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Prince Harry has made a number of candid claims about royal life in recent years — through Netflix projects, interviews, and his 2023 memoir Spare. Among them was his assertion that the Royal Family reads what he described as a “sinister document” each year, one that he believes fuels competition between its members.
In Spare, the Duke of Sussex explained that he was referring to the Court Circular — the official daily record of engagements carried out by working royals. While the list is published throughout the year, St James’s Palace releases a full annual tally at the end of each year, which is then printed in newspapers including The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Scotsman.
Harry claimed that the document encouraged comparison among family members and “weaponised” competitive feelings within the institution.
He wrote: “At the end of the year, when all the numbers got tallied, comparisons would be made in the press. Ah, this one’s busier than that one. Ah, this one’s a lazy s—.”
He continued: “The Court Circular was an ancient document, but it had lately morphed into a circular firing squad. It didn’t create the feelings of competitiveness that ran in my family, but it amplified them — weaponised them.”
Harry, now 41, also claimed that although the family never openly discussed the Court Circular, everyone was acutely aware of it — particularly when the yearly totals were released.
He went on to claim: “Certain family members became obsessed, feverishly trying to rack up the highest number of official engagements in the Circular each year, no matter what. They largely succeeded by counting things that weren’t really engagements at all — logging fleeting public interactions that were little more than blips, the sort of things Willy and I would never have dreamed of including.”
Harry added: “It was all self-reported and completely subjective. Nine private visits with veterans to support their mental health? Zero points. Flying by helicopter to cut a ribbon at a horse farm? Winner!”
While Princess Anne, 75, is frequently described as the hardest-working royal and typically tops the annual engagement lists, that was not the case in 2025.
Instead, King Charles claimed the title of hardest-working royal after completing the highest number of official engagements over the year.
