Despite his separation from the Royal Family, Prince Harry wants to be present for Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.
Prince Harry once spent £8,000 on an amazing gift for his youngest nephew, Prince Louis, at his christening in July 2018.
The present was inspired by a touching memory of his time with his late mother, Princess Diana, who enjoyed collecting first editions of classic books.
As a result, Harry paid thousands for an original edition of A.A. Milne’s famous Winnie the Pooh, published in 1926 and undoubtedly adored by Prince George and Princess Charlotte during family reading time.
A friend said: “One of Harry’s happiest childhood memories was being read a bedtime story by his mother. She loved all the old classics and Harry had the brilliant idea of starting a little library of first editions for Louis, Charlotte and George to enjoy as they get older.
“He originally wanted to get Lewis Carroll’s Through The Looking Glass, which was on sale for £24,000, but decided Winnie-The-Pooh would be more suitable for a first tome. Robinson Crusoe was William’s favourite book, but Harry loved all things A.A. Milne.”
It is believed that the Duke of Sussex purchased one of the initial 3,000 copies of Winnie the Pooh printed nearly a century ago.
It was given to Prince Louis as a gift for his christening, which was held on July 9, 2018 at St James’ Palace and attended by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
In an interview to promote his memoir Spare in 2023, Harry expressed concern about other’spares’ in the Royal Family, including his niece and nephew Charlotte and Louis.
Ingrid Seward, royal novelist and editor of Majesty magazine, advised Harry that discussing the royal children is a “dangerous road to go down”.
She told The Sun: “Harry should lay off Prince William’s children. In fact, he should lay off everybody and button it now.
“It is a very dangerous road to go down, to start talking about other people’s children.
“And what he says Prince William said to him is absolutely right — they are William’s responsibility and not his, so he should keep out of it.”
Ms Seward continued: “It is none of Harry’s business. But Harry has become dangerous to his family, and to himself, because he can lob in his little asides whenever he wants.”
Harry told The Telegraph’s Bryony Gordon that he likes to “fix things” and explained his fears for his niece and nephew, saying: “As I know full well, within my family, if it’s not us, it’s going to be someone else.
“And though William and I have talked about it once or twice, and he has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility, I still feel a responsibility knowing that out of those three children, at least one will end up like me, the spare. And that hurts, that worries me.”
