Royal fans confused at name Prince William calls Prince Harry as ‘legal’ name is very different

Royal fans are still scratching their heads over the presumed nickname William, Prince of Wales, uses to refer to his younger brother Harry.

King Charles III, then the Prince of Wales, and his late ex-wife, Diana, Princess of Wales, welcomed Harry into the world on 15 September 1984.

At the time, the former couple announced that Harry’s official title would be Prince Henry Charles Albert David Wales.

However, his friends and family would simply know him as Prince Harry.

Over the years, people have actually become so accustomed to calling the Duke of Sussex ‘Harry’ that they’ve forgotten it's not his real name.

So, why does the 41-year-old claim that his older brother, William, calls him Harold instead?

The question was originally broached by a Reddit user who typed: “I'm listening to Spare, and [William] is always calling him Harold. His given name is Henry. Why?”

The late Princess Diana announced that although her child's name was 'Henry', he would be known as 'Harry' (Yui Mok - WPA Pool/Getty Images)

People have been debating why William may call his brother Harold, despite his name being Henry and his preferred moniker ‘Harry’.

“Nickname? I think nicknames are pretty normal in most family, and what might have been a teasing nickname can become affectionate over time,” remarked one.

Another confused user challenged: “But Harry is already the nickname. Are you suggesting that the nickname has its own nickname? I guess that could work.”

“Just a nickname, I think. It's pretty funny when the legal version of someone's name is shorter than the name it's a diminutive of,” a third commented.

“My best friend's legal name is Clara and I call her Clarissa just for funsies. (Of course Clara is not actually a diminutive of Clarissa, it’s just the one instance I can think of rn).

“I know many people who do similar things. Bill Idle is many things, but I doubt he's a cartoon villain. Harry called William 'Willy', which is also pretty funny.”

Harry claiming that his older brother had nicknamed him ‘Harold’ first came to light when a passage of his 2023 memoir Spare was published in The Guardian.

The excerpt recounted an alleged fight that the royal brothers had, with the father-of-two writing that William had ‘grabbed him by the collar’ before ripping his necklace and knocking him ‘to the floor’.

The Duke of Sussex claimed his older brother calls him 'Harold' (Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images)

In the extract, Harry wrote that William said: "You don’t need to tell Meg [Meghan Markle] about this", to which he replied: “You mean that you attacked me?"

To this, William allegedly said: “I didn’t attack you, Harold.”

But ‘Harold’ apparently isn’t Harry’s only double nickname.

He’s said that while his close friends call him ‘H’, his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, refers to him as ‘Haz’.

The Cut reported in 2023 that during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the author said other people have called him ‘Baz, Bazza, Spike, and Bazzarooni’.

Meghan has also said that their son, Prince Archie of Sussex, calls his father ‘papa’.

This is a nickname Charles also used to refer to his father, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, according to The Express.

“My dear papa was a very special person who I think, above all else, would have been amazed by the reaction and the touching things that have been said about him,” Charles wrote in a touching tribute released after his dad’s death.

“And from that point of view we are, my family, deeply grateful for all that.”