'It's a bare-faced lie I was William's best man - I just introduced his friends' Harry says in memoir Spare

7 January 2023, 11:11

Harry has said he went along with a "bare-faced lie" that he was William's best man at his wedding to Kate.

He said William did not want him to give a best man speech and instead he played the role to avoid interest in two close friends.

He had been officially the best man at the wedding in 2011.

"Willy didn't want me giving a best man's speech," Harry said in Spare.

The duke was instead left introducing James Meade and Thomas Van Straubenzee, despite travelling with William to Westminster Abbey in a Bentley.

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It lays bare the ongoing rift between the brothers, with Harry telling TV news he wants his brother back.

But the chance of repairing the damage with the royal family looks unlikely, with William the focus of another widely-reported passage in which Harry claims his brother attacked him during a furious row.

It broke out at Nottingham Cottage, in the grounds of Kensington Palace, during an argument in which William said Meghan was "difficult" and "rude".

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"It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog's bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me," Harry claimed.

"I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out."

William said he was trying to help him before offering him a glass of water and urged him to hit him back.

He then apologised and said he did not need to tell Meghan about it.

The royals have not responded to the allegations.

Harry's bombshell memoir Spare, released early in Spain, contained other claims including that he tried to convince Charles not to marry Camilla and that he took drugs in his younger years.