‘Absolutely gross’: Prince Harry criticised by Caroline Flack’s former agent over Spare revelations

Caroline Flack's former manager has called Prince Harry's description of his relationship with the presenter in his memoir "disgusting" and "grotesque", as he called for the Duke to be stripped of his royal titles "immediately".

In a section of his autobiography Spare, the Duke of Sussex writes about how he met the former Love Island host, who took her own life at the age of 40 in 2020, at a restaurant during a night out in 2009.

According to American publication US Weekly, recalling the encounter, he wrote: “She wasn’t taken aback that I didn’t recognise her. She didn’t have a big ego.” He later detailed the downfall of the short-lived relationship, writing: “Very soon after they papped me and Flack, those photos set off a frenzy. “Within hours a mob was camped outside Flack’s parents’ house, and all her friends’ houses, and her grandparents’ house.”

Reflecting on the media coverage of their relationship, US Weekly said Harry continued: “She was described in one paper as my ‘bit of rough’, because she once worked in a factory or something. “Jesus, I thought, are we really such a country of insufferable snobs? We kept on, I think, because we genuinely enjoyed each other’s company, and because we didn’t want to admit defeat.” He added: “But the relationship was tainted, irredeemably, and in time we realised it just wasn’t worth the grief and harassment. Especially for her family. Goodbye, we said. Goodbye and good luck.”

Alex Mullen, the creative director of APM Media, who previously worked with Flack, said it was "absolutely gross" the royal had repeated "old long forgotten slurs" in his memoir, which was sold in bookstores in Spain before its official publication on January 10.

In an Instagram post APM Media wrote: "It's absolutely gross for Prince Harry to reveal such private details about Caroline Flack. "The way in which the press spoke about her at that time and the reason they split are both very sad and it's disgusting he's brought up old long forgotten slurs she had to suffer in full view of the public around the world. "Of course, Caroline reacted to them with humour and grace but privately she was deeply hurt; just the first of many injustices she didn't deserve. "Harry's decision to remind all of the terrible things said about her to help sell his appalling book is grotesque."

"The Royal Family need to strip him of all titles immediately," the post added.

Following her death, a coroner ruled that Flack took her own life after learning prosecutors were going to press ahead with an assault charge over an incident involving her then-boyfriend, Lewis Burton, and could not face the press coverage. Prince Harry also mentioned Flack during the interview with ITV News Presenter Bradby, which aired on ITV on Sunday night.

In relation to feelings of responsibility to change the media, Harry said of the press: “I made peace with it, I was willing to let a lot of it go back in 2020 when we left the country.

“And if living in a new country, minding our own business during lockdown, not saying anything, not doing anything that would affect the British media at all, that every single day there’s an attack, well then, the assumption of it going away or moving on isn’t the case. “So I feel as though there is a responsibility to see this through because I think the benefits to a lot of people will be felt. You know I talk about Caroline Flack in the book as well.” The Duke of Sussex also revealed his reaction to Flack’s death, writing: “I felt so awful for her family. I remembered how they’d all suffered for her mortal sin of going out with me. “She’d been so light and funny that night we met. The definition of carefree.” In her 2015 autobiography, Storm In A C Cup, Flack addressed the relationship, writing that they “spent the evening chatting and laughing”, but “once the story got out, that was it. We had to stop seeing each other”. “I was no longer Caroline Flack, TV presenter,” she wrote. “I was Caroline Flack, Prince Harry’s bit of rough.”

Prince Harry also gave an interview to Anderson Cooper for 60 Minutes on CBS News, which aired a few hours after ITV's show, and saw him speaking about The Queen Consort, who he described as “the villain”.

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