Prince Harry has claimed that members of the Royal Family are subjected to an annual document that fuels internal competition and rivalry, describing it as a “sinister document” in his 2023 memoir Spare.
The Duke of Sussex said the document in question is the Court Circular, which records the official engagements carried out by working royals throughout the year.
While royal engagements are published daily, an annual total is released by St James’s Palace and later printed in newspapers including The Times, The Daily Telegraph and The Scotsman.
Writing in Spare, Harry claimed the yearly totals encourage comparisons among family members and intensify competitiveness within the monarchy.
He wrote: "At the end of the year, when all the numbers got tallied, comparisons would be made in the press. Ah, this one’s busier than that one. Ah, this one’s a lazy [expletive].”
"The Court Circular was an ancient document, but it had lately morphed into a circular firing squad. It didn’t create the feelings of competitiveness that ran in my family, but it amplified them, weaponized them.”
Harry added that although the family never openly discussed the Court Circular, it was always present in their minds, particularly toward the end of each year.
"Certain family members had become obsessed, feverishly striving to have the highest number of official engagements recorded in the Circular each year, no matter what, and they’d succeeded largely by including things that weren’t, strictly speaking, engagements, recording public interactions that were mere blips, the kinds of things Willy and I wouldn’t dream of including.”
"It was all self-reported, all subjective. Nine private visits with veterans, helping with their mental health? Zero points. Flying via helicopter to cut a ribbon at a horse farm? Winner!"