The new memoir of Prince Harry has made the headlines, thanks to a series of explosive accusations he has brought against members of his family, including private confrontations with other senior royals, but the book also has details about some witty incidents.
For example, the Duke of Sussex has revealed in his 'Spare' that he had once requested his wife Meghan Markle not to take a picture in front of the Taj Mahal, India's iconic 17th century mausoleum, ahead of a trip she made to the south Asian country.
But why did Prince Harry, 38, give his wife such advice when the established practice for foreign dignitaries visiting the Taj is to pose for the lensmen with the ivory-white structure in the background?
(FILES) This combination photograph shows (RIGHT) Princess Diana of Wales as she poses at The Taj Mahal in Agra on February 11, 1992, and (LEFT) Britain's Prince William, then Duke of Cambridge (L) and Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge as they pose during their visit to The Taj Mahal in Agra, India, on April 16, 2016.(Photo by DOUGLAS CURRAN,PRAKASH SINGH/AFP via Getty Images)
In his memoir, Harry wrote that he made such a request since he did not want people to assume she was mimicking Princess Diana, his late mother who died in a car crash in France in 1997.
'Spare' revealed that Prince Harry and his wife laughed about the advice he gave her.
“Do not take a photo in front of the Taj Mahal. She’d asked why and I’d said: My mum,” Prince Harry wrote.
“I’d explained that my mother had posed for a photo there, and it had become iconic, and I didn’t want anyone thinking Meg was trying to mimic my mother,’ the Duke of Sussex said in his memoir.
In an interview ahead of the release, Prince Harry said that his brother William, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Kate Middleton, the Princess of Wales, "stereotyped" Markle as a "divorced biracial American actress".
He also claimed that his elder brother and sister-in-law never got on with his wife "from the get-go".
“There was a lot of stereotyping that was happening, that I was guilty of as well, at the beginning. American actress, right, and that was playing out in the British press in the media at the time as well. Some of the things that my brother and sister-in-law – some of the way that they were acting or behaving – definitely felt to me as though, unfortunately, that stereotyping was causing a bit of a barrier to them really sort of, you know, introducing or welcoming her in," Prince Harry said.
Harry married Markle in May 2018.
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, in Scunthorpe, northern England, Britain, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Dominic Lipinski
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. (Representational image: iStock)
FBU chief raises concern over rise in racist online posts by union members
THE FIRE Brigades Union (FBU) and other trade unions are increasingly concerned about a rise in racist and bigoted online comments by their own members and officials, according to Steve Wright, the FBU’s new general secretary, speaking to the Guardian.
Wright said internal inquiries have revealed dozens of cases involving members using racist slurs or stereotypes, often aimed at asylum seekers.
He said similar issues were reported in other unions, prompting a joint campaign to counter false narratives around immigration and race promoted by far-right groups online.
“People with far-right views are becoming more brazen in what they do on social media, and I’ve witnessed it with my own union around disciplinary cases and the rhetoric of some of our own members,” Wright said to the newspaper.
He added, “Some of our members and sometimes our reps have openly made comments which are racist and bigoted. In my time in the fire service, that has gone up.”
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. A formal statement addressing far-right narratives will be launched at the union’s annual conference in Blackpool next month.
Wright cited the influence of social media and figures like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage as factors contributing to these incidents. “It feels like an itch that we’ve got to scratch,” he said.
The FBU barred a former official last year for allegedly endorsing racist content on X, including posts from Britain First and Tommy Robinson.
Wright also warned that the union could strike if the government moves to cut frontline fire services.