Prince Harry might be all but estranged from his older brother Prince William – but he still thinks of his young nephews and niece.

While he has moved away from the royal family, Harry still reflects on the establishment he left behind, and Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis’s roles in the future.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph in 2023 to promote his memoir, tellingly named Spare, Harry expressed his belief that he is “someone who likes to fix things,” and spoke about his concern for other “spares” in his family.

“I know full well, within my family, if it’s not us, it’s going to be someone else,” he said. “And though William and I have talked about it once or twice, and he has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility, I still feel a responsibility knowing that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare. And that hurts, that worries me.”

In his book, Harry wrote in detail about growing up as the ‘spare’ behind big brother William. In one instance, he recalled that when he and William were children, they shared a room at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where the family often spent their summers.

William’s side of the room was bigger and had a “beautiful window looking down on the courtyard, the fountain, the bronze statue of a roe deer buck,” Harry writes. “My half of the room was far smaller. Less luxurious. I never asked why. I didn’t care. But I also didn’t need to ask.

“Two years older than me, Willy was the Heir, whereas I was the Spare. This wasn’t merely how the press referred to us – though it was definitely that. This was shorthand often used by Pa and Mummy and Grandpa. And even Granny,” he continues.

“The Heir and the Spare – there was no judgment about it, but also no ambiguity. I was the shadow, the support, the Plan B. I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy. I was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part. Kidney perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow. This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life’s journey and regularly reinforced thereafter.”

Elsewhere, he recalled: “I was 20 the first time I heard the story of what Pa allegedly said to Mummy the day of my birth: Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an Heir and a Spare – my work is done. A joke. Presumably. On the other hand, minutes after delivering this bit of high comedy, Pa was said to have gone off to meet with his girlfriend. So. Many a true word spoken in jest.”