3 Times Prince Harry Actually Said Nice Things About His Relatives and Royal Life in ‘Spare’
Prince Harry didn’t hold back in Spare, his best-selling — and record-breaking — memoir. He made headlines with major claims and cringe-worthy anecdotes when it debuted in January 2023. However, that doesn’t mean the content’s all negative. The Duke of Sussex did have some nice things about the British royal family and royal life.
1. ‘Spare’: Prince Harry felt ‘part of things’ when he made the Queen Mother laugh over drinks at Balmoral
A “magic night” at Inchnabobart, a hunting lodge on the Balmoral Castle estate, is among the few fond memories of royal life Harry shared in his memoir. On one rare occasion, “just family” sat down for a meal at the lodge.
“On impulse” Harry decided to join his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother, in having a gin martini. “I’d never had a cocktail in front of my family, so this would be an event,” Harry said (via Spare), noting only “Gan-Gan” noticed.
They talked and, eventually, “lively banter” became a “deeper” conversation. “Gan-Gan was really speaking to me that night, really listening,” Harry said, admitting he “couldn’t quite believe it.”
While she spoke to him with “love and humor,” Harry enjoyed making his great-grandmother laugh. It made him feel “part of things,” he said. “This was my family, in which I, for one night at least, had a distinctive role. And that role, for once, wasn’t the Naughty One.”
2. ‘Spare’: ‘Few pleasures compared’ to Prince Harry’s ‘soaks’ in the bath at Balmoral
Balmoral Castle, the same place Queen Elizabeth II died, holds fond memories for Harry. One of them is taking a “Highland Bath” in his bathroom’s claw-footed tub.
“For me, few pleasures compared with a scalding soak,” Harry said. “But especially while gazing out of the castle’s slit windows, where archers, I imagined, once stood guard.”
He continued: “I’d look up at the starry sky, or down at the walled gardens, picture myself floating over the great lawn, smooth and green as a snooker table, thanks to a battalion of gardeners.”
3. ‘Spare’: Prince Harry ‘loved seeing’ King Charles at Sandringham during combat training
Harry didn’t describe his father as loving and affectionate in Spare. He memorably recalled King Charles telling him Princess Diana died without so much as a hug. Instead, a then-12-year-old Harry got a pat on the knee.
However, that doesn’t mean Spare’s devoid of any happy memories for Harry and his father. One such memory came during Harry’s time getting “combat ready” at Sandringham.
King Charles, Harry recalled, had at the time been “still very much in his newlywed phase” despite having married Camilla Parker Bowles more than two years earlier.
“One day he looked up in the sky and saw a Typhoon aircraft doing low passes along the seawall and he figured it must be me,” Harry said of his father. “So he got in his Audi and hurried over.”
They had a brief chat — Harry had to return to work and told King Charles so — that lifted the now-father-of-two’s spirits. “I loved seeing Pa, loved feeling his pride, and I felt buoyed by his praise,” he explained.
Harry went on to recall how he’d had a little fun with King Charles when he left. He told the helicopter its “new target” was his father’s car. “The Typhoon tracked Pa, did a low pass straight over him, almost shattered the windows of his Audi. But ultimately spared him. On my orders.”
