Prince Harry says he called his therapist after being physically assaulted by his brother William after a heated argument, according to an extraordinary excerpt from his new book.
The Duke of Sussex will claim in his memoir Spare that his older sibling left him with visible injuries after a furious argument over his wife Meghan Markle, in which Harry accused him of “parroting the press narrative” about her .
The explosive incident, in which William reportedly called the Duchess “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, is said to have happened at Harry’s London home in 2019.
In a section of the book, which isn’t out until next week, Harry claims he called his therapist instead of his wife immediately after the argument.
Prince Harry, pictured here exercising in a therapy session, claims he called his therapist after having a physical breakdown with his brother William
The Duke of Sussex claims in his new book that he was “beaten to the ground” by William during an argument over his wife Meghan Markle. Pictured: The brothers at the funeral procession of their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II last year
According to the Guardian, which claims to have received a copy, Meghan later noticed the “scuffs and bruises”, which led to him opening up about breaking up with his brother.
It’s unknown how the outlet obtained a copy of the book, given the tight security measures put in place by its publisher to prevent leaks.
In the excerpt, Harry claims William “grabbed my collar, tore my necklace and … threw me to the ground” during an extraordinary argument at Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace.
He said the argument arose when William wanted to talk about “the whole rolling disaster” of their relationship and arrived “red hot” at the cottage.
In the dramatic passage, the Duke says his brother acted irrationally, with both men shouting and exchanging insults as the argument escalated.
He said his brother eventually pushed him to the ground, leaving him with a visible injury after landing on “the dog bowl, which broke under my back and the pieces cut into me”.
Harry added that his brother urged him to fight back but left when he refused, before later coming back to apologize.
The passage claims that when William left again, he urged Harry “not to tell Meg about this” and said, “I wasn’t attacking you, Harold”.
Harry claims he called his therapist first, before later telling his wife, who “wasn’t that surprised and wasn’t that angry.”
Harry has previously spoken of going into therapy to work through the trauma of his childhood, which included the death of his mother, Princess Diana.
The Duke praised EMDR – which stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing – for helping him deal with his past.
It is based on the principle that the mind can heal from trauma using external stimuli to help the brain process traumatic experiences and facilitate healing.
Prince Harry, 36, was seen today closing his eyes and patting his chest during a therapy session via video link with Sanja Oakley, a UK-based psychotherapist, which was being broadcast on his Apple TV+ show.
The Duke of Sussex closes his eyes during a therapy session featured in an Apple TV documentary series
Appearing on The Me You Can’t See, Harry “processed his negative thoughts” by crossing his arms and taking deep breaths before closing his eyes and slowly patting each side of his chest.
He told Oprah, “EMDR has always been something I’ve wanted to try, and that was one of the flavors of different forms of healing or healing that I was willing to experiment with.
“And I never would have been open to that if I hadn’t put in the work and therapy that I’ve done over the years.”
Adherents say that simply moving your eyes from left to right between 25 and 30 times can reduce negative memories and, in turn, their impact on your well-being.
When done repeatedly with a trained psychologist — up to 40 times in an hour’s session — it can immeasurably change your life for the better, experts claim.
While critics have dismissed it as pseudoscience, EMDR has backed a body of scientific research proving its effectiveness in treating severe trauma.
Not only is it available on the NHS, but the training is mandatory for frontline mental health staff at the Department of Defense.
Harry’s claims in his new memoir are likely to further strain the already ailing relationship between him and his family.
In the book he is said to claim that his father, King Charles, begged his warring sons not to make his “last years a misery”.
In an excerpt, Harry recounts meeting his father and brother after Prince Philips’ funeral in April 2021, where Charles stood between himself and the heir and “looked down at our flushed faces.”
The book, due out next week, is highly anticipated and has already made it to number two on Amazon’s UK and US bestseller lists by pre-orders alone.
Harry has pledged to donate a portion of the proceeds from the memoir, written by Pulitzer Prize winner JR Moehringer, to charity.
The book is reported to need to sell more than 1.7 million copies for publisher Penguin Random House to break even after betting $20 million on a “four-book” deal with the Duke.
The leak will be a source of embarrassment for the company, which has pulled out all the stops to stem potential leaks.
It will be officially released in UK bookstores when they open on Tuesday morning, and the e-book edition will be available to download on Kindle just after midnight on the same day.
In the United States, which is five to eight hours behind Britain, it will be the evening of January 9 when e-book copies of the book become available on Kindle, at the same moment the clock strikes midnight on Tuesday morning, UNITED KINGDOM.
Before it is published, two television interviews will be broadcast on ITV and CBS on Sunday, in which Harry will speak about the book and the claims made in it.
In a trailer accompanying his interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby, Harry claimed his family had shown “absolutely no willingness to reconcile”.
However, this drew outrage from sources close to the royal family, who claimed his father invited Harry and Meghan to join the family for Christmas.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, a source said Harry’s claim was “complete and unadulterated nonsense”.
They said: “It takes some boldness to say that when his father invited him to stay at his home while he was in the UK, invited him to spend Christmas with the rest of the family and continued to make public statements of support.”
They also told the publication: “[The King] is sad that he did not have the opportunity to spend time with his grandchildren. He has always left the door open to his son and will continue to do so.”