Prince Harry has opened up about his brief relationship with the late TV presenter Caroline Flack in his memoir, Spare.

The Duke of Sussex first met Flack in 2009 at a restaurant with friends. While the connection initially felt carefree and fun, Harry recalls that it was soon overshadowed by intense media scrutiny. In the book, he writes that within hours, a “horde of journalists” was camped outside Flack’s family homes, making it impossible for them to see each other freely.

Harry described how the relationship continued sporadically but ultimately became “tainted, irredeemably” by the constant harassment. “We kept going, I think, because we had a good time together and because we didn’t want to admit defeat at the hands of those imbeciles. But the relationship was tainted, irredeemably, and in the end we decided it wasn’t worth continuing to endure that level of exhaustion and harassment. Above all, for her family. We said goodbye. Goodbye, and good luck,” he wrote.

Reflecting on Flack’s tragic death in February 2020, Harry said he felt “so awful for her family” and recalled the lightness and humor she brought when they first met.

Flack had previously mentioned the brief romance in her 2015 book, Storm in a C Cup, describing how the media attention forced them apart. “I was no longer Caroline Flack, TV presenter, I was Caroline Flack, Prince Harry’s bit of rough. Once the story got out, that was it. We had to stop seeing each other,” she wrote.

The Duke’s decision to revisit the relationship in Spare has been met with criticism. Caroline’s former agent, Alex Mullen, called it “absolutely gross” that private details were made public. In an Instagram post, Mullen said: “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.

Harry’s decision to remind all of the terrible things said about her to help sell his appalling book is grotesque.” Flack’s life and the challenges she faced remain the focus of the recent Disney+ documentary Caroline Flack: Search For The Truth, which aired on November 10.