Prince Harry Spare: King jealous of ‘resplendent’ Meghan and overshadowed by Kate, Duke of Sussex claims

The Duke of Sussex has claimed his father was jealous of both his wife, Meghan, and his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, in his memoir.

Harry reportedly said the reason his father supposedly said he did not “have money to spare” to financially support him and his wife Meghan was because the King feared the “novel and resplendent” American actress would steal his limelight. Writing in his highly-anticipated memoir, Spare, which was accidentally released early in Spain, Harry says his father had “experienced that before and he had no interest in letting it happen to him again” – in an apparent allusion to the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

According to The Daily Telegraph, one of the many media outlets to obtain a copy of the Spanish version and translate it, Harry said, prior to his engagement to Meghan, his father had raised the subject of the actress’s livelihood and asked if she planned to continue working after their marriage. When the duke told the now-King he did not believe so, Harry claims his father replied: “Well, my dear son, you already know that we don’t have money to spare.”

Following Harry and Meghan’s wedding, however, the couple was financially supported by Charles while they were working royals. It was discontinued when they moved to the US.

The book reportedly then alleges the then-Prince of Wales admitted to difficulties in supporting the then-Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Harry said he questioned his father’s money complaints, but it is not clear if this was done at the time of the conversation or in retrospect.

The paper’s report says the duke queried the then-Prince of Wales about struggling to support his elder brother and his family when he was earning “millions from the tremendously lucrative” Duchy of Cornwall. Harry says he believed his father actually feared Meghan had the potential to “dominate the monarchy” and become another Diana for the public and the press – which would consequently steal the limelight from Charles and Camilla.

The US publication Page Six, which had also obtained a copy of the Spanish version of the book, reports Harry wrote: “Pa might have dreaded the rising cost of maintaining us, but what he really couldn’t stomach was someone new dominating the monarchy, grabbing the limelight, someone shiny and new coming in and overshadowing him.” According to the Telegraph, Harry goes on to say his father was also jealous of the amount of public attention William and Kate received.

In one translated excerpt in the newspaper, where the duke again refers to his brother by his pet name, Harry says: “Willy did everything he (Charles) wanted, and sometimes he didn’t want him to do much, because my dad and Camilla didn’t like Willy and Kate getting too much publicity.” One example he provides as apparent evidence involved the King’s staff making sure the then-Duchess of Cambridge was not photographed holding a tennis racket at a public engagement as “that kind of photo would have pushed Dad and Camilla off every front page”.

“And that couldn’t be tolerated under any circumstances,” Harry adds. The claim is one of many to make headlines about the royal family and the Sussexes in recent days as journalists obtained copies of his memoir in Spanish.