Prince Harry has revealed the intimate words dedicated to him by Meghan Markle, written in a journal while the couple were in bed together after the birth of their daughter Lilibet in 2021.
Published as part of his new book Spare, which provides what was promotionally billed as a "raw" and "unflinching" account of the royal's life story so far, Harry recounts the deeply personal moment he experienced as he assisted in the delivery of his second child.
"I pulled our precious daughter from that world into this, and cradled her just a moment, trying to smile at her, to see her, but honestly, I couldn't see anything.
"I wanted to say: Hello," Harry wrote. "I wanted to say: Where have you come from? I wanted to say: Is it better there? Is it peaceful? Are you frightened?"
"Don't be, don't be, all will be well. 'I'll keep you safe.'"
The prince then described how he "surrendered her to Meg" for skin-to-skin contact, and how after the couple brought their daughter home, Meghan told Harry that she had "'never been more in love with [him] than in that moment,'" while they themselves were "skin to skin."
The prince then reproduces the words that Meghan jotted down in a journal at that time.
"I read them as a love poem," he wrote. "I read them as a testament, a renewal of our vows. I read them as a citation, a remembrance, a proclamation. I read them as a decree.
"She said: That was everything. She said: That is a man. My love. She said: That is not a Spare."
Throughout his memoir, the idea of being the "spare" is often repeated, so much so that he used it as the title.
This is a reference to the English saying of "(the) heir and (the) spare," which is used to illustrate the dynastic safety-net of having a second child who could fill their older sibling's position should they die or become incapacitated, so securing the family line.
When Harry was born in 1984, he was third in line to the throne, a position that is listed in the official line of succession. At birth, Harry was behind his father, the then-Prince Charles, now King Charles III, and his older brother, Prince William. Today, Harry is fifth in line to the throne, behind William and his three children, George, Charlotte and Louis.
The relationship between the two brothers is another key focus of Harry's memoir. It reveals that the public perception of the brothers being extremely close until the events of the past six years was not really the case.
Harry recounts feeling "hurt" when William pretended not to know him at school and claimed that he was not William's best man at his 2011 wedding to Kate Middleton, despite the public being told that he was.
In an interview promoting Spare's release, the prince revealed that he had not spoken to his brother in "a while," and added that the same was true of his father, the king.
The book has clearly struck a chord with readers, selling more than 400,000 copies on its first day in Britain, breaking records for non-fiction sales.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on 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
