Royals

Prince Harry is a big fan of 'Moana.'
Getty Images/ Disney

Prince Harry’s Favorite Scene From Moana Is Probably Yours Too

The Duke of Sussex is a certified HeiHei scholar.

by Jen McGuire

Prince Harry’s memoir Spare really let us into his world in some meaningful and surprising ways. Readers learned all about his time in the military, in Africa, how he fell in love with his wife Meghan Markle. He let people into some very intimate details of his life. You would almost think there was nothing else to learn about him. Wrong. According to Prince Harry’s Spare ghostwriter, the dad of two is a big fan of Moana, and HeiHei the chicken in particular. He clearly contains multitudes.

In an essay for The New Yorker, Spare ghostwriter J.R. Moehringer wrote about his experience working with Prince Harry on his memoir over the course of a year and shared behind-the-scenes tidbits about what that process looked like for him. Including a time he visited the couple’s Montecito home with his wife and children, who were charmed by the famous prince’s “scholarship” of the 2016 Disney animated feature film Moana.

“Harry won the heart of my daughter, Gracie, with his vast Moana scholarship,” Moehringer wrote for The New Yorker, going on to reveal that Prince Harry’s favorite scene from the beloved movie that’s getting a live-action remake in the near future. “His favorite scene, he told her, is when Heihei, the silly chicken, finds himself lost at sea,” Moehringer added.

You remember the scene, surely. HeiHei stows away aboard Moana’s vessel as she sets off on her adventure and then realizes he’s lost at sea, letting loose an earth-shattering scream. Prince Harry’s right, it’s hilarious.

Prince Harry has obviously been watching Moana with his 4-year-old son Archie and nearly 2-year-old daughter Lilibet, just as he’s watched Archie’s favorite series Octonauts with him in the past. But just because he’s watching with his kids doesn’t mean he can’t enjoy the movie himself, of course. Both he and Meghan are big fans of watching whatever show their kids might like, as the Duchess of Sussex made clear when she broke out in the Storybots T-rex rap in a 2022 interview with Variety. They both know how to make the most of screentime with their kids.

Now before anyone gets the wrong idea, Meghan also loves to take her kids for walks as often as possible. Moerhinger wrote in that same essay, “I also went twice by myself. Harry put me up in his guesthouse, where Meghan and Archie would visit me on their afternoon walks. Meghan, knowing I was missing my family, was forever bringing trays of food and sweets.”

Treats and walks and a dad whose Moana knowledge has reached scholar level. Archie and Lilibet are two lucky kids.