In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry reveals a sharp joke made by King Charles about rumours surrounding Harry’s paternity, describing the comment as in poor taste. The memoir, a bestseller in the UK, sheds light on personal moments within the Royal Family.
Prince Harry has revealed a startling anecdote about King Charles in his memoir, Spare, shedding light on personal moments from his life within the Royal Family. The Duke of Sussex recounted that King Charles made a biting joke about the identity of Harry’s “real father,” touching on long-standing rumours connecting Harry’s paternity to Princess Diana’s former lover, Major James Hewitt.
According to Prince Harry’s account, King Charles quipped, “Who knows if I’m even your real father?” and followed this with a more pointed remark: “Perhaps your father really is in Broadmoor, my dear son!” Broadmoor is known as a high-security psychiatric hospital in the UK, making the comment notably sharp in tone. Prince Harry described the joke as “in poor taste” within the memoir.
Spare, which was released in hardback in January 2023, became a significant publishing success, breaking records in British bookshops and becoming the UK’s best-selling book of 2023, with over 700,000 copies sold. The memoir offers readers insight into Prince Harry’s experiences as a senior royal and the challenges he faced growing up amid intense public and media scrutiny.
Source: Noah Wire Services
- https://www.imdb.com/news/ni63902924/ – This article corroborates the claim that Prince Harry said King Charles made a ‘sadistic’ joke about not being his real father, specifically mentioning the joke about the uncertainty of Harry’s paternity and the involvement of Major James Hewitt.
- https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/prince-harry-book-spare-king-charles-made-sadistic-joke-about-prince-harrys-real-dad/U4PB5U3QVFFXXARB7DIT2NS4GQ/ – This source supports the information that King Charles made sharp and ‘sadistic’ jokes about Prince Harry’s paternity related to Major James Hewitt, as revealed in Harry’s memoir Spare.
- https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a42403793/prince-harry-charles-spare-son/ – This article verifies the context of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, including the personal reflections and family anecdotes involving King Charles and the theme of Harry being the ‘spare’ son with underlying jokes made about him.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LG0E2t9Uq4 – This video briefly covers the claim that King Charles joked about not being Prince Harry’s real father, aligning with the narrative in Harry’s memoir and illustrating public discussion of the remarks.
- https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/10/prince-harry-spare-memoir-reveals-biting-jokes-by-king-charles-about-paternity – This Guardian article confirms the anecdote where King Charles made a biting joke to Prince Harry about who his real father might be, including the mention of Broadmoor, supporting the article’s statement about the joke’s tone and content.
- https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64237080 – This BBC News report details the publication success of Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, noting its record-breaking sales in the UK and its impact as a revealing account of his life within the Royal Family.
- https://www.express.co.uk/news/royal/2045646/king-charles-brutal-joke-prince-harry – Please view link – unable to able to access data
Noah Fact Check Pro
The draft above was created using the information available at the time the story first
emerged. We’ve since applied our fact-checking process to the final narrative, based on the criteria listed
below. The results are intended to help you assess the credibility of the piece and highlight any areas that may
warrant further investigation.
Freshness check
Score:
4
Notes:
The narrative contains information from Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, released in January 2023. This content is old and recycled from existing publications.
Quotes check
Score:
5
Notes:
Quotes attributed to King Charles appear to originate from Prince Harry’s memoir. There is no clear evidence of earlier online references to these specific quotes.
Source reliability
Score:
6
Notes:
The narrative originates from the Daily Express, a known publication but with potential biases or sensationalism.
Plausability check
Score:
8
Notes:
The claims are plausible given the context of Prince Harry’s memoir and known personal dynamics within the Royal Family.
Overall assessment
Verdict (FAIL, OPEN, PASS): OPEN
Confidence (LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH): MEDIUM
Summary:
While the narrative is based on published content from Prince Harry’s memoir, concerns arise from its freshness and the reliability of the originating publication. Additionally, the quotes’ authenticity relies on Prince Harry’s account without earlier references found online.
