In recent weeks, Prince Harry has made a number of wild accusations against the royal family, not only in his memoir Spare, but also in promotional interviews preceding the release of the book. He seems to have landed very few punches, accusing Prince William of attacking him; saying his brother and Kate Middleton played a role in his Nazi costume fiasco; and accusing his stepmother Camilla of “sacrificing him” to the media. Many, including the Duke of Sussex himself, were waiting for the palace to respond to all the claims, but there was no flurry of denials, and members of the royal family seemed to stick to their mantra of “never complain, never explain.”
Ahead of Spare’s release, Prince Harry appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, saying “of course” that the royal family is going to use the press to undermine what he has to say by telling the host:
38 years later, they told their version of the story. This is the other side of the story, and there’s a lot in it that maybe makes people feel uncomfortable and scared.
Despite the fact that headlines and comments on Prince Harry’s accusations continue to appear in the British press, no statements have been received from his family refuting, denying or explaining anything said by the Duke of Sussex. This may surprise some, given that Spare turned out to be popular all over the world: 3.2 million copies were sold in the first week, and William and Kate’s popularity ratings plummeted.
However, Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair’s royal family correspondent, said (via Time) that “dignified silence” is typical of the royal family:
Dignified silence is a proven format. The Palace doesn’t want to interfere on any level because once they do, it only fuels the narrative, and Harry has made so many accusations that it’s almost impossible to answer every one of them.
It seems that if the palace really decides to defend itself against Prince Harry’s many accusations, they may never be able to stop. Instead, family members seem to be actively working on their public image. A few days after Spare’s release, the Prince and Princess of Wales met with medical and psychiatric staff at the Royal University Hospital of Liverpool and visited the Open Door Charity, which helps young people through community action and mental health.
Meanwhile, King Charles III has announced his desire that profits from six new offshore wind farms on the Crown Estate be redistributed to the “wider public good,” the BBC reports, rather than going to a Sovereign Grant that funds the official duties of the royal family. .
We will need to see if the palace decides to stay the course with its “never complain, never explain” PR strategy, or if any of Prince Harry’s statements will provoke a reaction. Spare is available for purchase in several formats and in different languages (many of which have different and violent titles), and you can also hear more from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their documentary series Harry and Meghan, available for streaming on a Netflix subscription. .
