- Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, came out three years ago this week on January 10, 2023.
- In it, the Duke of Sussex shares numerous anecdotes, including one about a 2012 trip to Las Vegas (which eventually became infamous for a different reason).
- Harry recounted that he had an idea to get an unexpected tattoo in the most surprising of places, but that his friends said a hard no to the idea.
Prince Harry doesn’t have any tattoos that the public knows about—but that almost wasn’t the case.
During a 2012 trip to Las Vegas—which ended up being the same trip as his infamous “strip pool” debacle from 14 years ago—Harry’s friends stopped him from getting some ink while in Sin City. In his 2023 memoir Spare, published three years ago this week (and per People), Harry said he and his friends ate like “kings” at a steakhouse and woke up the next day and, after enjoying some Bloody Marys, headed to a pool party. As the day—and the drinks—went on, Harry wrote, “I was in rough shape, and filling up with…ideas.”
Prince Harry in 2013.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
“I need something to commemorate this trip, I decided,” he wrote in the tell-all. “Something to symbolize my sense of freedom, my sense of carpe diem. For instance…a tattoo? Yes! Just the thing!”
Harry decided to get a tattoo of Botswana on his foot—a country that has meant so much to Harry throughout his life, and where he took future wife Meghan Markle on their third date over the summer of 2016 (and where they ultimately fell in love). After presenting his friends with the idea, they were decidedly not on board, with Harry explaining that “In fact, they promised to physically stop me.”
“I was not going to get a tattoo, they said, not on their watch, least of all a foot tattoo of Botswana,” he continued. “They promised to hold me down, knock me out, whatever it took. A tattoo is permanent, it’s forever!”
Prince Harry on September 8, 2025.
Getty
He added, “Their arguments and threats are one of my last clear memories from that evening. I gave in. The tattoo could wait till the next day.” Ultimately, the tattoo never happened—and was overshadowed by photos that leaked of Harry playing strip pool. Flash forward to 2024, 12 years later, and, in a promotional video for the 2025 Invictus Games, Harry pretended to get a neck tattoo from none other than Jelly Roll—though, of course, it was fake.
Harry is due to head to the U.K. next week for a trial against Associated Newspapers Limited, the publisher of The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday. The legal proceedings kick off on January 19, and Harry is expected to take the stand on January 22. He is not expected to see his father, King Charles, during this visit, as he did the last time he was in the U.K. in September.
Prince Harry on September 10, 2025.
Getty Images
Ahead of his trip across the pond, Harry stepped out for an appearance in Santa Barbara, California, showing his support for firefighters and emergency responders one year after the devastating Southern California wildfires. Last year, at a Living Legends of Aviation event, Harry said of emergency responders (per Hello!), “We saw courage. We saw commitment. And we saw an extraordinary group of men and women take to the skies, also risking their lives to protect people they would never meet. Tonight, we thank and honor members of our community, especially aerial firefighters and the supporting ground teams.”
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He added of first responders in the same speech that they “rise to the challenge every single time—yet we rarely get the chance to thank them.”