Prince Harry’s first revelatory memoir sent shock waves across the world and now some royal aides reportedly fear the Duke could unleash a second literary salvo. Spare, the book named after the phrase ‘heir and a spare’ in relation to Harry once being second-in-line to the throne, sold more than three million copies in just a week after it was released on January 10, 2023.
Page-turning intimate revelations including a claim about the Duke of Sussex lost his virginity in a field and how he was suffering from a frostbitten manhood during Princess Kate and Prince William’s wedding. But more confronting claims made in the book also included his discussion of killing Taliban fighters in Afghanistan during his military service as a helicopter pilot.
The Prince also took aim at his mother-in-law, Queen Camilla, criticising her for the end of his father’s marriage to his mother, Princess Diana. He also claimed Princess Kate had made his wife, Meghan Markle, cry in the days leading up to the Sussexes’ wedding.
It’s widely believed Prince Harry’s foray into writing a tell-all memoir led to a distinct cooling of his relations with the rest of the Royal Family, particularly with father King Charles and his brother Prince William.
Now royal aides reportedy fear the California-based Duke of Sussex is wanting to reach for his quill once more to write another bombshell tome.
A two-day hearing this week sat partly in private to hear confidential evidence, with the Telegraph reporting the Duke was unhappy with what he heard.
Speaking to the newspaper as he left the Royal Courts of Justice, Harry said “people would be shocked by what’s being held back,” adding that his “worst fears have been confirmed by the whole legal disclosure in this case and that’s really sad”.
The Telegraph said Harry suggested the decision was an attempt to prevent him and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, from quitting as working royals and moving abroad – which Buckingham Palace sources have strongly denied.
Harry said: “We were trying to create this happy house.”
The Sun reports courtiers are worried Prince Harry will write another book in retaliation for having to endure a High Court battle to win back taxpayer-funded UK security. After the hearing concluded on Wednesday April 9, a written decision on Harry’s appeal is expected at a later date.
A source told the newspaper: “There’s a lot of worry that Harry could tell all in a book deal or even follow Meghan’s lead and make a podcast.
“He’s hinted he has discovered secrets during the hearings, particularly regarding the treatment of him and Meghan, that would shock us all.”
In 2024, a High Court judge dismissed Harry’s claim against the Home Office over security arrangements for himself and his family when they are in the UK.
The Duke, 40, challenged a February 2020 decision of the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (Ravec), which falls under the remit of the department, after being told he would no longer be given the “same degree” of personal protective security when visiting.
Harry’s lawyers said he was “singled out” and treated “less favourably” in the decision, arguing a failure to carry out a risk analysis and fully consider the impact of a “successful attack” on him meant the approach to his protection was “unlawful and unfair”.
The Government argued Ravec was entitled to conclude the duke’s protection should be “bespoke” and considered on a “case-by-case” basis.
Retired High Court judge Sir Peter Lane ruled that Ravec’s approach was not irrational nor procedurally unfair, claiming Harry’s lawyers had taken “an inappropriate, formalist interpretation of the Ravec process”.
Harry was given permission to challenge Sir Peter’s ruling in June last year.
