Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan undoubtedly became the royal targets of bad press upon their marriages, but they weren't the only ones to fall victim to the "dirty game" that is the royals' competing press houses.
In his new memoir, Spare, the Duke of Sussex reveals that at one point, his father King Charles III's communications team planted negative stories about Princess Catherine and her and Will's kids in an attempt to get good press for him and Camilla.
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According to an excerpt obtained by Us Weekly, Harry writes that his conversation with William started with the future king being very "upset" and "talking too fast."
"Seething," William reportedly told Harry, "They've done this to me for the last time," speaking of their father's communications department taking aim at them. He added that he "wasn't going to take it anymore."
Noting that the same had been done to him and his wife, Meghan, Harry agreed to confront Charles with William.
"Pa instantly got upset. He began shouting that Willy was paranoid. We both were," Harry writes. "Just because we were getting bad press, and he was getting good, that didn't mean his staff was behind it."
Harry says he and William had "proof" from reporters that Charles's team was behind the negative coverage, but their father still dismissed them.
Though not much came from the conversation with the king, Harry shares that it still felt like a momentary win for his relationship with William, as they had acted like a team again. But the Prince of Wales did not feel the same, Harry says.
"In a blink he shifted all his rage onto me," he writes.
In his Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, Harry says he and his brother promised each other they would never act like their father and pin each other's press houses against one another, but William did not end up keeping that promise.
"I would far rather get destroyed in the press than play along with this game or this business of trading. And to see my brother's office copy the very same thing that we promised the two of us would never, ever do," Harry says in the doc, "that was heartbreaking."
Spare will be released on January 10. Get your copy here.
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper's Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.
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