Should Prince Harry Address His Racism Scandals in 'Spare' Memoir?

Prince Harry should discuss his own past racism scandals in his upcoming memoir Spare, royal biographers have told Newsweek.

The Duke of Sussex's book is expected to be critical of the royal family based in part on the fact its name is derived from Harry's status as a back-up in case the heir, Prince William, should either die young or abdicate.

Royal watchers will be looking out for any sign of the royal expanding on the racism allegations made to Oprah Winfrey in March 2021 by Harry and Meghan Markle, who said an unnamed royal expressed "concerns" about how dark her unborn child's skin might be.

However, Harry will have also had to decide whether to revisit two past racism scandals of his own, including a photo of him wearing a Nazi uniform at a costume party and a video in which he described a Pakistani officer, Ahmed Raza Khan, as "our little P*** friend," while at Sandringham military academy in 2016.

While it may at first glance appear that to return to either incident would only be damaging to the duke, historian Robert Lacey told Newsweek there may be a reason to revisit the Nazi uniform debacle.

In his 2020 biography Battle of Brothers, Lacey described how Prince Harry came to feel that he had unfairly shouldered all the blame when Prince William had been with him at the fancy dress shop at the point the costume was hired, in 2005.

It was one of a number of occasions when the "spare" took the public backlash and the "heir" maintained his pristine public image.

Lacey wrote: "Most clearly of all, we know that Harry chose his costume in conjunction with his elder brother the future King William V, who laughed all the way back to Highgrove with the younger sibling he was supposed to be mentoring—and then onwards to the party together.

"But did a single newspaper or Sunday morning commentator remark on Prince William's role in the debacle?"

The book continued: "In January 2005, following the 'Colonials and Natives' costume fiasco, we now know that Prince Harry was drawn to re-evaluate his elder brother's involvement and the unfairness of William's subsequent emergence smelling of roses. It made Harry feel alienated.

"Friends recall 'no-speaks' and quite a serious rift between the two brothers at the time."

"It was the function of the elder brother to be perfect whether he truly was or was not," Lacey said. "And it was the function of the younger one to make the rest of us laugh or complain or feel disapproving—and at all events to make us feel thoroughly superior to the poor clueless kid."

In other words, there may be a story left untold about Prince Harry's experience of this chapter of his life that speaks to the exact framing his memoir has created through its title.

Lacey told Newsweek: "I am quite sure that he will honestly tackle the difficult aspects of his own life. I feel it's in his character to fill in the gaps. In a way, I feel sympathy for him.

"The book has been presented in the British media as an act of revenge on his family and it may partly be that, but I think it does the book and him a disservice. Certainly if he doesn't tackle these things I think it would discredit his project enormously."

On the Nazi uniform incident, he said: "Harry came to reflect on his brother's role in that and it was an element in the alienation that came dramatically into the open through the new perspective that Meghan brought to every aspect of his life."

Robert Jobson, author of William at 40, told Newsweek he believed Harry would have to revisit both racism scandals if he intended to make any similar criticisms of the monarchy.

He said: "People were very upset by what he wore and what he said. He should address them head on personally and not hide behind some 'all who're people are racist' BS. He made racist comments and wore a Nazi uniform. Perhaps he needs to address his past before lecturing others in the present."

The Nazi uniform incident, in the modern era, also has more to it than Prince Harry's own conduct as Lacey's book describes how the party at which he was a guest had a "Colonials and Natives" theme.

Lacey told Newsweek there were wider cultural divisions between Meghan and the prince's British friends.

He said: "As we know from the reported remarks of all his friends on meeting Meghan, there's a critique that goes two ways. They had a poor opinion of her but that reflects a poor opinion that she had of them. Harry sided with his wife."

There is also the question of how Harry's reported ghost writer, J. R. Moehringer, will interpret Harry's past.

Lacey said: "Already Harry's own descriptions of the book sound more Moehringer than Windsor. It's clear that Moehringer has successfully invited him to grapple with the real essence of the story.

"You can read the chosen title as a provocative and commercial term, but it also gets to the very heart of the book philosophically and Moehringer's track record suggests that he will address that."

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