Were it not for the extraordinarily detailed account of his own, self-confessed, raging jealousy of his brother, as detailed in his memoir Spare, it would be an easy allegation to dismiss.
However these are no ordinary times, and given that Prince Harry at one stage noted in his book that his brother had a nicer bedroom than him with “a cabinet with mirrored doors” (not top of most 12-year-olds wish lists), a claim that Harry was jealous of William getting more sausages at breakfast than him when they were children must be given serious credence.
The suggestion that pork products played a part in Harry’s childhood trauma was made by Princess Diana’s former butler Paul Burrell, who said that he once witnessed Harry being given two sausages by a nanny while William got one more.
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Burrell told British tabloid the Sun that Harry objected: “How come he gets three and I get only two?”
Burrell said that their nanny replied: “William needs filling up more than you. He’s going to be king one day.”
Burrell said: “When I look back now, I think maybe I was glimpsing the dynamic at play … Harry would fall quiet and suck it up, but that’s what he had to contend with, even in his own home.”
The Sun headlined its story “Bangers and Clash,” riffing off the slang for the famous British comfort food dish of sausages (bangers) and mashed potatoes.
In his book, Harry’s description of William’s superior room foreshadows a later scene where he contrasts his and Meghan’s living quarters as shabby compared to William and Kate’s palatial abode. He neglects to mention that he and Meghan are only just married while William and Kate had three children, and that £2.4m (around $3m) of taxpayers’ money would be spent refurbishing another home for he and Meghan.
Burrell, who was Diana’s closest servant, worked for her from 1987 until her death in 1997.
He was famously referred to by the princess as “my rock.”
Burrell said it was “tough” for Harry to live up to “the standard set by William.”
He said: “William was brighter than Harry and would be king one day, how can you compete with that?”
Burrell, who wrote a book about Diana, could be accused of a lack of impartiality and having an axe to grind with Harry, having been singled out for attack in Harry’s book. Harry said Burrell’s decision to write a book made his “blood boil” and dismissed it as “a tell-all which actually told nothing. It was merely one man’s self-justifying, self-centering version of events.”
Some have archly suggested Harry’s critique of Burrell’s book could apply equally to Spare.
Burrell said Harry’s book was “sad and foolish,” and reiterated claims that the queen was “upset in the months before she died” by the accusations Harry made.
