The Duke of Sussex has claimed his brother “knocked [him] to the floor” during a bust up.

Prince Harry has alleged he and Prince William were involved in a physical altercation during a dispute about his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and he claims the Prince of Wales described her as “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, according to a leaked excerpt from his upcoming memoir ‘Spare’, which is released on January 10th, obtained by The Guardian newspaper.

The duke then claims the row escalated and William “grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and … knocked me to the floor”.

Harry says he had given his brother a glass of water during the bust up and had said: “I can’t speak to you when you’re like this.”

He added: “He set down the water, called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor.

“I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me. I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out.”

Harry also claims William told him: “You don’t need to tell Meg about this,” and he is said to have replied: “You mean that you attacked me?”

The duke writes that William then said: “I didn’t attack you, Harold.”

Harry also claims Meghan later spotted “scrapes and bruises”, and was “terribly sad” about the alleged altercation.

Sources claimed arrangements for the 38-year-old duke’s memoir’s release were “closely guarded and being managed in minute detail, with only a handful of senior executives aware of the exact particulars”.

Guards, satellite tracking systems in delivery vans and legal contracts were used to protect the 10 million first copies of the book, and when the final manuscript was hand-delivered from London to New York, a lawyer for the American publisher sat on the flight.

The hardback version of ‘Spare’ – which references Harry’s nickname the ‘spare heir’ – will be on shelves from Tuesday morning, with the Kindle version available just after midnight that day.

Even though it is being published in 16 languages, it is understood the varying time zones will not be used for readers to get earlier copies, with readers in Australia being told copies will not be available until January 11.