When Prince Harry published his memoir, Spare, in January 2023 it became the fastest selling non-fiction book of all time.
Among its bombshell revelations, an altercation with the royal's older brother, Prince William, seemed to dominate coverage surrounding the book, with Harry questioned about it in several promotional interviews for the project.
In one chapter of the 410-page book that looked at the events leading up to the separation of the brothers' households, Harry claimed that he had been the victim of a physical assault after William criticized Meghan's treatment of staff.
Alone together, Harry wrote that William "knocked" him to the ground, breaking a dish beneath his back in the process, and resulting in visible injuries.
William, along with the wider royal family, adopted a blanket "no comment" position over Harry's book and his claims within it.
As the royal rift between the siblings shows no sign of publicly healing, Newsweek looks at everything Prince Harry has said on the record about his fight with Prince William.
I Felt a Bit Scared
Harry's own account of the physical altercation with William was made in the closing chapters of his book, detailing the events leading up to his decision to split from the monarchy with Meghan and move to the U.S.
The event happened in 2019, where tabloid stories about unhappy staff at Kensington Palace in the couple's joint offices were circulating in Britain as well as a number of personally negative reports about Meghan.
"He walked into Nott Cott [Nottingham Cottage, Kensington Palace], where he hadn't been since Meg first moved in. He looked piping hot," Harry wrote of William going on to recount his assessment of Meghan: "'Meg's difficult', he said...'She's rude. She's abrasive. She's alienated half the staff.'"
After defending his wife, Harry wrote that the brothers were "soon talking over each
other, both of us shouting."
After an exchange of name-calling and moving to the kitchen of the cottage, the prince then gave readers an account of the physical nature of the altercation, which saw him "knocked" to the floor with his necklace broken and shards of a shattered dog bowl cutting into him.
"'You don't need to tell Meg about this,'" William is alleged to have told his brother, before leaving.
Prince Harry in Spare
"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 dogs' 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."
It Was a Build-Up of Frustration
To promote Spare, Harry undertook a series of TV interviews that coincided with its release on either side of the Atlantic. In all of these, the alleged fight with William was brought up in some way.
In his sit down for American audiences, Harry spoke to 60 Minutes' Anderson Cooper, who positioned the argument as a breaking point between the royal brothers.
Reflecting on the incident, Harry said it was the result of a "build-up of frustration" for his brother and highlighted the tabloid press' influence on the tension. He also added that his own actions were made in self defense, saying: "It wasn't pleasant at all. And he snapped."
Prince Harry to Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes
"It was a build-up of frustration, I think, on his part. It was at a time where he was being told certain things by people within his office. And at the same time, he was consuming a lot of the tabloid press, a lot of the stories. And he had a few issues, which were based not on reality. And I was defending my wife. And he was coming for my wife—she wasn't there at the time—but through the things that he was saying.
"I was defending myself. And we moved from one room into the kitchen. And his frustrations were growing, and growing, and growing. He was shouting at me. I was shouting back at him. It wasn't nice. It wasn't pleasant at all. And he snapped. And he pushed me to the floor."
I Saw This Red Mist in Him
For British viewers, Harry spoke to long-time friend Tom Bradby, who pushed back on some of the prince's comments about William, calling the passage recounting the assault an "extraordinary allegation to make."
To this, Harry suggested that like a lot of siblings he and William fought growing up, but that the significant difference in the 2019 altercation was that they were grown men, not children.
He described a "red mist" settling on William before the attack and then offered that, had he not been undergoing therapy, he may have fought back, but he didn't.
"I chose not to," he said.
Prince Harry to Tom Bradby for ITV
"William and I used to fight all the time. Now the difference to that was we were kids, we used to shoot each other with BB guns, we used to have firework fights, all of this stuff that I talk about in the book.
"What was different here was this level of frustration and, you know, I talk about the red mist that I had for so many years, and I saw this red mist in him...He wanted me to hit him back, but I chose not to."
We Wouldn't Have Got to This Moment
In another U.S. interview about the book, Harry spoke to Late Night host Stephen Colbert, who asked about the fight chapter and how the prince might think Princess Diana would have reacted.
Throughout the book, Harry wrote about his relationship with his mother and how he has grieved her 1997 death over the course of his life.
The prince responded that he didn't believe Princess Diana would have allowed the brothers to have a relationship that had become so broken down.
"We wouldn't have got to this point," he said emphatically, going on to add that he felt his mother's presence while doing the interviews around the book, as well as increasingly over the years since splitting from the monarchy.
Prince Harry to Stephen Colbert for The Late Night Show
"We wouldn't have got to this point...It's impossible to say where we would be now, where those relationships would be now, but there is no way that the distance between my brother and I would be the same."
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
