Prince Harry insists Spare was ‘accountability, not revenge’ after emotional reunion with King Charles

Prince Harry says his “conscience is clear” as he continues to defend his bombshell memoir, Spare and his decision to speak out about life inside the royal family.

In a candid interview with The Guardian during a visit to Kyiv, the Duke of Sussex described his 2023 autobiography as “a series of corrections to stories already out there,” saying it was about setting the record straight rather than revenge.

Prince Harry’s comments came after several days in the UK, where he shared a private reunion with King Charles, their first face-to-face meeting in more than a year.

The duke said the visit had “definitely brought that closer” to spending more time in Britain in the future.

The Kyiv trip was part of Harry’s ongoing work with the Invictus Games Foundation. He travelled alongside his team at the invitation of the Ukrainian government and Olga Rudneva, chief executive of the Superhumans Centre, a state-of-the-art clinic supporting adults and children who have lost limbs or been injured during the war.

“I know that (speaking out) annoys some people and it goes against the narrative,” Prince Harry told the Guardian.

“The book? It was a series of corrections to stories already out there. One point of view had been put out and it needed to be corrected.”

He added: “I don’t believe that I aired my dirty laundry in public. It was a difficult message, but I did it in the best way possible. My conscience is clear”.

“It is not about revenge, it is about accountability,” he said in the interview.

While in Kyiv, the Duke of Sussex joined a panel discussion at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, where he paid tribute to families supporting those on the front lines.

“The wives and mothers who keep their loved ones on the straight and narrow, they deserve as much respect as anyone who serves,” he told the audience.

When asked what advice he would offer to those transitioning out of military service and struggling with the loss of camaraderie, Harry spoke candidly about the challenges of finding purpose.

“You will feel lost at times, like you lack purpose, but however dark those days are, there is light at the end of the tunnel,” he said. “You just need to look for it, because there will always be someone – a mother, father, sibling, friend, or comrade–there to pick you up.”

He urged veterans not to withdraw or suffer in silence: “Don’t stay silent. Silence will hold you in the dark.”