Stories claiming Prince Harry got into a physical fight with Prince Andrew remain in a new biography, despite the Duke of Sussex insisting the incident never happened, the author has confirmed.
Historian Andrew Lownie’s new book Entitled focuses on Prince Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, including claims about Jeffrey Epstein and the alleged mistreatment of staff.
However, it was a few passages about Prince Harry that created legal trouble for publisher William Collins, an imprint of Harper Collins, after the book alleged the Duke of Sussex and the Duke of York were involved in a fist fight in 2013.
Prince Harry strongly denied the account and, as reported by GB News, sent legal letters to the Daily Mail, which serialised the book, as well as the publisher.
Royal author keeps Prince Harry passages despite legal pushback
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Lownie told an upcoming episode of Newsweek’s The Royal Report podcast: “Harry wasn’t in my book at all.
“And I think when the book came in, the publisher said, maybe just out of interest, what was the relationship between Andrew and Harry?
“So I went to my source, and they gave me that little paragraph talking about the two altercations in 2013 and then over Megan in 2017.
“And I put it in, and I didn’t think any of us thought that it was anything but a sort of passing moment.
“I mean, I don’t remember the lawyers even raising it, but clearly he took umbrage at the suggestion that he had defended his wife’s honour and instead of just asking for a correction or anything, sent off legal letters to Harper Collins, my publishers.
“I had to double down with my source and make sure it was accurate, which we believe it is.
“Collins have responded in a responsible way, they’ve added a line actually, and I recorded the line for the audiobook a couple of days ago, just saying that Harry denies these allegations.
“And I hope that will be the end of it. I mean, I don’t think it’s defamatory. I think it actually presents him in quite a positive light, and certainly, there was no desire to cause offence. It was just a sort of reflection.”
Prince Andrew and Prince Harry are uncle and nephew
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Andrew Lownie holding his book ‘Entitled’
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After the book was serialised in the Mail earlier this month, Harry’s spokesman told GB News: “Such are the gross inaccuracies, damaging and defamatory remarks made in the Daily Mail’s story, I can confirm a legal letter from Prince Harry’s counsel has been sent to the Mail.”
An earlier statement, also sent to the People’s Channel, read: “I can confirm Prince Harry and Prince Andrew have never had a physical fight, nor did Prince Andrew ever make the comments he is alleged to have made about the Duchess of Sussex to Prince Harry.”
The book was released on Thursday, and at the time of writing, the Sussexes have not raised any further legal complaints.
GB News has contacted the Sussexes for comment.
