King Charles III and Prince Harry have reunited for the first time in more than a year and a half, but their emotional meeting has been overshadowed by a resurfaced claim about Charles’s behaviour after Harry’s birth.
Former royal butler Paul Burrell revealed in his book The Royal Insider that Princess Diana once confided in him about a painful incident shortly after Harry was born in 1984. According to Burrell, Diana said Charles visited her in the hospital, looked at their newborn son, and remarked, “Oh, red hair.” When she pointed out that red hair ran in the Spencer family, Charles allegedly replied, “Well, at least I’ve got my heir and spare now… and I can return to Camilla.”
Burrell said Diana was left devastated by the comment and told him she cried herself to sleep that night, realising her marriage was effectively over. “Four years, Paul, I gave him four good years and he was gone. For the rest of the time I had to pretend and put on a facade to the world,” he quoted her as saying.
In 2017, Burrell shared this story with Prince William and Harry during a private meeting at Kensington Palace marking the 20th anniversary of Diana’s death. He recalled Harry staying silent and staring at him with a blank expression, and believes the revelation may have influenced Harry’s choice to title his memoir Spare.
Amid the renewed attention on this story, Harry kept his comments on their recent reunion brief. When asked by reporters how his father was doing, he simply said, “Yes, he’s great, thank you.”
