Crisis Management Expert Breaks Down Royals' Best Approach To Prince Harry Drama - Exclusive

Prince Harry's hotly anticipated memoir has already ruffled feathers before its January 10 release. Thanks to excerpts reported by various outlets, "Spare" looks to be full of shocking claims about the royal family. In one passage published by The Guardian, Harry details a reported physical altercation instigated by his brother, Prince William. William allegedly grabbed Harry and knocked him down, causing the Duke of Sussex to land on his back and crack a dog's bowl. That was hardly the only startling claim made about William in "Spare." Harry also claims that his brother (along with wife Kate Middleton) encouraged him to don his infamous 2005 Nazi outfit, which he wore to a "Native and Colonial"-themed party, per Page Six. The Prince and Princess of Wales reportedly "howled with laughter" after Harry tried it on for them.

Harry's father, King Charles, is another integral part of his memoir. In another excerpt shared by Us Weekly, Harry writes that Charles often joked about not being his biological father. "'Who knows if I'm even your real father? Maybe your real father is in Broadmoor, darling boy!,"' he claims Charles would say, accusing the king of doing so out of "sadism." 

It's hardly surprising, then, that Buckingham Palace has reportedly prepared "a de-facto war room" to address every possible claim Harry might make, per Page Six. Nicki Swift spoke to crisis management expert Eden Gillott of Gillott Communications, and it seems the royal family needs a highly coordinated response to the coming media storm.

How does the British royal family address Prince Harry's many claims in his memoir, "Spare?" According to crisis management expert Eden Gillott of Gillott Communications... carefully. In an exclusive interview, Gillott told Nicki Swift that, first and foremost, "The palace and royal family must remain aligned in their goal and coordinate their comments," adding that "the best-laid PR plans can be foiled by a single person who breaks off with rogue commentary."

Thus far, Buckingham Palace and the royals have remained mum when it comes to Harry's book and his candid interviews promoting it. While "silence makes you look guilty," according to Gillott, she would choose silence over mixed messages in any PR crisis. She also added that the palace's silence may be a strategy to have the media "do the dirty work for them in an attempt to drag Harry's reputation down."

As for how the masses will receive Harry's divisive comments about the royals, Gillott thinks devout royalists won't be affected at all. "For some people, Harry's revelations have the potential to damage the royals' image permanently," she conceded, but royalists "will virtually distrust anything that threatens their beliefs."