Prince Harry Shockingly Reveals Which Senior Royal Branded Him as Prince William's 'Spare'

Prince Harry struggled with growing up in Prince William 's shadow, but his role within the royal fold might've been defined at his birth.

"Wonderful! Now you've given me an heir and a spare — my work is done," Harry revealed King Charles told Princess Diana at the time of his birth in a Spare anecdote.

According to a source, Harry's position within the line of succession influenced his decision to write a memoir .

"Harry's resentment of being the 'spare' is the underlying theme of his book, through chapters on his childhood, his schooling, his career as a royal and in the British Army, his relationship with his parents and brother, and his life with Meghan through courtship, wedding, and marriage, to their own experience of parenthood," an outlet shared in their review of the book.

OK! previously reported Robert Hardman claimed Charles is disappointed by the current state of his relationship with Harry.

"Of course, the king is extremely sad about Harry and Meghan , but there is a sense of exasperation, that he has done what he can and now he is king, there are many more things to think about," Hardman told an outlet.

According to the royal expert, Charles "has reached a point where he says, 'I don't want to know what the problem is. I'm just getting on with my life.'"

In May, Harry traveled to the U.K. to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Invictus Games , but Charles was noticeably absent.

Roya Nikkah claimed the duke's decision to confirm he wouldn't see Charles while in London bothered His Majesty.

"All the narrative from the moment he [Harry] touched down and we got that statement from Harry's spokesperson saying it's not possible for Harry to see his father, his father is too busy, he completely understands," Nikkah said on " The Royals with Roya and Kate " podcast. "That set the mood music for the whole week that Harry had said 'Pa is too busy to see me.'"

Harry, who was evicted from Frogmore Cottage in 2023, stayed at a hotel while in the U.K.

"I just thought something didn't feel quite right about this, so I dug away and dug away a bit deeper and found out that actually, Harry had asked if he could stay and Charles had said, 'Yes, come and stay son,'" she continued. "You come and stay in a royal residence , you are near where I am so it's going to be much easier for me to see you given what's going on with my diary and your diary."

"And that turned everything on its head because the narrative from Harry that I wanted to see my father but he is too busy to see me, actually the reality was Charles said, 'Yes, please do come and stay in a royal gaff and that would make it much easier for me to see each other,'" Nikkah shared.

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Before Harry landed in London, a spokesperson confirmed he wouldn't see Charles while there.

“In response to the many inquiries and continued speculation on whether or not the duke will meet with his father while in the U.K. this week, it, unfortunately, will not be possible due to His Majesty’s full program ," a rep said in a statement . "The duke of course is understanding of his father’s diary of commitments and various other priorities and hopes to see him soon.”

The Guardian reviewed Spare.