By John Ikani
Prince Harry has claimed that his brother Prince William physically attacked him, according to the Guardian, which says it has seen a copy of the duke’s upcoming memoir, Spare.
Prince William called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive” in a confrontation with Harry which turned violent, the Duke of Sussex claimed in an extract of the book obtained by The Guardian.
The memoir will not be published until next Tuesday, but the Guardian said it obtained a copy amid what it called “stringent pre-launch security
In it, Harry said he told William he was parroting “the press narrative” around his American wife and alleged his older brother then “grabbed me by the collar” and “knocked me to the floor”.
“I landed on the dog’s 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.”
The extraordinary incident happened during a heated row between the two brothers in 2019 at the cottage Harry shared with his wife Meghan in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Harry then told his older brother to leave. William looked “regretful, and apologized,” Harry recalled, according to the newspaper.
The daily quoted the exchange between the two princes from the book: William “turned and called back: ‘You don’t need to tell Meg about this.’
‘You mean that you attacked me?’
‘I didn’t attack you, Harold,'” William responded, seeming to use a nickname for Harry.
The latest reveal about the brothers’ tumultuous relationship comes as their father King Charles prepares for his coronation in May following the September death of his mother Queen Elizabeth II at age 96.
Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, lifted the lid on their experiences in the British royal family in a Netflix docuseries last month about the reasons behind their stunning 2020 departure for North America.
In it, they blamed much of their unhappiness on racist media reports and tabloid harassment, some of which they claim the family instigated.
Their move to California, Meghan’s home state, has made the two unpopular in Britain, where they are often portrayed by the media as selfish.
In excerpts of a television interview to ITV in the UK and CBS in the United States out this week ahead of the book release, Harry said he wants “a family, not an institution.”
“I would like to get my father back. I would like to get my brother back,” Harry said.
