In his tell-all memoir, Spare, Prince Harry gave the world unprecedented access into his life and is said to have been a major catalyst for the rumoured fall out between him and the rest of the Royal Family

Prince Harry claims he was attacked by Prince William

Prince Harry has revealed the first person he called after having a physical row with his brother William – and it wasn’t his wife.

Harry gave the world unprecedented insight into his life when he released his controversial memoir Spare. The book detailed how he felt like the “spare” to Prince William’s “heir” status. One passage in the book speaks of a physical assault, which Harry blamed on his brother. After the fight, William told Harry: “You don’t need to tell Meg about this.”

Harry responded:“‘You mean that you attacked me?” William replied: “I didn’t attack you, Harold”. And Meghan wasn’t the first person he told about the incident he described in his book, instead he called his therapist to work through his emotions. Meghan later noticed the “scrapes and bruises” and told her about the attack but she “wasn’t that surprised” and “wasn’t all that angry. She was terribly sad,” Harry said.

During the fight, the prince claims his older brother and the heir to the throne gripped him by the collar and knocked him to the floor. Harry had accused him of repeating opinions about his wife Meghan Markle and called her “difficult”, “rude”, and “abrasive”. The row, which happened at his Nottingham Cottage home in the grounds of Kensington Palace, started with the pair shouting over each other but Harry claims he was left with a physical injury to his back. Harry claimed William arrived at the cottage looking for a fight and that he wasn’t being rational.

William told his little brother he was trying to help, but Harry was flabbergasted, asking him: “Are you serious? Help me? Sorry – is that what you call this? Helping me?” Harry says it was that comment that tipped his brother over the edge. William swore as he stepped towards his brother, according to Harry, who said he was scared and ran to the kitchen to escape him. Harry said he offered his brother a glass of water and refused to speak to him when he was “like this”.

Harry wrote : “He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.” Harry then claims William told him to hit him back and cited similar fights when they were kids. Harry says he refused before William returned “looking regretful” and apologised.