Prince Harry has opened up about his obsession with the nickname “the Spare” in his memoir Spare.

Royal experts reveal that from a young age, Princess Diana was deeply concerned about Harry’s feelings of inadequacy compared to his older brother, William.

In Spare, Prince Harry shares his deep-seated struggles with always being seen as “the spare” to his brother, a feeling that Princess Diana feared would affect him. The term “the Spare” originated from a remark made by Prince Charles to Diana: “Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare – my job’s done.” This statement haunted Harry throughout his childhood and continues to affect him into adulthood.

Diana’s Worries About Harry’s Sense of Inadequacy Were Real – and Now They’re Confirmed

Royal biographer Ingrid Seward explains that Princess Diana was genuinely anxious about Harry’s sense of being less than William. Seward recounts a story from Harry’s early childhood when he attended Miss Minors’ kindergarten, the same school William had attended. The teacher told Harry, “Come on, Harry, play with this clay; William was very good at making models.” Harry immediately threw it down and shouted, “No!” This moment highlighted how, from a very young age, Harry felt inferior to his brother. Seward emphasizes that this wasn’t Diana’s fault, nor Prince Charles’s, but rather a feeling that emerged naturally within Harry himself.

Since the release of Spare, the relationship between Harry, his father, and his brother has seemingly deteriorated further. According to The Sunday Times, the brothers are said to have last spoken at the funeral of their grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II, in September 2022. In Harry’s memoir, he describes their exchange as merely a few words.

The Tensions Unfold – Harry’s Memoir Details Family Struggles

In his memoir, Harry makes several allegations about his family, including claims that William called Meghan Markle “difficult,” “rude,” and “abrasive,” and even physically pushed Harry into a dog bowl during a confrontation. Harry also accuses Prince Charles of refusing to allow Meghan to visit Balmoral to see the Queen when she was gravely ill.

The paperback edition of Spare is set to be released next month. Typically, when a nonfiction book is reissued in paperback, new chapters or updated information are included. However, the paperback version of Spare will not contain any new content. The cover design will remain the same but will feature a redesigned layout.