Prince Harry's Memoir 'Spare': Spice Girl Meetings, Past Romances and More Royal Bombshells

Prince Harry isn't done dropping bombshells. The 38-year-old Duke of Sussex released his tell-all memoir, Spare, on Tuesday, after weeks of excerpts had been published. 

In the tell-all memoir, the father of two makes multiple allegations against his older brother, Prince William, William's wife, Kate Middleton, details his traumatic search to find closure surrounding the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and more. 

In the wake of his and wife Meghan Markle's recent six-hour Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, the former senior royal still manages to make surprising new claims against his family and his life within the royal family. 

ET has learned that both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have, so far, refused to comment on the allegations made by Prince Harry in his forthcoming book.

Here are the biggest bombshells: 

Queen Elizabeth Told Harry of Prince Philip's Death

Harry begins the book recalling how he awoke to 32 missed calls before having "one short, heart-racing talk with Grammy: Harry.... Grandpa's gone." 

The Meeting After Prince Philip's Funeral

Harry discusses meeting up with William and Charles after Philip's funeral to discuss their rift. And while he claims the conversation began with "small talk. The smallest," he adds that they soon got into it. 

"I tried to explain my side of things. I wasn't at my best... they'd come ready for a fight," he says of his brother and father. "After [William had] shut me down several times, he and I began sniping, saying some of the same things we'd said for months -- years. It got so heated that Pa raised his hands. Enough!"

Harry recalls his father saying, "Please, boys -- don't make my final years a misery." 

King Charles III Wanted to Give Harry a Different Name

Harry writes about Queen Victoria saying "Pa once wanted to name me after her husband. (Mummy blocked him.)," meaning Charles would have named him Albert. 

Harry Talks His Spare Title

He says the term was used throughout his life by "Pa and Mummy and Grandpa. And Even Granny." 

"I was the shadow, the support, the Plan B," he writes. "I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy. I was summoned to provide back-up, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life's journey and regularly reinforced thereafter." 

King Charles Shares the News of Diana's Death

Harry recalls being awoken by his father at Balmoral Castle the morning after Princess Diana died. 

"He sat down on the edge of the bed. He put a hand on my knee. Darling boy, Mummy's been in a car crash," Harry writes, saying he assumed that though she'd been in a crash, his mother was fine. "I remember waiting patiently for Pa to confirm that indeed Mummy was all right. And I remember him not doing that." 

Harry writes of how Charles broke the news, "There were complications. Mummy was quite badly injured and taken to the hospital, darling boy. They tried, darling boy. I'm afraid she didn't make it."

Harry says he didn't cry "not one tear" and that Charles did not hug him. He says he put his hand to Harry's knee and said "It's going to be OK." 

Harry Doesn't Believe His Mother Is Dead

Harry talks about his childhood belief that Diana had not really died, saying it lasted for years. 

"With nothing to do but roam the castle and talk to myself, a suspicion took hold, which then became a firm belief," he recalls. "This was all a trick. And for once the trek wasn't being played by the people around me, or the press, but by Mummy." 

Harry writes that he believed his mother had run away to "make a clean start" and was "playing dead." 

Harry later shares that he told William about his theory. 

"He admitted that he'd once entertained a similar theory. But, ultimately, he'd discarded it," Harry writes. 

Anwar Hussein/WireImage

Harry and William's Aunt Gave Them Locks of Diana's Hair

Diana's sister, Sarah McCorquodale, went with Charles to Paris to view Diana's body after her death. When she returned to Balmoral, she gave Harry and William locks of their mother's hair. 

Diana's Final Tribute Gets to Harry

Harry, who writes that he struggled to cry after his mother's death, recalls how she was buried. 

"It was reported that Mummy's hands were folded across her chest and between them was placed a photo of me and Willy, possibly the only two men who ever truly loved her. Certainly the two who loved her most," Harry writes. "For all eternity we'd be smiling at her in the darkness, and maybe it was this image, as the flag came off and the coffin descended to the bottom of the hold, that finally broke me. My body convulsed and my chin fell and I began to sob uncontrollably into my hands." 

He later writes that after this "graveside outburst" he didn't cry again throughout his youth. 

Diana's Delayed Birthday Gift

Harry recalls turning 13 days after his mother's death. His Aunt Sarah brought him Diana's final gift, saying she'd bought it prior to her death. It was an Xbox. 

Harry and Diana's Final Conversation

Harry writes that the last time his mother called on the night her crash, he'd been playing with William and their cousins. 

"I'd been short with her," he writes. "Impatient to get back to my games, I'd rushed Mummy off the phone." 

Harry Recalls Meeting the Spice Girls Shortly After His Mother's Death

Returning home for a break, Harry says his father brought him on an official trip to South Africa where he encountered the Spice Girls in the first public appearance since his mother's death. 

"Beside me was Baby Spice, wearing white plastic shoes with chunky twelve-inch platform heels. I fixated on those heels while she fixated on my cheeks," Harry writes. "She kept pinching them. So chubby! So cute! Then Posh Spice surged forward and clutched my hand. Further down the line I spied Ginger Spice, the only spice with whom I felt any connection -- a fellow ginger."

Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images

King Charles's Teddy Bear

Harry writes about Charles's struggles in boarding school, saying that his father held a teddy bear to help him get through the tough times, noting he "still owned" the bear years later. 

"Teddy went everywhere with Pa," Harry writes. "It was a pitiful object with broken arms and dangly threads, holes patched up here and there... Teddy expressed eloquently, better than Pa ever could, the essential loneliness of his childhood." 

William Told Harry to Act Like He Didn't Know Him at School

When Harry moved to Eton, his older brother wanted distance between them. 

"Willy always hated it when anyone made the mistake of thinking us a package deal," Harry writes. "He loathed it when Mummy dressed us in the same outfits... And now to attend the same school was pure murder." 

Harry's Protection

He recalls carrying an "electronic tracker and panic alarm" with him "at all times" in the event of a kidnapping. 

Diana Felt Intimidated by Harry's Nanny

Harry writes that Diana felt threatened by his nanny "Tiggy."

"Mummy saw Tiggy not as a nanny but as a rival," he writes. "It's common knowledge that Mummy suspected Tiggy was being groomed as her future replacement."  

Harry Talks About Getting Stoned

He recalls getting high at Eton school, saying he would smoke pot and watch Family Guy. 

"I felt an inexplicable bond with Stewie, prophet without honor," he writes. "I knew this was bad behavior. I knew it was wrong. My mates knew it too. We talked about it often, while stoned, how stupid we were to be wasting an Eton education." 

Harry Talks About Losing His Virginity

He calls the incident an "inglorious episode with an older woman."

"She liked horses, quite a lot, and treated me not unlike a young stallion," Harry writes. "Quick ride, after which she'd smacked my rump and sent me off to graze. Among the many things about it that were wrong: It happened in a grassy field behind a busy pub." 

Reports of Harry's Drug Use

Harry claims one tabloid editor printed a story about him doing drugs, which he insists was not true. But instead of trying to squash the story, Charles and Camilla allowed it to get out so that Charles would seem like a "harried" single father struggling with his drug-addled son. Later another editor claimed to have a photo of Harry snorting a line of cocaine and Harry insisted that was a lie. 

"Of course... I had been doing cocaine around this time," Harry writes. "At someone's country house, during a shooting weekend, I'd been offered a line, and I'd done a few more since. It wasn't much fun, and it didn't make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me, but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal." 

He writes that the journalist went silent after he shut down the story but that he "slithered into Clarence House, and became very good friends with Camilla and Pa."

Harry's Teenage Goals

Harry writes that when Charles sat him down to discuss his future post-Eton, he told his father that he wanted to work at the "fondue hut" at the ski resort where Diana used to take them. 

"That fondue could change your life," he writes of the place Diana "loved."

He says he also entertained ideas of being a ski instructor, a safari guide, but after going "round and round" he landed on the Army. 

Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

Harry's Childhood Friend Died in a Car Crash

The boy dubbed "Henners" was friends with Harry as a kid before his time in Eton. He told Harry about his dreams of becoming a teacher, but Harry is once again told the news that a loved one has died in a car crash. 

"Just like Mummy," Harry writes, recalling attending the funeral with William. "And yet, unlike Mummy, there was no way to spin this as a disappearance. This was death, no two ways about it." 

Harry's Acting Debut

He recalls performing a minor role in the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing. Noting that King Charles sat front and center during her show, Harry admits to being annoyed with his father for laughing at all the wrong times. He recalls that Charles once complained that his own father, Philip, had done the exact same things. 

"I put it out of my mind and tried to focus on the good," Harry writes. "Pa is here, I told myself, and he's proud, and that's not nothing." 

Harry Recalls His First Interview 

While in Africa on his gap year, Harry gives an interview where he's asked about his mother's death, his drug addiction, and his reported romance with a "page three girl." He notes that he was shocked to be the first speaking out about Diana considering William always went before him. He says that after the interview he had "gallons of beer" and "smoked an entire shopping bag of weed." 

Harry and Chelsy

Harry talks about his now ex, Chelsy Davy, saying he reached out to her in Africa after having met her years prior and remembering her as being "different." 

"Unlike so many people I knew, she seemed wholly unconcerned with appearances, with propriety, with royalty," he writes. "Unlike so many girls I met, she wasn't visibly fitting herself for a crown the moment she shook my hand. She seemed immune to that common affliction sometimes called throne syndrome."

Harry recalls their first kiss "under the stars" in Africa. 

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

Harry Hides in the Trunk of a Car

When the paparazzi were hounding him to get photos of him coming out of pubs drunk, Harry came up with a plan. He had his bodyguard hide him in the trunk of his car as his mother, Diana, used to do to avoid being seen. 

"That's the only way I won't be tempted to have a go at them, and they won't be able to make any money out of me," Harry recalls telling his bodyguard. He compares the experience to "being in a coffin." 

Harry and William Urged Charles Not to Marry Camilla 

Harry claims that both he and his older brother urged their father not to marry the future Queen Consort after his affair with Camilla had marked such a difficult time in their late mother's life. 

"Despite Willy and me urging him not to, Pa was going ahead," Harry claims with regard to the April 2005 wedding. "We pumped his hand, wished him well. No hard feelings. We recognized that he was finally going to be with the woman he loved, the woman he’d always loved, the woman Fate might’ve intended for him in the first place. Whatever bitterness or sorrow we felt over the closing of another loop in Mummy’s story, we understood that it was besides the point."

As for his thoughts on his stepmother, Harry admits to being apprehensive about her joining their family. 

"I recall wondering, right before the tea, if she'd be mean to me. If she'd be like all the wicked stepmothers in storybooks. But she wasn't," he writes. "Like Willy, I did feel real gratitude for that."

Harry writes that the ceremony was delayed due to the Pope's death and he felt it might be Diana intervening from the beyond. He adds that of the wedding, he simply wished his father and Camilla would be happy. 

"Maybe she'd be less dangerous if she was happy?" he ponders, claiming Camilla had "sacrificed me on her personal PR altar." 

Anwar Hussein Collection/ROTA/WireImage

Harry Drove Through the Paris Tunnel Where Diana Died

Seeking closure of the tragic 1997 death of his mother, Princess Diana, Prince Harry writes he chose to drive through the same Paris tunnel where she died, going the same speed she was going at the time. 

Harry shares that the moment happened in 2007 when he attended the Rugby World Cup semifinal in Paris. 

"I watched his eyes in the rearview, growing large," Harry writes of his driver's reaction to his request, saying he wanted to go through the tunnel at 65 mph, "the exact speed Mummy's car had supposedly been driving, according to police, at the time of the crash. Not 120 miles per hour, as the press originally reported."

Harry shares his reaction to the experience, writing, "I sat back. Quietly I said: Is that all of it? It's… nothing. Just a straight tunnel. I'd always imagined the tunnel as some treacherous passageway, inherently dangerous, but it was just a short, simple, no-frills tunnel. No reason anyone should ever die inside it."

He called the decision a "very bad idea," writing, "I'd thought driving the tunnel would bring an end, or brief cessation, to the pain, the decade of unrelenting pain. Instead it brought on the start of Pain, Part Deux."

David Rogers/Getty Images

Harry Goes to War 

Harry writes that contrary to reports at the time, he and Chelsy didn't break up before he shipped off to Afghanistan. They stayed together and she promised to wait for him. He also updated his will to say that he wanted to be buried at Frogmore Gardens, writing, "It was beautiful, and slightly removed from things. Peaceful." 

As he headed into a war zone, Harry says he thought a lot about death. 

Harry and Chelsy Split

The pressure of dating a prince proved to be too much for Chelsy. She was followed everywhere by paparazzi, and a tracking device was put on her car. She tells him she couldn't handle a lifetime of being "stalked."

"I'd miss her, so much. But I completely understood her desire for freedom," Harry writes. "If I had a choice, I wouldn't want this life either." 

Harry and Caroline Flack

Noting that once again the paparazzi destroyed another one of his relationships, Harry talks about meeting and briefly dating TV presenter Caroline Flack. 

"We kept on, I think, because we genuinely enjoyed each other's company, and because we didn't want to admit defeat at the hands of these arseholes. But the relationship was tainted, irredeemably, and in time we agreed that it just wasn't worth the grief and harassment," he writes. 

William Roasts Harry in a Joint Interview

Harry recalls living with William and training to go into combat. During a rare joint interview with the brothers, Harry says that William called him out for being a "slob" and snoring." 

"I turned and gave him a look. Was he joking?" Harry ponders. 

Harry says he laughed it off at the time considering it to be "banter," but adds, "When I look back on it now, I can't help but wonder if there wasn't something else at play. I was training to get to the front line, the same place Willy had been training to get, but the Palace had scuttled his plans. The Spare, sure, let him run around a battlefield like a chicken with its head cut off, if that's what he likes. But the Heir? No."  

Harry Says William Never Told Him About His Engagement to Kate

After a trip together to Africa, Harry writes about learning that Will and Kate were engaged. 

He says his brother "never mentioned it" during their time together. 

Harry Watched Suits Sex Scenes at the Start of Meghan Romance

Though he'd never seen his future wife Meghan's series, Suits, prior to their romance, he says he did Google several of her sex scenes after they started dating. Harry writes that he made "the mistake of Googling and watching some of her love scenes online."

"I’d witnessed her and a castmate mauling each other in some sort of office or conference room," Harry writes. "I didn’t need to see such things live."

Harry is seemingly referring to Meghan's co-star, Patrick J. Adams, who played Meghan's on-screen love interest. 

Shane Mahood/USA Network

William and Kate Were Huge Suits Fans Before Meghan Joined the Family

Harry claims that William told him to "f**k off" when he first shared that he was dating Meghan. 

"I was baffled, until Willy and Kate explained that they were regular — nay, religious — viewers of Suits," he recalls, joking that he was worried "about the wrong thing" and was not expecting them to "barrage" him with questions.

"All this time I’d thought Willy and Kate might not welcome Meg into the family, but now I had to worry about them hounding her for an autograph," Harry writes. 

Harry Calls William His 'Archnemesis'

Harry refers to William as his "beloved brother and archnemesis," in the book, giving a cutting descriptor of a present-day William. 

"I took it all in: his familiar scowl, which had always been his default in dealings with me; his alarming baldness, more advanced than my own; his famous resemblance to Mummy, which was fading with time," Harry writes. "With age. In some ways he was my mirror, in some ways he was my opposite. My beloved brother, my arch nemesis, how had that happened?"

Prince Charles Used to Make Jokes About Not Being Harry's Real Father

Harry makes reference to the long-standing rumor that he is not the biological son of the now-King Charles III. It has long been speculated that amid Charles and Diana's martial troubles, she had an affair with Major James Hewitt, resulting in Diana's pregnancy with Harry. 

"Pa liked telling stories, and this was one of the best in his repertoire. He’d always end with a burst of philosophizing … 'Who knows if I’m really the Prince of Wales? Who knows if I’m even your real father?'" Harry recounts. "He’d laugh and laugh, though it was a remarkably unfunny joke, given the rumor circulating just then that my actual father was one of Mummy’s former lovers: Major James Hewitt. One cause of this rumor was Major Hewitt’s flaming ginger hair, but another cause was sadism."

Harry goes on to write that Diana didn't meet Hewitt "until long after I was born." 

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William and Kate's Support of His Nazi Costume

Harry made headlines in 2005 when he was photographed wearing a Nazi uniform to a costume party. He previously called the incident one of the "biggest regrets" of his life. But Harry claims that William and Kate encouraged him to wear the getup to the "Native and Colonial"-themed gathering. 

He claims his brother and sister-in-law "howled with laughter" when they saw the look. 

“I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said,” Harry claims, alleging that when he went home and tried it on for them, “They both howled. Worse than Willy’s leotard outfit! Way more ridiculous! Which, again, was the point.”

Harry Felt William's 2011 Wedding to Kate Marked the Loss of His Brother 

Harry laments what he felt was the loss of his older brother when he tied the knot with Kate in 2011. 

"The brother I’d escorted into Westminster Abbey that morning was gone — forever. Who could deny it?" he writes. "He’d never again be first and foremost Willy. We’d never again ride together across the Lesotho countryside with capes blowing behind us. We’d never again share a horsey-smelling cottage while learning to fly. Who shall separate us? Life, that’s who."

He says that the "ceremony is mostly blank in my mind" but writes that Kate looked "incredible." 

“I recall Willy walking her back up the aisle, and as they disappeared through the door, into the carriage that would convey them to Buckingham Palace, into the eternal partnership they’d pledged, I recall thinking: Goodbye,” he writes.

rota/ Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

His Physical Fight With Prince William 

Harry alleges that he got into a physical fight with William in 2019 regarding Harry's wife, Meghan. He claims the altercation took place at his London home, Nottingham Cottage, after William allegedly called Meghan "difficult," "rude" and "abrasive,' which Harry felt was a "parrot[ing of] the press narrative" about his wife. 

He said that he tried to offer William a glass of water. 

"Willy, I can’t speak to you when you’re like this," Harry writes.

The excerpt alleges, "He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out."

Harry claims that William urged him to hit back, referencing fights that they had growing up. Harry said he refused to do so, prompting William to leave. He later returned, Harry says, "looking regretful, and apologized."

Harry claims William asked him not to tell Meghan about the fight, and while Harry did not immediately tell his wife, he writes that he called his therapist.

But the "scrapes and bruises" were soon noticed by Meghan, forcing Harry to tell her about the alleged attack. While he says the former Suits actress "wasn't that surprised, wasn't all that angry," she was "terribly sad."

Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, was released by Penguin Random House on Tuesday, Jan. 10. 

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