Meghan planned to continue acting.
When Harry said that she wanted to support him and undertake royal duties, Charles responded: “Well, darling boy, you know there’s not enough money to go around,” according to Harry.
“I can’t pay for anyone else. I’m already having to pay for your brother and Catherine,” Charles added, according to Harry.
However, Harry wrote that he believed it wasn’t about the money, but rather because Charles didn’t want to be overshadowed by Meghan.
Harry wrote that he had to ask his late grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, for permission to keep his beard for his royal wedding to Meghan in 2018.
Harry added that this ultimately caused a week-long argument between himself and William, because William didn’t understand why Harry was allowed to keep his beard when he had previously been instructed to shave his off.
Harry described a “clear the air meeting” that he said took place between himself, Meghan, Kate, and William in June 2018 at Kate and William’s home.
During the meeting, Harry wrote that William and Kate were upset because Harry and Meghan hadn’t given them Easter gifts, and he and Meghan were upset because William and Kate switched place cards and changed seats at their wedding, which they insisted wasn’t them but someone else.
According to Harry, Kate then demanded an apology from Meghan because she had told her sister-in-law that she had “baby brain” during a phone call where Kate had forgotten something about wedding rehearsals. Kate told Meghan that “we’re not close enough for you to talk about my hormones,” while William pointed at Meghan and said: “It’s not what’s done here in Britain,” according to Harry.
Speaking to Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, Meghan addressed a November 2018 Daily Mail report that she had made Kate cry at a bridesmaid dress fitting for Princess Charlotte.
Meghan told Winfrey that the “reverse happened.” Although she didn’t specify what was said, Meghan said it “made me cry” and “really hurt my feelings.” She said Kate brought her flowers and a note apologizing after the incident.
Writing in his memoir, Harry said the disagreement took place through text messages after Kate texted to say that Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress didn’t fit her properly. Harry wrote that after Meghan suggested Kate take the dress to the tailor who was on standby at Kensington Palace, Kate continued to insist that “all of the dresses need to be remade.”
Harry added that he arrived home that day to find Meghan “on the floor, sobbing” and said Kate stopped by with flowers, a card, and an apology the following morning.
Later in the book, Harry wrote about how he tried to figure out who could have leaked the story, and implied that he believed Charles and Camilla were responsible.
He said William admitted that he shared some information about their fallout while at dinner with Charles and Camilla.
“I put a hand over my face. Meg froze. A heavy silence fell. So now we knew,” Harry wrote.
“I told Willy: ‘You… of all people… should’ve known…” he added.
This appeared to be a reference to earlier in the book, where Harry wrote that he believed Camilla had leaked stories about conversations with William to the press.
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