Not just the royals: see which celebrities took a hit in Harry's memoir 'Spare'

Prince Harry has not only divulged revealing information about himself and his family in his new memoir; but has also taken a hit at Hollywood. Between his memoir and the Netflix series he released with his wife, Meghan, the two have shared, perhaps, a little too much personal information about some celebrities.

Kinsey Schofield, host of the "To Di For Daily" podcast and a royal commentator has warned the couple is damaging their relationship with the Hollywood elite by the revelations in both the book and the Netflix docuseries released in December.

Photo: Netflix

One example the podcast host gives us is when Meghan read aloud a message from Beyonce word-for-word. Schofield said incredulously, "Did intensely private Beyoncé give Meg permission to read a text message that she sent the duchess verbatim to millions of Netflix subscribers?"

The royal commentator also referred to Harry's recollection of Courtney Cox and her 'magic mushroom chocolates' in his memoir, 'Spare' and warned that most individuals in Hollywood don't want to 'pick a side'.

"They are putting people in uncomfortable situations", Schofield says. Harry’s memoir, of course, mainly focuses on the rift between Harry and his family. But who comes off worst?

Harry has made personal revelations and unhappy comments about all members of his family, being accused of ‘airing family dirty laundry’ by CNN anchor Don Lemon and members of the British public. We look at exactly what he said about his family and who has taken the hardest hit.

Despite Harry clearly bringing his family’s personal issues to the press, the Prince has said that "it never needed to get to this point," in an interview with Tom Bradby on ITV.

"After many, many years of lies being told about me and my family, and there comes a point where, you know, again, going back to the relationship between certain members of the family and the tabloid press, those certain members have decided to get in the bed with the devil," Harry said.

One of those family members is his father, Charles. For years it has been reported that the two have had a strained relationship. Harry explained in his Oprah interview that his father ‘cut him off’ after deciding to step down from the royal family and move to California.

But the memoir brings about other personal revelations about King Charles that, perhaps, the King would not be too pleased about being shared with the public. One of those is doing headstands in his underwear.

"Prescribed by his physio, these exercises were the only effective remedy for the constant pain in Pa's neck and back. Old polo injuries, mostly. He performed them daily, in just a pair of boxers, propped against a door or hanging from a bar like a skilled acrobat," Harry wrote.

If this transparency was not sufficient, Harry went a step further, saying his father still carries around the tattered teddy bear he clung to at boarding school.

Charles was scrutinised by Harry for his parenting choices - particularly when it came to handing out praise. Harry describes the King had issues with being 'intimate face to face' and would write letters to commend his son for his accomplishments.

Harry wrote that Charles didn't want Meghan to overshadow him and said his father was worried about "someone new dominating the monarchy."

Prince Harry was told about his mother’s death by his father. It seems Harry was not impressed with the way this was dealt with by Charles and wrote that his father didn’t even hug him at that heartbreaking moment. He did, however, put his hand on his knee.

Charles had reportedly made a joke about who Harry’s father really is, by saying, "'Who knows if I’m really the Prince of Wales? Who knows if I’m even your real father? Maybe your real father is in Broadmoor, darling boy!'" Harry said the joke was ‘unfunny’ after rumours that he is actually the offspring of one of his mother’s lovers, Major James Hewitt.

In Harry’s memoir, he wrote about his father’s relationship with Camilla: "'We support you,' we said. 'We endorse Camilla,' we said. 'Just please don't marry her.'" Charles, as we know, did marry Camilla despite the boys’ pleas. "We pumped his hand, wished him well. No hard feelings," Harry wrote.

Camilla certainly took a few blows from Harry’s memoir and was not generally represented in a good light. In fact, Harry accuses Camilla of playing ‘the long game’.

"Shortly after our private summits with her, she began to play the long game. Aimed at marriage and eventually the Crown, with Pa’s blessing we presumed,! the Prince wrote. That long game would come at a cost - to Harry.

One of the most scathing comments about the Queen Consort comes as a result of this ‘long game’ - leaking stories to the press to garner sympathy. Harry said his stepmother had "sacrificed me on her personal P.R. altar."

In ‘Spare’, Harry writes that his father and Camilla’s "spin doctor" decided they should throw Harry "right under the bus." The couple, according to Harry, leaked news of his drug use in 2002 with the intention of generating sympathy.

Camilla appears to have hurt the 28-year-old Harry after she had converted his bedroom into her own personal dressing room the moment he moved out of Clarence House.

Harry writes that "I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she'd be less dangerous if she was happy." The Prince explained in an interview on '60 Minutes' that his stepmother is ‘dangerous’ because of her relationship with the press.

"If you are led to believe as a member of the family that being on the front page, having positive headlines, positive stories written about you is going to improve your reputation or increase the chances of you being accepted as monarch by the British public, then that’s what you’re going to do," Harry said.

To really make his point Harry reiterated his opinion about Camilla on 'Good Morning America: "I see someone who married into this institution and has done everything that she can to improve her own reputation and her own image for her own sake."

Harry reveals that it wasn’t just him and his wife, Meghan, who were victims of the press games. In fact, the Prince writes that his brother, William, had stories leaked about a private conversation with Camilla and it was obvious where the leak came from as "they could only have been leaked by the other one other person present."

In 2019 William was "seething," according to Harry, because "Pa and Camilla’s people had planted a story or stories about him, and Kate, and the kids, and he wasn’t going to take it any more. Give Pa and Camilla an inch, he said, they take a mile."

Generally, the complaints against Harry’s brother’s wife, the Princess of Wales, have been trivial - and yet cast a shadow over the spotless image of the future Queen of England. Harry himself wrote that nothing could happen to "tarnish the image of the future queen."

This was in response to the infamous bridesmaids' dress quarrel. Harry reports that Kate had admitted to making Meghan cry and brought flowers to apologise but would not do anything in the public eye to accept fault or blame for the incident.

In Harry’s book, Kate's personal message exchanges were published, stating that she was unhappy with Princess Charlotte’s dress as it was "too big, too long, too baggy," and "she cried when she tried it on a home." According to Harry, Kate told Meghan all the dresses needed to be remade four days before the wedding.

The book generally contains small complaints about Harry’s sister-in-law. One of those being changing name cards and seating arrangements; another being Kate ‘grimacing’ after allowing Meghan to borrow her lip gloss; and another being annoyed she didn’t receive an Easter egg. The comments seem mostly trivial and petty so Kate comes out relatively unscathed.

In fact, Prince Harry writes that Kate is "carefree, sweet, kind" and he "liked making Kate laugh." Harry was pleased for his brother when the couple first got together and said Kate was "the sister I’d never had and always wanted."

What is clear from Harry's descriptions and choice of words surrounding his brother is that Prince William is indeed the hardest hit in the memoir ‘Spare.' The future King is mentioned in a number of Harry’s recollections - few of them are good.

Perhaps the most bitter complaint was when William physically got into a fight with his brother. William had reportedly called Meghan "difficult," "rude," and "abrasive" before grabbing him and knocking him on the floor.

Harry wrote in ‘Spare’: "I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me." William apologised but told Harry not to tell Meghan about the incident.

One of his brother's remarks surrounding the Late Queen’s death seemed to be a cause of retaliation for Harry. He had asked what his brother’s plans were for getting up to Balmoral. However, as he said to Anderson Cooper on CBS, "a couple of hours later, you know, all of the family members that live within the Windsor and Ascot area were jumping on a plane together." Harry was not invited.

Harry revealed other petty complaints against his brother, including taking jabs at his baldness; and being upset for having to shave his beard at his wedding when Harry didn’t need to.

‘Spare’ also reveals that William had reportedly driven to his own wedding smelling of the booze from the night before.

These remarks are, of course, sensitive personal information and memories. But how did it turn so sour towards William?

Harry said that he believes competition between the wives of the princes has damaged his relationship with Prince William.

And yet, despite the apparent mud-slinging, Harry confessed to Tom Bradbury on ITV, "I love my father. I love my brother. I love my family… Nothing of what I’ve done in this book or otherwise has ever been to harm them or hurt them."