2 Times Prince Harry Wanted to Hug Queen Elizabeth but Didn’t: ‘Couldn’t Imagine’
TL;DR:
- Prince Harry claimed he never hugged Queen Elizabeth II in Spare.
- He recalled wanting to hug his late grandmother on at least two occasions, once in 2002 and again in 2017.
- Prince Harry suggested hugs aren’t commonplace among some members of the royal family.
Amid Prince Harry’s claim in his newly-released memoir, Spare, that never hugged Queen Elizabeth II here at two times the Duke of Sussex wanted to embrace his late grandmother but didn’t. Plus, the “famous story” about Princess Diana “trying to hug granny” and who probably didn’t give out many hugs.
1. Prince Harry wanted to hug Queen Elizabeth at a 2002 Golden Jubilee concert
20 years before Queen Elizabeth’s 2022 Platinum Jubilee, she celebrated 50 years on the throne with a 2002 Golden Jubilee. It was at this particular milestone event Harry recalled having the urge to give the queen a hug (via Newsweek).
“To see her tapping her foot and swaying in time, I wanted to hug her,” he said, referring to 2002’s Party at the Palace concert. Harry continued, noting he didn’t even consider acting on his desire.
“But of course, I didn’t. Out of the question,” he wrote. “I never had done and couldn’t imagine any circumstance under which such an act would be sanctioned.”
2. Harry ‘longed to hug’ Queen Elizabeth after she gave him permission to marry Meghan Markle
Another time Harry wanted to hug Queen Elizabeth — but didn’t — happened when the monarch gave him permission to marry Meghan Markle.
When the queen gave Harry the go-ahead to propose, he recalled wanting to give her a hug.
“I wanted to hug her, I longed to hug her, I didn’t hug her,” Harry wrote. Instead, he walked Queen Elizabeth “into the Range Rover, then marched back to Pa and Willy.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex became engaged in November 2017 at Nottingham Cottage before marrying in May 2018.
Prince Harry had a lack of hugging in his life after Princess Diana died and before meeting Meghan Markle
Princess Diana famously showered Harry and his older brother, Prince William, with affection. When she died in 1997, however, Harry wrote hugs were no longer a regular thing. Not until meeting Meghan in 2016 did hugs return to being part of his life.
Harry also reported wrote in Spare his father, King Charles III, didn’t hug him when he told him Diana had died. He also noted hugs with his brother, the now-Prince of Wales, which he said were few and far between, could be awkward.
Other hug anecdotes in Spare included Harry recounting a “famous story” about Princess Diana “trying to hug granny” Queen Elizabeth. Eyewitnesses, he said, described it as “more of a lunge than a hug,” which the monarch “swerved.” It “ended very awkwardly with averted eyes and murmured apologies.”
Harry also wondered whether Queen Elizabeth had hugged his father, recalling how the late monarch shook her young son’s hand upon returning from a long royal tour. He also thought it unlikely his grandfather, Prince Philip, had given out many hugs in his lifetime.
Spare dropped Jan. 10.
