Another royal bombshell. Prince Harry claimed in his new memoir that Prince William and Princess Kate encouraged him to wear the infamous Nazi uniform he donned at a 2005 costume party.
The Duke of Sussex, 38 — who called the decision to wear the uniform “one of the biggest mistakes of my life” in his 2022 Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan — recalled picking out the offensive garb in his upcoming memoir, Spare.
“I went up and down the rows, sifting through the racks, seeing nothing I liked. With time running out I narrowed my options to two. A British pilot’s uniform. And a sand-colored Nazi uniform. With a swastika armband. And a flat cap,” Harry wrote in the book, which will be released on Tuesday, January 10. “I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said. I rented it, plus a silly mustache, and went back to the house. I tried it all on. They both howled.”
The Archewell cofounder — who called his future sister-in-law “carefree, sweet, kind” when remembering the early days of her romance with William, 40 — recalled that his brother wore “some kind of … feline outfit” to the party, a costume that was made up of a “skintight leotard” and a “springy, bouncy tail.” Harry noted that he and Kate, 40, “had a great time pointing our fingers at him and rolling around on the floor.”
Harry claimed the Prince and Princess of Wales thought his Nazi costume was “worse than Willy’s leotard outfit” and “way more ridiculous!” but that was “the point [of the costume party].”
Harry, who was 20 at the time, apologized for his “poor choice of costume” in a statement soon after photos from the party were leaked. “I am very sorry if I caused any offense or embarrassment to anyone,” he said in a January 2005 statement.
Recalling the moment more than 15 years later, the Invictus Games founder said in his December 2022 Netflix docuseries that he “felt so ashamed afterward,” adding that “all [he] wanted to do was make it right.” Harry explained that in the wake of the incident, he spoke to London’s chief rabbi, “which had a profound impact” on him.
“I went to Berlin and spoke to a Holocaust survivor,” he shared in the two-part series. “I could’ve just ignored it and probably made the same mistakes in my life over and over again, but I learned from that.”
Harry — whose strained relationship with his brother has made headlines since he and wife Meghan Markle stepped down from their positions as senior royals in 2020 — makes multiple allegations about William in Spare, including an alleged incident in which the future king physically attacked him over his relationship with the Suits alum, 41.
“He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me,” Harry recalled in the book, explaining that William’s alleged attack occurred after the Duke of Cambridge called Meghan “difficult,” “rude,” and “abrasive.”
“It all happened so fast. So very fast,” Harry penned. “He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dogs’ bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”
Buckingham Palace has not yet commented on Harry’s allegations. Spare will be released on Tuesday, January 10.
