Harry’s bickering over parking… and his complaint that he was “half buried” in his palace apartment: Spare reveals how he turns everyday irritations into slights that Duke has harbored for decades
- Harry was assigned a “basement” apartment by Charles and Camilla
- The prince relates how a friend said it reminded him of a badger set
- The neighbor “very much liked” to park the Land Rover Discovery in front of windows
One of the most stunning aspects of Spare isn’t Harry’s fights with his brother or trolling about his frozen appendage – but how he turns the most mundane irritations into hurts he’s harbored for decades.
From rows to parking lots to the lack of light in his apartment, nothing is too small for material in his lucrative tome.
One such passage concerns his living arrangements when the Prince first moved into Kensington Palace.
Harry was “assigned” to an apartment “in the basement of the palace” by Charles and Camilla. “In other words, half buried,” he laments.
From rows to parking lots to the lack of light in his apartment, nothing is too small for material in his lucrative tome
It had three tall windows, he says, “but they let in little light, so the difference between sunrise, sunset and noon…was symbolic, to say the least.” This was made worse by a neighbor – Mr R. Sources speculate it could be Charles Richards, an adviser to the Queen at the time.
Mr R. apparently “really enjoyed” parking his huge gray Land Rover Discovery in front of the windows and “locked out all the light”.
In amazing detail, Harry recalls writing to Mr. R. and asking him to “politely adjust the position of his car a few inches.” He adds: “He countered with a reply in which he sent me to roast asparagus.” This is an expression used in Spain to tell someone to go away and may be worded differently in the English language version of the book.
Harry painstakingly blames Mr R for asking his grandmother to tell him to stop complaining.
The Queen never spoke to him, he says, but the incident was added to Harry’s funeral pyre.
One of the most stunning aspects of Spare isn’t Harry’s fights with his brother or trolling about his frozen appendage – but how he turns the most mundane irritations into hurts he’s harbored for decades
He later decided not to resist any longer and wrote: “The semi-darkness of the apartment at noon corresponded to my state of mind” and was a place that “proved my true place in the ranks”.
But the prince then recounts how a friend said it reminded him of a badger set.
They were drinking something when suddenly a leaf appeared in front of his window.
Someone started shaking it, and a “waterfall” of what appeared to be glitter or confetti started falling.
Harry said it was indeed Mrs R’s hair – she had it cut at home and collected the debris in a sheet, then shook it out her window.
When Harry untied his, hair flew into his apartment, forcing the prince and his friend to cough and pull the hair from their tongues.
Harry spent days writing a letter to Mrs. R. in his head, but decided it was unfair as she had no idea “that she’s filling the house with her hair.”
But Harry later concluded he was angry too, as she was “guilty of an even more inexcusable traffic violation than her husband” – she parked her car in a spot once used by his late mother.