Prince Harry has described how he was “stopped cold” after his brother, the Prince of Wales, used a secret code they had devised for “times of extreme crisis” during a confrontation on the day of Prince Philip's funeral. The claim features in extracts from Harry's memoir, Spare, aired during his tell-all interview with Tom Bradby on ITV.
In the book, Harry recalls how William forced him to look into his eyes, telling him that he loved him and wanted him to be happy. Harry says he responded that he loved his brother too, but that his “stubbornness is extraordinary”, before pulling away. William then pulled him back and said: “Harold you must listen to me, I just want you to be happy, Harold, I swear, I swear on mummy’s life.”
Harry said these words stopped them both. He described the phrase as “the secret code, the universal password, ever since we were boys”, reserved “only in times of extreme crisis”. Writing that the vow was intended for moments when one of them needed to be heard, he added: “It stopped me cold, as it was meant to. Not because he'd used it, but because it didn’t work. I simply didn’t believe him.”
The ITV interview is the first of four primetime broadcasts promoting Spare, which is published on Tuesday. Harry has also spoken to Anderson Cooper for CBS's 60 Minutes, Michael Strahan of Good Morning America, and Stephen Colbert for The Late Show. During the Bradby interview, Harry also discussed his inability to show emotion after his mother's death in 1997, admitting to feeling “some guilt” when walking among crowds outside Kensington Palace, and that the only time he cried was at her burial.
Other leaked revelations from the book include claims that William physically attacked him and described the Duchess of Sussex as “difficult” and “abrasive”. The Sun has also reported that Harry recounts a 2021 incident in which a “steaming” and “shouting” William grabbed his shirt during peace talks at Frogmore Cottage.
