When it comes to the infamous “heir and spare” dynamic in royal life, the heir usually has the advantage, while the spare is considered more of an afterthought. But in one sense, it’s the spare that has the upper hand—the spare has the option to walk away from it all, to leave it all behind. The heir, trained since birth for his or her destiny, does not.
Perhaps the most well-known “heir and spare” are Prince William (the heir) and Prince Harry (the spare, which is a term that should be retired). After all, the latter even wrote a book about his life and called it the derogatory term. But Omid Scobie—himself the author of a highly controversial royal book, Endgame, which came out this week—said inside its pages that William is envious of Harry’s ability to walk away, as Harry did in 2020 when he left life as a working royal and relocated with wife Meghan Markle to the United States.
