In Prince Harry's book, he states that he was born as a "spare" in case something happened to his older brother, Prince William. However, Princess Diana's account to her biographer Andrew Morton for his 1992 book "Diana: Her True Story" suggests an alternative motivation.
According to Harry's book, he was born to be an organ donor if Prince William needed a "spare part," such as a kidney, blood transfusion, or bone marrow. Nonetheless, Princess Diana revealed to Morton that Prince Charles was disappointed that their second child was not a daughter.
This distinction is significant, as the primogeniture rules of that time would have considered a male "spare" more valuable than a female one. For example, although Queen Elizabeth II's daughter, Princess Anne, was the second-born in her generation, the third-born Prince Andrew became the "spare" to Charles due to his gender.
Diana's account indicates that Charles' desire for a girl suggests a more emotional motivation beyond merely providing a substitute for the future King William. She told Morton, "Charles always wanted a girl." She also revealed that Charles expressed his disappointment at Harry's gender during his christening in December 1984.
Princess Diana described Harry as a "backup" but emphasized that she believed they had two boys for a reason. She said, "We were the only people in the family to have two boys... The rest of the family had a boy and a girl, and we were the first to change and I know fate played a hand there-Harry's a 'backup' in the nicest possible way."
Harry's account differs from Diana's in various ways, including the lack of portrayal of his father's enthusiasm during early parenting. Harry's book suggests that Charles was more concerned with fulfilling his duty to produce a future generation of royals than with parenting.
However, Diana's perspective portrays Charles as a loving father. Biographer Morton told Newsweek, "He had a sentimental attachment to having a girl as many fathers do... She [Diana] always made it clear in the tapes and conversations with me or with [her friend] James [Colthurst] that he was a backup in the nicest possible way, so it wasn't about him being an organ donor but a friend and supporter to William. She wanted him to be a wing man, not a hit man."
Morton also noted that Charles was a loving father "right up until he wasn't," and Diana's comments to him were otherwise critical of Charles, exposing his affair with Camilla, now the Queen Consort, and discussing her own struggles with suicide attempts and bulimia.
Diana's first-hand account of their decision to have a second child provides significant evidence concerning their feelings as parents, while Harry's understanding of their motivations could only have been relayed to him second-hand.
