The Duke of Sussex rocked the palace with his bombshell memoir Spare, but what did Prince Harry say about Princess Kate Middleton in his book?
The prince left no stone unturned when he dived into his past and reasons for leaving the royal family in his memoir.
The 40-year-old’s memoir was published in January 2023, and made revelations about his relationship with his wife Meghan Markle and his strained relationship with his family. From heartbreaking admissions about father King Charles, to allegations he and his brother Prince William once had a physical altercation – Harry bared all within its pages.
Prince Harry and Kate Middleton used to have a close relationship, with the Duke referring to the future queen as the sister he never had – so what did he write about her in Spare, and did that effect their bond for the future? Let’s find out.
What did Prince Harry say about Princess Kate Middleton in Spare?
One of the biggest revelations in Spare, was when Prince Harry published the alleged text messages between Kate Middleton and his wife Meghan Markle.
Following their nuptials, reports emerged the two Duchess’ butted heads over bridesmaid dresses not fitting correctly.
At the time, it was claimed Meghan had made Kate cry, but during the couple’s tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the now mum-of-two claimed it was the other way around. Meghan brought up the incident and claimed it was Kate that had reduced her to tears.
The drama unfolded again following the aftermath of the Primetime interview in 2021, but Harry brought it back two years later when he released his memoir.
Buckingham Palace did not respond to these particular claims from the Oprah interview, or his book.
Aside from the bridesmaid dress drama, Harry spoke about his bond with Kate, how she reacted to meeting Meghan for the first time and her wedding to William.
Prince Harry published ‘Kate Middleton’s text messages’ to Meghan in Spare
The Duke described a situation in the lead up to his wedding to Meghan, where the now Princess of Wales was concerned Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress didn’t fit.
He says it happened when they were dealing with the fallout with Meghan’s father and his participation in her nuptials.
“The next day Meg had a text from Kate,” he claimed.
“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”
Harry continued: “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!”
The Duke of Sussex said he came home to find “Meg on the floor. Sobbing.”
He added, “Kate came by with flowers and a card that said she was sorry”.
Kate ‘apologised’ to Meghan
Prince Harry claimed Princess Kate Middleton apologised to his wife in Spare, following the misunderstanding the Duchess of Sussex made Kate cry ahead of her wedding day.
He wrote: “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.”
Harry said he felt it was an “excellent start” but Meghan wanted to know why the papers wrote it the way they had, and what was being done to correct the falsehoods.
The Duke made further allegations that members of The Firm would leak stories to the press to get the ‘heat’ of other people within the royal family. Both Harry and Meghan spoke on how they felt they were not supported by the royals in their battle to get their truth out there, declaring it was a major factor in agreeing to do the Oprah Winfrey interview.
Trooping the Colour joke didn’t go down well
Harry recalled a conversation between the two Duchesses again, this time after Meghan’s first Trooping the Colour appearance.
The special event takes place on the second Saturday of June to celebrate the monarch’s official birthday.
Meghan Markle’s first Trooping the Colour took place in 2018, shortly after their wedding in May of that year. The couple had returned from their 10-day honeymoon in the Mediterranean. It also marked their first public appearance as newlyweds.
At the time, they appeared in high spirits, and Meghan was pictured smiling as she stood between Kate and her husband.
But Harry claims although “everyone present was in a good mood, upbeat”, the atmosphere shifted after Meg’s joke fell flat.
“Kate asked Meg what she thought of her first Trooping the Colour.
“And Meg joked: Colourful. And a yawning silence threatened to swallow us all whole.”
Prince Harry wrote in Spare that a lipstick moment made Kate Middleton ‘grimace’
Although it may seem small, the royal also wrote an entire paragraph about an incident relating to lipgloss.
Apparently, it left a stain between Meghan and Kate. It happened during the foursome’s Royal Foundation Forum appearance in 2018, when Kate was pregnant with Prince Louis.
“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.”
Forced to ‘compete’
He went further to claim that the press ‘sensed’ something had happened and claimed it was “something bigger”.
Harry said the coverage of the event focused on Meghan’s politics rather than the charity work the four royals were doing.
Prince Harry then speculated in his memoir Spare that Kate Middleton was “on edge”, adding she was “going to be compared to, and forced to compete with, Meg.”
Meeting his future sister-in-law for the first time
Harry gushed over meeting Prince William’s university girlfriend for the first time.
Had he known that this would be one that the future king wanted to marry? It’s hard to tell, but he did like her.
The prince wrote: “I liked his new girlfriend.
“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.”
He added that when the trio had been planning outfits for an upcoming colonial party – the same one that Prince Harry’s Nazi uniform had caused a scandal for the crown.
But when they were choosing their outfits, Harry and Kate had a barrel of laughs for William’s leopard outfit.
He explained: “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.
“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.”
Losing Prince William and gaining Kate Middleton
He also recalled how he felt Kate was the ‘sister he always wanted’ – but it came at the expense of losing his brother, Harry claimed.
It was a sweet moment in his book, where he was describing Kate and William’s wedding day at Westminster Abbey. While the Duke claimed the public were lied to when they told Harry was William’s best man, he enjoyed the nuptials.
Harry said: “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.
“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 liked Meghan’ when they first met
Prince Harry also detailed in Spare the moment Kate Middleton and William met his girlfriend Meghan.
He set the scene, they had invited the couple over for dinner and Meg cooked. She also used the opportunity to give William one of her ‘therapies’ to help cure his cold.
It seemed to be going well, and the duke admitted it went better than he had hoped.
Harry admitted he was concerned that “Willy and Kate might not welcome Meg into the family,” but it seemed his worries were squashed.
They were avid fans of her TV show Suits, so he then only had to worry about them “hounding her for an autograph”.
The dad-of-two said: “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.”
Princess was overjoyed over their baby news
When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex fell pregnant with their son, Prince Archie, he said William and Kate’s reaction was everything he hoped it would be.
Meg and Harry decided to reveal the news they were expecting the same day of their cousin’s wedding. They were at Princess Eugenie’s wedding to Jack Brooksbank, back in October 2018.
Harry had pulled family members aside one by one to tell them the good news.
He says he and Meghan had “whispered” it to William during the drinks reception, and he smiled in response. He added that the future king insisted “we must tell Kate”.
“She was across the room, talking to Pippa,” Harry wrote. “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.
‘Baby brain’ comment hurt Kate Middleton’s feelings, Prince Harry explained in Spare
The duke listed another moment that allegedly took place between Kate and Meg. This time, it was shortly after she had given birth to Prince Louis. It was also after of the Sussex wedding in 2018, where they met for tea at Kensington Palace after Meghan and Harry’s honeymoon.
“You hurt my feelings, Meghan,” Harry claimed Kate said.
“When? Please tell me,” Meghan reportedly replied.
“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.
“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.”
Harry claimed Wales’ butted in over their wedding
Harry went on to claim that his brother and sister-in-law rearranged seating assignments at the Sussex wedding – something the couple “weren’t too pleased” about.
He put it down to a culture clash between American and British, with the bride and groom following the US tradition of seating couples together.
However, he claimed William and Kate ‘didn’t like’ the set up and changed seats.
