According to the BBC, which obtained a Spanish translation of the book before it officially went on sale, Harry wrote that his family called him the “spare.”
“An heir and a spare” is a term used by royal families to describe the child who will inherit a title or estate. The “heir” — and their younger sibling — the “spare” — would replace the heir if anything happens to them.
In this case, 38-year-old Prince Harry is the understudy to his 40-year-old brother, Prince William.
“Wonderful. Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare, my work is done,” then-Prince Charles reportedly said to Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, after his birth, according to his memoir.
“They would say it without a spirit of judgment, but straight out,” Harry writes, according to the BBC. “I was the shadow, the supporting actor, the plan B.”
He continued: “I was brought into this world in case something happened to Willy.”
Prince Harry isn’t the first spare in his own family or in royal families around the world. From Princess Charlotte to Princess Astrid of Belgium, here’s a list of other spares and heirs around the world.
Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children, George, 9, and Charlotte, 7, are another heir and spare, respectively. According to The Guardian, Princess Charlotte is fourth in the line of succession, following her grandfather Charles — who is currently the king — her father William, and George.
Carl Philip, 43, was born heir to Sweden’s throne, until a change in the country’s succession laws in 1980, per the Swedish Institute. The new law changed the order of succession by determining that the oldest child, regardless of gender, should inherit the throne.
That meant that Prince Carl Philip’s older sister, 45-year-old Crown Princess Victoria, suddenly moved up in the line of succession — bumping Carl Philip to the “spare” position.
According to The Telegraph, 60-year-old Princess Astrid is so well-liked that there was talk of changing Belgium’s laws so she could take over the throne from her “less-than-admired” brother, Phillippe, 62.
While her husband was found guilty, according to The Telegraph, Infanta Cristina was acquitted. Afterward, however, her brother stripped her of her royal title — Duchess of Palma de Mallorca — and she moved to Switzerland.
In 1963, Princess Irene, 80, was second in line to the Dutch throne, following her older sister, the former Queen Beatrix, 84. The princess secretly converted to Catholicism, per The Telegraph, a shock to her Protestant mother, former Queen Juliana.
Despite being two years older than her brother, 49-year-old Crown Prince Haakon, he was always destined to inherit the throne, according to People.
Absolute primogeniture — the right to rule regardless of gender — wasn’t constitutionally adopted in Norway until 1990, per the Royal House of Norway. That means that for any heirs to the throne born before 1990, males take precedence over females.
As Insider previously reported, Princess Gabriella was born just two minutes before her twin brother, Jacques. Prince Jacques is next in line to Monaco’s throne, despite being the second-born child.
Prince Seeiso, 56, is the brother of 59-year-old Lesotho’s King Letsie III, as Insider previously reported.
In April 2006, Seeiso launched a charity, Sentebale, with Prince Harry. The charity was named in honor of the princes’ late mothers, according to the royal family’s official website.
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