Prince William Gets Asked if He’s “Hurt by the Comments in Harry’s Book” at First Public Engagement Since ‘Spare’

Prince William and Kate Middleton just stepped out for their first public engagement since the publication of Prince Harry’s bombshell-filled memoir, Spare, and yep: They were most definitely asked about it.

While greeting crowds in Merseyside (where Wills and Kate were meeting health care workers), one member of the media shouted out, “Were you hurt by the comments in Harry’s book, sir?” As royal reporter Rebecca English (who posted a video of the moment) notes, it was “so windy today, I doubt they even heard it.”

Meanwhile, royal reporter Richard Palmer tweeted, “Everybody meeting the royals today seems to have been instructed not to mention the controversy over Prince Harry’s book. William ignored a question shouted out about it. These are the first public engagements since Spare was published.”

The royals haven’t commented on Harry’s memoir, but there are reports that they could hit back at the Sussexes by stripping them of their royal titles. A royal source told Us Weekly that “there’s a very real decision to be made, of course, with respect to whether or not the Sussexes get to keep their titles,” adding that “the way to strike back would be to approve a measure whereby Harry and Meghan are stripped of their titles, and that’s a very real possibility—certainly if the toxicity doesn’t eventually subside.”

However, there’s also a “strong belief” among the royal family that the “best form of getting even or negating the Sussexes is to continue to ignore them and not feed into their drama and incessant attention-seeking.”

Which might explain William and Kate’s silence in the face of the “were you hurt” question at today’s event!

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