Prince Harry’s memoir Spare is about to hit the shelves of bookstores soon, and as people wait to read the book themselves, stories told in it are being revealed. This includes Prince Harry reportedly writing about how Prince William and Kate Middleton were involved with the decision for him to wear a controversial Nazi costume to a party back in 2005.
Page Six obtained a segment of the memoir, and explained that the Prince goes into detail about how he decided on his costume for the evening. He said he was choosing between being a pilot or a Nazi for a party that had a Native and Colonial theme. He wrote:
I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said.
The quote goes on to explain the reaction the couple had when he tried on the costume, saying they burst into a fit of laughter.
They both howled. Worse than Willy’s leotard outfit! Way more ridiculous! Which, again, was the point.
In 2005, the 20-year-old Duke of Sussex wore the costume, he was photographed by The Sun, and the image was on the front page of the paper the next day.
Prince Harry has now explained that wearing that costume was a big mistake. In his documentary Harry & Meghan, which has received quite a bit of criticism from viewers, the prince explained that he was “ashamed” of wearing the costume. He also said it was “one of the biggest mistakes” of his life.
While there were many takeaways from Harry & Meghan, those who watched the docuseries on the 2022 TV schedule with a Netflix subscription also saw Prince Harry explain the costume party situation, and how he tried to learn from it. He said:
I sat down and spoke to the chief rabbi in London, which had a profound impact on me. I went to Berlin and spoke to a Holocaust survivor. I could have just ignored it and gone on with it, and probably made the same mistakes over and over again in my life, but I learned from that.
A senior publishing source who has reportedly read Prince Harry’s memoir explained how they felt about him involving his brother and sister-in-law in the story:
It’s strange as you would think that Harry would take ownership of this and just move on and not drag his brother into it, but he makes it clear that he feels strongly about William’s role in the scandal.
Per the Page Six article, Royal historian Robert Lacey wrote in his own book that this incident was the first sign that the princes were not on the best terms. The historian also wrote (via the article) that this moment was when Harry started to feel “alienated” from the family. This topic of tension between Harry and his family is one that the prince and his wife Meghan Markle have spoken about in both their documentary and in their interview with Oprah.
According to the article, sources who know what’s in the book say this will be the first time Prince Harry goes into detail about his fallout with Prince William. Reportedly he has also written a lot about his relationships with Kate Middleton and King Charles's wife Queen Consort Camilla Parker Bowles.
I’d assume more will be revealed about this story when Prince Harry’s memoir Spare comes out on January 10. The Duke of Sussex will also be doing his first interview of the year on CBS’s 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper at 7:30 ET on Sunday, January 8, where he will be talking more about his book.
