What Prince Harry Said About Funeral Argument With William and Charles

Public fascination in Prince Harry's relationships with his brother, Prince William, and father, King Charles III, have increased since his split from the monarchy in 2020 and move to the U.S. with Meghan Markle.

Over the following years, Harry has given the public insights into this dynamic as to better contextualize his decision to move away from his home country and his role as a working member of the royal family. The most detailed picture of these relationships was laid bare in Harry's 2023 memoir, Spare.

Billed as a "raw" and "unflinching" account of his life, written "not as the prince I was born, but as the man I have become," Harry revealed deep tensions between the three men, which were most keenly observed in an account given of a crisis talk held in the grounds of Windsor Castle following the funeral of Prince Philip in 2021.

Philip, the long-serving consort of Queen Elizabeth II, had died just weeks after Harry and Meghan's bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey had aired, exposing the rift between the California-based and U.K. royals for all to see.

Held during the strict enforcement of COVID public safety measures in England at the time, the funeral didn't allow guests the opportunity to socialize. Instead, Harry wrote that he had agreed to meet with William and his father in the gardens of Frogmore House on the Windsor estate to talk.

'A Walk or A Duel?'

Following Prince Philip's funeral on April 17, 2021 at St George's Chapel, Harry wrote in Spare that he made his way to Frogmore Gardens where he had agreed to meet with William and Charles to discuss the state of royal relationships after the Oprah Winfrey interview.

The prince wrote that he was kept waiting some time until he was finally joined by his father and brother.

"At last, I saw them," he told readers. "Shoulder to shoulder, striding towards me, they looked grim, almost menacing. More, they looked tightly aligned. My stomach dropped. Normally they'd be squabbling about one thing or another, but now they appeared to be in lockstep—in league. The thought occurred: Hang on, are we meeting for a walk...or a duel?"

'Don't Make My Final Years A Misery'

After some awkward small talk, which involved Charles pointing out the graves of countless dead relatives in the Frogmore cemetery, Harry wrote that they finally "got down to business."

"I tried to explain my side of things. I wasn't at my best. For starters, I was still nervous, fighting to keep my emotions in check," he recounted, adding that for each point he raised, Charles and William would "cut me off."

"Willy in particular didn't want to hear anything. After he'd shut me down several times, he and I began sniping, saying some of the same things we'd said for months—years. It got so heated that Pa raised his hands: 'Enough!'

"He stood between us, looking up at our flushed faces: 'Please, boys—don't make my final years a misery.'"

Harry wrote that the plea from his father made him look at things more closely, including his brother. "I looked at Willy, really looked at him, maybe for the first time since we were boys," he said.

"I took it all in: his familiar scowl, which had always been his default in dealings with me; his alarming baldness, more advanced than my own; his famous resemblance to Mummy, which was fading with time. With age. In some ways he was my mirror, in some ways he was my opposite. My beloved brother, my arch nemesis, how had that happened?"

'Suicide Mission'

One of the main topics of contention in the following conversation, according to Harry, was his complaint that his family had not protected him or Meghan from the media attacks that were damaging their mental health before they left the monarchy.

"Pa and Willy were still claiming not to know why I'd fled Britain, still claiming not to know anything, and I was getting ready to walk away," he told readers.

"Then one of them brought up the press. They asked about my hacking lawsuit. They still hadn't asked about Meg, but they were keen to know how my lawsuit was going, because that directly affected them. 'Still ongoing.' 'Suicide mission,' Pa mumbled. 'Maybe. But it's worth it.'"

'I Swear on Mummy's Life'

At a certain point in the argument, Harry wrote that he felt like he wasn't being heard, and had gestured to end the meeting, at which point he claimed Prince William made a rare and serious statement which made him pause.

"He lunged, grabbed my shirt," he said of William. 'Listen to me, Harold.'

"I pulled away, refused to meet his gaze. He forced me to look into his eyes: 'Listen to me, Harold, listen! I love you, Harold! I want you to be happy.'"

"The words flew out of my mouth: I love you too...but your stubbornness...is extraordinary!"

After more disagreeing, Harry wrote that William: "Grabbed me again, twisting me to maintain eye contact: 'Harold, you must listen to me! I just want you to be happy, Harold. I swear....I swear on Mummy's life.'

"He stopped. I stopped. Pa stopped. He'd gone there."

According to the prince, swearing on the memory of their much loved mother was an extreme gesture used rarely to underly the truth behind whatever was being said. This time though, Harry wrote, "it didn't work."

"I simply didn't believe him, didn't fully trust him. And vice versa. He saw it too. He saw that we were in a place of such hurt and doubt that even those sacred words couldn't set us free."

'Enough'

After continued strained conversation, Harry wrote that he realized little could be achieved between them, with his mind instead turning to his wife and children in the U.S.

"Willy was still talking, Pa was talking over him, and I could no longer hear a word they said," he wrote. "I was already gone, already on my way to California, a voice in my head saying: Enough death—enough. When is someone in this family going to break free and live?"

Here, Harry ends his account of what happened that day. It has not been corroborated by William or Charles, both of who adopted "no comment" positions when it came to Spare and any of the claims made by Harry within it.

Since the book's publication, Harry has not publicly reunited with his father or brother. He did attend the king's coronation in May 2023, however, was not photographed with the senior royal family group at the time.

James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter, based in London. You can find him on X (formerly Twitter) at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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