In an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2023, to promote his memoir ‘Spare‘, Prince Harry confessed to being worried about Prince William‘s children by saying “one will end up like me“, since for the Duke of Sussex, it was easy to grow up under the shadow of the heir, and he doesn’t want his nephews to go through the same thing.
Harry said, “Although 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“, to which he confessed, “that hurts, that worries me“.
In his book, he reveals that he experienced first-hand the favoritism that existed at home for his brother William, the heir: “I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy. I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, fun, and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney perhaps. Blood transfusion. This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life’s journey“.
There is no doubt that Harry spent his childhood feeling like his brother’s replacement—a completely compatible donor at worst. For this reason, he is concerned that now one of his nephews feels the same, whether it is Charlotte or Louis, since the new heir is George, William’s firstborn.