Prince William gives speech at Foreign Office in 2016

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Prince Harry’s new memoir Spare — which is to be released officially on Tuesday, January 10 — is anything but sparing in its bombshell revelations. The Duke of Sussex has in both his book and in interviews given before its release spoken at length about the Royal Family’s relationship with the British press. In one excerpt, the 38-year-old told of how he had realised the reasons why Prince William, who he calls “Willy” in the memoir, was being slammed as “lazy”.

He said that in 2015 the press had at the time dubbed Prince William “workshy Wills” with the papers “awash with stories about Willy being lazy”.

This, he writes, was “obscene” and “grossly unfair” as the prince was busy “having children and raising a family” at the time. William and Kate’s second child, Charlotte, was born in May of that year.

Harry said he initially did not understand why the press was going after his older brother who, along with his wife, Kate, felt “unfairly persecuted”.

It was not until months later that he realised why the press was in his eyes “gunning” for “Willy”.

Harry recounted his fury at the accusations made against his brother. As although he said he had been called “stupid”, “naughty”, and “racist” throughout his life, had the press “dared” to call him lazy, Harry said he might have been driven to go down to Fleet Street himself and “start pulling people out from behind their desks”.

The Duke goes on to reveal that he then came to the realisation that there were two reasons why his brother was being hounded.

He said that not only had William “worked them all up” by not “playing their game” because he refused to give “unfettered access to his family” and parade Kate out “like a prized racehorse”, but also because he had had the courage to, albeit subtly, criticise Brexit.

Harry wrote: “He’d had the temerity to go out and give a vaguely anti-Brexit speech, which really galled them. Brexit was their bread and butter. How dare he suggest it was bullshit.”

The Royal Family are expected to remain impartial and refrain from giving their personal opinions on topics such as politics.

In February 2016, William gave a speech to British diplomats at the Foreign Office, describing how the nation’s ability to work with others was the “bedrock of our security and prosperity”.

The Duke of Cambridge described Britain as nation which has been “outward-looking” for centuries with “a long and proud tradition of seeking out allies and partners”. William did not mention Europe or the EU but did reference the UN, NATO, and the Middle East.

He said: “In an increasingly turbulent world, our ability to unite in common action with other nations is essential. It is the bedrock of our security and prosperity and is central to your work.

“Right now, the big questions with which you wrestle – in the UN, Nato, the Middle East, and elsewhere – are predicated on your commitment to working in partnership with others.”

The speech came just days before a summit was held in Brussels where a deal was struck to redraw the terms of Britain’s membership in the UK.

There was contention over whether the speech did in fact endorse Britain’s membership of the EU, with the likes of the Financial Times discussing the supposed controversy on its front page.

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The speech was also compared to comments made by Queen Elizabeth II in 2014 ahead of the Scottish independence vote where she urged voters to “think carefully” before making a decision.

A Britain Stronger in Europe campaign spokesperson came out in support of the remarks, and said: “People from all walks of life are getting behind the campaign for Britain to stay in the EU.”

However, Kensington Palace denied that William was advising the public on how to vote in the upcoming referendum. One spokesperson said at the time that the speech “wasn’t about Europe”.

Similarly, a Royal source said: “Talking about ‘working in partnership’ and ‘our ability to unite in common action’ is not expressing a political view. He did not mention the EU once and any suggestion that he was referring to Britain’s EU membership is completely unfounded.”

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