Prince Harry discusses family dynamics following King Charles and Princess Diana’s ‘messy breakup’

January 15, 2023 - 14:00 GMT Nichola Murphy The Duke of Sussex opened up about the aftermath of his parents King Charles and Princess Diana's divorce in 1996 in his new book SpareThe Duke of Sussex made a rare comment about his parents King Charles and Princess Diana's "messy breakup" during his tell-all memoir, Spare.

Among the book's candid confessions - which included his cheeky wedding gift to Princess Kate and the truth behind her engagement ring - Prince Harry opened up about how his family dynamic changed after the former couple split, which was announced by Prime Minister John Major in December 1992.

WATCH: King Charles and Princess Diana leaving St Paul's Cathedral after their wedding

Although he said they "have no plans to divorce," their divorce was finalised in 1996, the year before the late People's Princess died in a car accident in Paris.

Discussing his school's requirement that he wrote letters home to his family, Harry began: "At the best of times this was drudgery. I could barely remember when Pa and Mummy weren't divorced, so writing to them without touching on their mutual grievances, their messy breakup, required the finesse of a career diplomat."

King Charles and Princess Diana got married in 1981 and divorced in 1996

He continued by giving examples of his difficulties inquiring about their lives without mentioning one to the other.

"Dear Pa, How's Mummy?

Hm. No.

SEE: Sarah Ferguson's half-sister pictured yawning in hilarious royal wedding photo

"Dear Mummy, Pa says you haven't...No."

He admitted he was also asked to write a final letter to his mother following her death as a means of coming to terms with his loss, but he said he regrets that he didn't take the task seriously.

Prince Harry made some rare comments about his parents' relationship in his book Spare

Harry also touched upon his father and stepmother Queen Consort Camilla's relationship, even admitting that he and Prince William did not want their marriage to take place and thought it was unnecessary.

"We didn't think it was necessary.

We thought it would do more harm than good," he reiterated during one of his televised interviews on CBS with Anderson Cooper. "Why go that far when you don't necessarily need to? We wanted him to be happy. And we saw how happy he was with her.

So, at the time, it was, 'OK.'"

The American journalistic then probed: "You wrote, 'I even wanted Camilla to be happy. Maybe she'd be less dangerous if she was happy.' How was she dangerous?"

To which, Harry replied: "Because of the need for her to rehabilitate her image. That made her dangerous because of the connections that she was forging within the British press.

And there was open willingness on both sides to trade information.

"And with a family built on hierarchy, and with her on the way to being queen consort, there was going to be people or bodies left in the street because of that."  DISCOVER NOW: How Prince Harry evaded paparazzi during top-secret honeymoon with Meghan Markle Planning your wedding?

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