Taking it to the next level. In his upcoming book, Prince Harry claimed that he was physically attacked by his brother, Prince William, over his marriage to Meghan Markle, Us Weekly can confirm.
In his new memoir, Spare, which drops on Tuesday, January 10, the Duke of Sussex, 38, details a particularly gruesome fight with the Prince of Wales, 40, as their relationship grew strained after his nuptials to Meghan, 39, in May 2018.
According to Harry, the altercation began when William allegedly called the California native “difficult” and “rude” at the Archewell cofounder’s London home in 2019. Harry claims that his brother “grabbed” him by the collar and broke his necklace before he “knocked me to the floor.”
The BetterUp CIO, who shares son Archie, 3, and daughter Lilibet, 19 months, with the Fringe actress, goes on to say that William asked him not to tell Meghan about the fight, which led him to call his therapist, revealing that while the twosome had many arguments over the course of their lives, this particular confrontation “felt different.”
The excerpt from Harry’s book is making headlines as he gears up for a series of interviews about the memoir. In a clip shared earlier this week for his upcoming interview with ITV, Harry revealed he is hoping to mend the rift between himself and the royal family.
“I would like to get my father [King Charles III] back, I would like to have my brother back,” the prince said in a first look at the ITV interview, which airs on Sunday, January 8. “They’ve shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile.”
Harry also spoke to Anderson Cooper for a 60 Minutes broadcast that will air in the U.S. the same day. In a clip released on Monday, January 2, the former military pilot told Cooper, 55, why he felt compelled to speak publicly about life within the royal family after he and Meghan stepped down from their senior duties in March 2020.
“Every single time I’ve tried to [speak] privately, there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife,” he alleged in a first look at the sit-down. “You know, the family motto is ‘Never complain, never explain’, but it’s just a motto. … They will feed or have a conversation with the correspondent. And that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story.”
Harry continued: “So, when we’re being told for the last six years, ‘We can’t put a statement out to protect you.’ But you do it for other members of the family … There becomes a point when silence is betrayal.”
Later in the clip, Cooper asked Harry if he could see a day when he would return to a “full-time” member of the royal family, to which the Royal Military Academy alum replied, “No.”
Spare will be released on Tuesday, January 10. The palace has yet to publicly comment on the book and declined to react to claims made in Harry and Meghan’s recent Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan.