Prince Harry’s Ghostwriter Shouted At Him Over ‘Spare’ Passage Concerning Princess Diana

A ghostwriter for Prince Harry’s best-selling memoir “Spare” opened up about his experience working with the royal, including a heated exchange that ensued over a passage in the book involving the late Princess Diana.

British author John Joseph Moehringer — known as J. R. Moehringer — revealed that he shouted at the 38-year-old Duke of Sussex when a big fight erupted between them during a “middle-of-the-night Zoom session” since the latter refused to have a certain passage written in his favor.

“I was exasperated with Prince Harry. My head was pounding, my jaw was clenched, and I was starting to raise my voice. And yet some part of me was still able to step outside the situation and think, This is so weird. I’m shouting at Prince Harry,” the 58-year-old author wrote in a piece published on The New Yorker’s website.

He continued, “Then, as Harry started going back at me, as his cheeks flushed and his eyes narrowed, a more pressing thought occurred: ‘Whoa, it could all end right here.'”

The fight stemmed from a discussion in the summer of 2022 when the pair couldn’t agree on how they wanted to portray the duke’s “grueling military exercises” in England when he was captured by terrorists and beaten up before they threw a “vile dig” at his mother, Princess Diana.

Moehringer said that Prince Harry wanted to end the scene with a “comeback” line he said to his captors, which the author deemed “unnecessary and somewhat inane” for the book. But the Archewell Foundation co-founder insisted on the line to make it back in.

“Although this wasn’t the first time that Harry and I had argued, it felt different; it felt as if we were hurtling toward some kind of decisive rupture, in part, because Harry was no longer saying anything. He was just glaring into the camera,” he wrote, recalling the fight.

“He was just glaring into the camera. Finally, he exhaled and calmly explained that all his life, people had belittled his intellectual capabilities, and this flash of cleverness proved that, even after being kicked and punched and deprived of sleep and food, he had his wits about him,” he added.

Though the author understood Prince Harry’s sentiments, he refused to include the bit since he believed that the memoir wasn’t all about the royal. He explained that it should be a “story carved from your life, a particular series of events chosen because they have the greatest resonance for the widest range of people.” Hence, the comeback line was irrelevant.

Prince Harry eventually agreed, then quipped at the author: “‘I really enjoy getting you worked up like that.'”

Despite their disagreements, the pair also had a good time working with each other. Moehringer shared that he visited the duke and his wife Meghan Markle’s Montecito mansion in California while working on “Spare.” He added that Prince Harry had won over his daughter Gracie with his “vast Moana scholarship.”

Prince Harry released “Spare” in January, following the release of the controversial Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan” a month prior. In the book, he revealed what it was like to live as part of the British royal family, how he coped with the death of Princess Diana and a heated altercation between him and his brother, Prince William.