Prince Harry is a concerned uncle.
In an interview with the Telegraph, published days after the Jan. 10 release of his tell-all memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex said he worries about the other "spares" in the family. His brother Prince William, heir to the British throne, and wife Kate Middleton are parents to Prince George, 9—who is second-in-line, Princess Charlotte, 7, and Prince Louis, 4.
"Though William and I have talked about it once or twice, and he has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility, I still feel a responsibility knowing that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare," Harry told the Telegraph in the Jan. 13 interview. "And that hurts, that worries me."
The title of his memoir comes from the nickname bestowed upon him by the U.K. tabloid press and his family. In the book, Harry says he was "the shadow, the support, the Plan B."
He continues, "I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy. I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to be from the start of life's journey and regularly reinforced thereafter."
Harry continues to say that on the day his mother Princess Diana gave birth to him, his dad King Charles III told her, "Wonderful! Now you've given me an Heir and a Spare—my work is done."
Harry says that this was "a joke. Presumably," adding, "I took no offense."
Reps for the royal family have declined to comment on the duke's book or comments he has made about them in the press. Spare details Harry's childhood as the once third-in-line to the British throne, his and wife Meghan Markle's 2020 exit as working members of the monarchy and his conflicts with William, their dad and his second wife, Camilla, Queen Consort.
In his memoir, Harry accuses his father and stepmother's press offices of "planting" stories about him and Meghan—as well as William and Kate—with the media and also refusing to set the record straight on false reports about them.
Kristina Kyriacou, who worked as Charles' communications secretary for years before he became king told Good Morning America Jan. 10 that "never once did any member of the royal family brief a member of the media with a story or run into the communications team or call us by the phone and say, 'I'd like you to brief this into the media." She added, "The notion is quite simply ridiculous."