The Duke and Duchess of Clarence

Chapter Fourteen: Spare

10th of January 2023 - York House

Adeline had never felt so angry in her entire life. 

There had been a lot of things that Harry had done that had upset her in the past but his attack on the family was the final straw in her opinion and there was no coming back from this. 

Adeline was almost glad that the children were at school as she launched a glass at the wall in the kitchen; unable to contain her rage that this had happened. 

Simon came running at the sound of something breaking, he looked at Adeline concerned as she stood in the middle of their kitchen trying to wrap her head around what had happened. 

"A stray dog from the pound," Adeline seethed shaking her head, staring at the broken glass as she tried to wrap her head around just how stupid Harry was; that he thought that saying what he had would not have consequences. 

"My darling brother states that's what I was when mum and dad brought me home. A stray dog from the pound that he wished they had left at the hospital," Adeline said reading an extract from the book that had been released that morning, she could not believe that Harry had said that about her. 

A part of her knew that she shouldn't be surprised, Harry was not the man that he should be; rather a warped, jaded version of himself that was angry that he hadn't gotten what he wanted. 

Simon stared at his wife, he didn't blame her for being angry that Harry had said something so disgusting about her; he didn't want to even think what he might have written about him. 

It was apparent that Harry did not care for the hurt that he caused, the pain that he inflected as he tried to get back at his family for not giving in to what Meghan wanted. 

The book was Harry's account of his life to date with the title was a reference to the aristocratic adage that an "heir and a spare" were needed to ensure that the inheritance remained in the family if anything happened to the heir. 

Inside the book, Harry described himself as the shadow, the support, the Plan B. 

That he was brought into the world in case something happened to William, who he had taken to calling Willy in the book despite never having referred to his older brother as such in real life. 

That Harry was summoned to provide backup, distraction, diversion and, if necessary, a spare part.

 Kidney, perhaps. 

Blood transfusion, Speck of bone marrow.

All of which was far from the truth, he acted as if he had been created as nothing more than a donor child for anything that could possibly go wrong with William. 

The book was an autobiography, but he begins near the end, describing a meeting with his father and siblings to discuss his plan to step back from his royal role. 

He then focused on his education, his time in the British Army, and his relationship with his family and with his wife, Meghan. 

Harry addressed and refuted the rumours that his father was not Charles, but one of his mother's lovers, James Hewitt. 

Adding in the dig that at least with his birth the family never had to release a statement to put down rumours that he wasn't their father's son, bringing up the fact that in the wake of Diana's interview that Adeline's paternity had been questioned. 

He compared the dynamic between him and his older brother, William, as the spare and the heir, to that of his father's aunt, Princess Margaret, and paternal grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.