Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, will be released on January 10, and it appears that many of its biggest bombshells were leaked in advance.

For example, the Duke of Sussex seems to talk in his memoir about losing his virginity, trying cocaine, and being physically assaulted by his brother William.

But there are many more revelations. Us Weekly, which obtained a copy of the book ahead of its release, published an excerpt of the moment when Prince Charles told Prince Harry of the death of his mother, Princess Diana.

"[Prince Charles] sat on the edge of the bed," Harry wrote.

"He put his hand on my knee. 'Darling, my mom has been in a car accident. I remember saying: but is Mom okay? But is Mommy okay? But is Mommy okay? And I remember waiting patiently for Dad to confirm that Mom really was okay. But Dad never did.

Harry goes on to describe how his father comforted him after he received the terrible news. He wasn't usually very good at showing emotion, so there was no way he could show emotion in a crisis situation like this,' but his hand fell once again on my knee and he said, 'It's going to be all right. That was a very big deal to him. He was fatherly, hopeful, kind. And he was a very untrue person."

When 12-year-old Harry realized his mother was not coming back, "I started silently pleading with Dad or God or both: no, no, no."

Elsewhere in the book, the Duke of Sussex describes several ways he tried to cope with his mother's death, including when he decided to recreate the scene by driving through the same tunnel in Paris at the speed Princess Diana, her boyfriend, and her driver were traveling.

"Wading through traffic, we passed the Ritz where Mom had her last meal with her boyfriend that August night," Harry recalls.

"Then we came to the mouth of the tunnel. We went over the bump at the entrance to the tunnel that supposedly caused Mammy's Mercedes to veer off the track. But the lip was nothing. I hardly felt it."

Prince Harry has previously spoken publicly about Princess Diana's continuing influence on his life and family; in July 2022, in a video speech, the Duke said, "Every day I look at my children, I see my mother's legacy."

Harry and his wife Meghan Markle have a son, Archie, 3, and a daughter, Lilibet, 1.