J. R. Moehringer, the ghostwriter of Prince Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” talked about the heated moments he had with Prince Harry when they were writing the memoir.
“I was exasperated with Prince Harry,” Moehringer wrote in The New Yorker Monday. He recalled a very tense conversation he had with Prince Harry over Zoom at 2 am. “My head was pounding, my jaw was clenched and I was starting to raise my voice,” Moehringer said.
He became irritated by Harry’s refusal to accept his advice and things became so intense that he thought he would be fired from the project.
How does one become a ghostwriter? The author J. R. Moehringer, who collaborated with Prince Harry on his memoir, “Spare,” sheds light on a “profession for which there is no school or certification, and to which no one actually aspires.” https://t.co/PkYIwVZZza
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) May 8, 2023
“Some part of me was still able to step outside the situation and think, ‘This is so weird. I’m shouting at Prince Harry,’” he wrote. “Then, as Harry started going back at me, as his cheeks flushed and his eyes narrowed, a more pressing thought occurred: ‘Whoa, it could all end right here.’”
The dispute transpired in summer 2022 when Harry had “come to a difficult passage,” about his time in the British Army, Moehringer explained. Moehringer and Harry did not see eye-to-eye on how this portion of his life should be conveyed in the book.
The excerpt in question was about a time Prince Harry was “captured by fake terrorists” as part of grueling military drills in rural England.
“He’s hooded, dragged to an underground bunker, beaten, frozen, starved, stripped, forced into excruciating stress positions by captors wearing black balaclavas,” Moehringer said.
“Harry always wanted to end this scene with a thing he said to his captors, a comeback that struck me as unnecessary, and somewhat inane,” Moehringer said to The New Yorker. The writer didn’t agree with the phrase being added and Harry continued to push for it.
“I was exasperated with Prince Harry. My head was pounding, my jaw was clenched, and I was starting to raise my voice,” J.R. Moehringer recalled.https://t.co/rcQgeFmfNR
— Entertainment Tonight (@etnow) May 8, 2023
“He exhaled and calmly explained that, all his life, people had belittled his intellectual capabilities, and this flash of cleverness proved that, even after being kicked and punched and deprived of sleep and food, he had his wits about him,” Moehringer wrote.
Harry continued to insist the retort was a necessary inclusion in the book. Moehringer claims Harry gave into his request, even though the former royal disagreed. (RELATED: ‘Bridgerton’ Star Adjoa Andoh Decries British Royal Family As ‘Terribly White’)
What happened next, shocked him more than the battle itself did.
Harry eventually conceded and then said: “‘I really enjoy getting you worked up like that,” Moehringer said to The New Yorker.