The book will be titled ‘Spare’ – in a possible reference to Harry’s role growing up as third in line to the thronebehind his father, Charles, now King Charles IIIand his older brother, William, now Prince of Wales.
On social media, observers immediately focused on the title. “The Power and Pathos of a Word” said Peter Hunt, former BBC Royal Correspondent.
In making the announcement on Thursday, publisher Penguin Random House touted the book as a “historic publication” written with “raw and unflinching honesty.” He has been described as a “says it all.”
But following The death of Queen Elizabeth IIand a sign of a possible rapprochement between Harry and the royal family Following their dramatic split in 2020 and her subsequent move to the United States, questions have emerged about the book’s contents being revealed.
Buckingham Palace declined to comment through a spokesperson when contacted by The Washington Post.
In a promotional website launched Thursday, the publisher said the book will be released in 15 languages, including French, Polish and Chinese, in addition to English. It will also be released as an audiobook, read by Harry himself.
The announcement is sure to draw mixed reactions in the UK, where Harry, once a well-regarded senior member of the royal family, drew the ire of parts of the British public for his high-profile breakup with Buckingham Palace and the superb allegations he and Meghan have made against the royal family, particularly those contained in a interview last year with Oprah Winfrey.
Among them: that when Meghan was pregnant with her first child – a son she and Harry later named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor – a family member sparked “concerns and conversations about how dark his skin was when he was born.”
Since then, Harry and Meghan have signed lucrative deals with media powerhouses like Netflix and Spotify from their home in Santa Barbara, California, revealing more – but, many suspect, not all – about their time as family members. royal and about Harry’s childhood. .
Of all these projects, Harry’s memoir has sparked the most feverish speculation. It was announced in July 2021, with a expected release date of “end of 2022”. At the time, Harry said in a press release that he was looking forward to sharing “a first-hand account of my life which is accurate and entirely truthful” – a possible dig at British tabloidswith whom he and Meghan have engaged in a years-long legal battle over alleged breaches of privacy, among other things.
But the release date was postponed to next year after Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, died aged 96 in September. Some have speculated that Harry was getting uncomfortable with the possible ramifications of the book on the royal family.
At the Queen’s funeral, he and Meghan projected a united front with other members of the Royal Family. According to Telegraphroyal commentator Tina Brown said earlier this month that she thought the book would “not see the light of day”.
It’s clear the book will go ahead, but the announcement of its title and release date is sure to fuel speculation about its contents, perhaps to the delight of its publisher.
William Booth contributed to this report.
