Prince Harry's memoir Spare was published one year ago and HELLO! is taking a look back at some of the biggest revelations…
Prince Harry made headlines this time last year when his memoir Spare was unexpectedly released early in Spain.
A year on, we are looking back at all the things the Duke of Sussex said in the bombshell book about his sister-in-law, Princess Kate.
From the moment they first met to sharing news of his first child, the pair have been through countless life milestones alongside one another. Despite meeting on excellent terms, their relationship became more complex as time went on.
Meeting Kate
The Duke of Sussex opened up about the first time he met Princess Kate ahead of the infamous party where he donned the wrong kind of uniform. He even said what a laugh they had at the expense of Prince William's cat-inspired costume.
"I liked his new girlfriend," wrote the Prince. "She was carefree, sweet, kind. She’d done a gap year in Florence, knew about photography, art. And clothes. She loved clothes. Her name was Kate.
"I forget what native or colonial thing she was wearing to the party, but with her help Willy had chosen for himself some kind of…feline outfit. Skintight leotard with (am I remembering this correctly?) a springy, bouncy tail. He tried it on for us and he looked like a cross between Tigger and Baryshnikov.
You may also like
"Kate and I had a great time pointing our fingers at him and rolling around on the floor. It was ridiculous, especially in a three-way mirror. But ridiculous, they both said, was the point of the upcoming party."
The sister he always wanted
One sweet moment in the book saw Harry recall the bittersweet love he had for Kate during her wedding day, describing her as: "The sister he always wanted," but also that he felt as if he was losing his brother.
"I recall Kate walking down the aisle, looking incredible, and I recall Willy walking her back up the aisle, and as they disappeared through the door, into the carriage that would convey them to Buckingham Palace, into the eternal partnership they’d pledged, I recall thinking: Goodbye.
You may also like
"I loved my new sister-in-law, I felt she was more sister than in-law, the sister I'd never had and always wanted, and I was pleased that she’d forever be standing by Willy’s side. She was a good match for my older brother. They made each other visibly happy, and therefore I was happy too.
"But in my gut I couldn’t help feeling that this was yet another farewell under this horrid roof. Another sundering. The brother I'd escorted into Westminster Abbey that morning was gone - forever. "
Kate's first reaction to news of Meghan
Harry explained that Princess Kate and Prince William's reaction was much better than he'd hoped as he worried: "Willy and Kate might not welcome Meg into the family." But due to their love of the TV show, Suits, Meghan starred in: "Now I had to worry about them hounding her for an autograph."
He added: "Kate seemed to like her too. We'd had them over for dinner during one of Meg's visits, and Meg cooked, and everything was good. Willy had a cold: he was sneezing and coughing, and Meg ran upstairs to get him some of her homeopathic cure-alls. Oregano oil, turmeric. He seemed charmed, moved, though Kate announced to the table that he’d never take such unconventional remedies."
The Princess' baby joy
When Meghan was pregnant with her first child, Prince Archie, Princess Kate's reaction was everything Harry wanted it to be, he explained.
"We whispered the news, and Willy smiled and said we must tell Kate. She was across the room, talking to Pippa. I said we could do it later, but he insisted. So we went and told Kate and she also gave a big smile and hearty Congratulations. They both reacted exactly as I’d hoped—as I’d wished."
MORE SPARE
Lipstick gate
One moment in the memoir saw Harry explain a number of the frictious points with his sister-in-law, one of the first being an alleged incident with lipgloss.
"Meg asked to borrow Kate's lip gloss. An American thing. Meg forgot hers, worried she needed some, and turned to Kate for help. Kate, taken aback, went into her handbag and reluctantly pulled out a small tube. Meg squeezed some onto her finger and applied it to her lips. Kate grimaced. Small clash of styles, maybe? Something we should’ve been able to laugh about soon after. But it left a little mark."
Harry also recalled a conversation between Meghan and Kate, following the Duchess' first Trooping the Colour. "Kate asked Meg what she thought of her first Trooping the Color. And Meg joked: Colorful. And a yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole."
Harry and Meghan's wedding day
Another situation described by the Duke was ahead of their wedding day in 2018 when Princess Charlotte's bridesmaid dress didn't fit. The point of tension came at a difficult time for the Sussexes as Meghan had been dealing with problems with her father, Thomas Markle, Harry said.
"The next day Meg had a text from Kate.
There was a problem with the dresses for the bridesmaids, apparently. They needed altering. The dresses were French couture, hand-sewn from measurements only. So it wasn’t a big shock that they might need altering[...]"
"[...]They set up a time to speak that afternoon. Charlotte's dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it on at home, Kate said. Right, and I told you the tailor has been standing by since eight a.m. Here. At KP. Can you take Charlotte to have it altered, as the other moms are doing?
"No, all the dresses need to be remade. Her own wedding dress designer agreed, Kate added. Meg asked if Kate was aware of what was going on right now. With her father. Kate said she was well aware, but the dresses. And the wedding is in four days!" According to the Duke, Kate also wanted there to be a party for the page boys but as they were from North America, it wasn't possible. Harry said he came home to find "Meg on the floor. Sobbing," but that: "Kate came by with flowers and a card that said she was sorry."
Easter presents
One point of contention described by the Prince was William and Kate's "upset" over the Sussexes not exchanging Easter presents with them.
"Easter presents? Was that a thing?" he wrote. "Willy and I had never exchanged Easter presents. Pa always made a big deal about Easter, sure, but that was Pa. Still, if Willy and Kate were upset, we apologized."
"For our part, we chipped in that we weren’t too pleased when Willy and Kate switched place cards and changed seats at our wedding. We'd followed the American tradition, placing couples next to each other, but Willy and Kate didn’t like that tradition, so their table was the only one where spouses were apart."
Meghan hurting Kate's feelings
Having just given birth to Prince Louis, Harry wrote that Princess Kate was upset when Meghan said she had "baby brain."
"You hurt my feelings, Meghan. When? Please tell me," the Duke recalled.
"I told you I couldn’t remember something and you said it was my hormones. What are you talking about?
"Kate mentioned a phone call in which they'd discussed the timing of wedding rehearsals. Meg said: Oh, yes! I remember: You couldn’t remember something, and I said it’s not a big deal, it’s baby brain. Because you’d just had a baby. It's hormones.
You may also like
"Kate’s eyes widened: Yes. You talked about my hormones. We're not close enough for you to talk about my hormones! Meg's eyes got wide too. She looked genuinely confused. I'm sorry I talked about your hormones. That's just how I talk with my girlfriends."
Kate apologising
Prince Harry recalled the moment Princess Kate apologised to Meghan following the public's misunderstanding that she made the Princess of Wales cry ahead of her wedding day.
"Kate got things rolling straightaway by acknowledging that these stories in the papers about Meg making her cry were totally false. I know, Meghan, that I was the one who made you cry.
"I sighed. Excellent start, I thought. Meg appreciated the apology, but wanted to know why the papers had said this, and what was being done to correct them?"
Sign up to HELLO Daily! for the best royal, celebrity and lifestyle coverage
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qbHLpaammZeWx6q6xGeaqKVfp7y6rcutsGhtYWZ%2BdYSOcmStoJmjtLR5z6ugp5uVYrWivtGyZKyZmZl6tLzAq5xmmZKkwrV5z6ugp5uVqMBut8CtnGg%3D