Prince Harry claims he wasn’t Prince William’s best man as he opens up on ‘bare-faced lie’

Prince Harry has claimed that he wasn’t Prince William’s best man as he opened up in Spare on “bare-faced lie” reportedly told before the wedding. 

• The Duke of Sussex has alleged in his memoir that he was never Prince William’s best man for his wedding to Kate Middleton. 
• Instead he names two “civilian” friends that were the future King’s choice and suggests that he helped give them “cover” from media attention. 
• This royal news comes as we revealed Princess Anne has undertaken a major appearance alongside Sir Timothy Laurence as the Royal Family mourns a great loss. 

Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, has seen the King’s youngest son get candid like never before about his relationship with his older brother. In the highly-anticipated release he revealed King Charles’ heartbreaking plea to Prince William and Prince Harry following the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral and his claim that he felt Prince William was “gone forever” after he got married. 

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding was watched by millions back in 2011 and few could forget the sight of the royal brothers beaming at each other at the altar as the future Queen Consort walked down the aisle. However, according to Prince Harry writing in Spare, he wasn’t actually Prince William’s best man at all. 

Describing the confirmation of his role as a “bare-faced lie”, the Duke of Sussex alleged that his brother’s friends James Meade and Thomas van Straubenzee were the future King’s choice of best men. 

According to Town & Country, "The public had been told that I was to be best man, but that was a bare-faced lie. The public expected me to be best man, and thus the Palace saw no choice but to say that I was. In truth, Willy didn’t want me giving a best-man speech.”

“He didn’t think it safe to hand me a live mic and put me in a position to go off script. I might say something wildly inappropriate. He wasn’t wrong,” Prince Harry continued.

He then alleged that James and Thomas were actually Prince William’s choice of best man and suggested that the choice helped to protect them from a media “onslaught”. 

Prince Harry continued, "Also, the lie gave cover to James and Thomas, two civilians, two innocents. Had they been outed as Willy’s best men, the rabid press would’ve chased them, tracked them, hacked them, investigated them, ruined their families’ lives. Both chaps were shy, quiet. They couldn’t handle such an onslaught, and shouldn’t be expected to.”

The royal added that “Willy” explained all of this to him, claiming he “didn’t blink” and that they’d had a “laugh about it” when they began speculating about the “inappropriate things” he could’ve said in his speech. 

The Duke of Sussex is understood to have ended up giving the best man speech and it’s been reported that Kate Middleton’s dirty nickname for Prince William was revealed. Prince William is understood to have been best man at Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in 2018. The claims in Spare come as Prince William and Kate Middleton made their first public appearance since its publication with a trip to Merseyside on January 12.