How The Crown's Dominic West Ruined His Friendship With Prince Harry
What happens in Antarctica stays in Antarctica — according to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex at least. The royal purportedly had a falling out with his friend and fellow South Pole explorer Dominic West, one of the actors who played King Charles III in "The Crown," over revealing too many rambunctious details about the pair's 2013 excursion.
Prince Harry and West were part of a Walking With The Wounded charity expedition to the South Pole, which aimed to celebrate veterans' perseverance and ability despite living with service-related injuries, per the Guardian. The duke told the news outlet that he planned on celebrating with "a few whiskies" upon completion of the 200-mile journey, but it was later revealed that he and his team partook of far more than whiskey — and far more than a few.
A source close to West told the Daily Mail that West and Harry's major falling out was due to the actor revealing one particularly rowdy detail of their post-expedition festivities: drinking champagne out of one of the service member's prosthetic legs.
Dominic West corroborated earlier reports during a radio interview
According to the Daily Mail's inside source, Dominic West revealed that the South Pole team drank sparkling wine out of one of the traveler's prosthetic legs at a post-expedition press conference. "Harry threw a s*** fit," the source said. "He accused Dominic of invading his privacy. Dominic told him not to be ridiculous. They haven't spoken since."
"The Wire" actor corroborated this story one year later while on an episode of Times Radio's "Sunday Morning" program. West admitted that he and his ex-friend hadn't spoken in years over what he said at that fateful press conference. While he didn't confirm or deny whether he called Harry's reaction "ridiculous," the actor ceded to disclosing too much information for Harry's comfort.
The prosthetic leg belonged to double amputee serviceman Sgt. Duncan Slater, who backed up West's claims at the Walking With The Wounded press conference. "We decided to use my legs as a primitive ice bucket," Slater admitted (via Mercury News). "I don't know why we did it, but we did."
Prince Harry's falling out is a testament to his expectations of his inner circle
Although Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, doesn't detail his falling out with Dominic West in his memoir "Spare," he does mention the unusual champagne toast in question. "Some press accounts say that one of the soldiers took off his leg, and we used it as a tankard to guzzle champagne, which sounds right, but I can't remember. I've drunk booze out of multiple prosthetic legs in my life, and I can't swear that was one of the times," he wrote.
Harry's willingness to admit that he would drink wine from a prosthesis — but unwillingness to tolerate others saying the same — is a testament to his urgent need for discretion amongst his inner circle. His memoir details his torturous battle with overbearing paparazzi and his paranoia about close friends and colleagues sharing tidbits of his personal life with the press, and his falling out with West appears to be a byproduct of that struggle.
Harry's paranoia was clearly not unfounded considering his December 2023 court victory that validated harassment claims against tabloids like the Daily Mirror, which was found guilty of hacking the duke's cell phone unlawfully, per AP News. As far as secret-spilling friends go, West and Harry's falling out proves that, regardless of the subject matter (or Harry's willingness to admit it), Harry rightfully wants to be the one in control of his own narrative.