According to an excerpt in The Guardian from Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, the now-Prince of Wales went to Nottingham Cottage, the Duke of Sussex’s home at the time. They’d allegedly intended to have a civil conversation, but Prince Harry alleged that Prince William was already “piping hot” when he arrived. Harry says that William described Meghan as “rude,” “abrasive” and “difficult,” which Harry felt was William merely parroting a narrative that the British tabloid media had sold about his wife. When Harry told William this, Harry says that William was “not rational” and that the brothers got into a screaming match that eventually escalated. The pair exchanged insults before William said he was “trying to help” Harry understand his role as “the spare” and not the heir. “Are you serious? Help me? Sorry—is that what you call this? Helping me?” Harry recalled. According to Harry, William stepped up to him and began swearing, at which point Harry went into the kitchen to get William some water in an effort to de-escalate the confrontation—but his efforts weren’t successful. “He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast," Harry wrote. “He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he 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.” Harry claims that on William’s way out of the cottage, he told Harry to not tell Meghan about the fight. Harry heeded and instead called his therapist, but writes that eventually, Meghan saw “scrapes and bruises” and he came clean about the altercation. According to Harry, Meghan “wasn’t that surprised, and wasn’t all that angry. She was terribly sad.” In interviews promoting his book, Prince Harry has said he wants to reconcile with Prince William and their father King Charles III, but that neither of them have taken accountability nor made any efforts to mend their relationship. The revelations came after the brothers, along with Meghan and Kate Middleton, put on a united front to honor the late Queen Elizabeth II after her death in September 2022. Next, look back at Harry and Meghan’s shocking interview with Oprah Winfrey.
