Prince Harry and other 'spares' set up by royal family to fail, per ex aide

The Royal Family is being accused of setting up all “spares to the heirs” to fail.

A former royal aide who worked closely with Prince Andrew has claimed the Palace did little to prepare royals who weren’t in direct line to the throne, GB News has reported. This included King Charles’ siblings, and Prince William’s brother Prince Harry.

“They are expected to just get on and do the job but they’re often woefully equipped to do it,” the insider claimed. “So maybe it falls to us to do more of the heavy lifting, to try to keep them on the straight and narrow.”

The ex-staffer’s comments came as a “lesson for all the spares to the heir in this, and the people who advise them.”

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, popularised the term in his 2023 memoir of the same name, recounting the lead-up and aftermath of him and wife Meghan Markle leaving the Firm in 2020.

Harry’s uncle, Prince Andrew, also stepped back from royal duties in 2019 following scandal, leaving only Princess Anne and Prince Andrew active among Charles’ siblings.

But Prince William and Princess Kate may be shifting course with their own children and the next generation of royals.

According to royal commentator Ingrid Seward, the couple are open to giving Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis,7, the freedom to choose non-royal careers, even though their older brother George, 12, is directly in line to the throne.

“It’s not like it was in Charles’s youth,” she said. “I think children have immense choices now that they didn’t have even 15 years ago.”

Royal historian Marlene Koenig added: “William and Catherine, to a certain extent, are going to rip up the rule book and do it their way.”