ROYALSThe Royal Family Learned Of Prince Harry's Memoir Title & Release Date 'Just Ahead' Of Its Formal Announcement: Report
Oct. 31 2022, Published 11:30 p.m. ET
No time to Spare!
Despite long-standing rumors surrounding a potential memoir from royal Prince Harry, it seems Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace were given little notice about his new book, Spare, learning about its title and release date "just ahead" of its announcement On Thursday, October 27.
Even pertaining to the subject of the book — which is described to be a “publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief,” per publisher Penguin Random House — it seems the Royal Family has yet to see a manuscript.
Rumored to be a scathing take on royal life, with the 38-year-old prince reportedly taking aim at his famous father, the newly-minted King Charles III, legal advisors and other palace staffers are also being “kept in the dark” about its contents, per the U.K.-based outlet.
KING CHARLES TO BAN PRINCE HARRY FROM CORONATION IF HIS MEMOIR SHADES QUEEN CONSORT CAMILLA
Set to hit shelves on January 10, 2023 — its original Christmas-time release date was pushed back following the death of Queen Elizabeth II last month — it's safe to assume the book will be nothing short of an explosive tell-all. Having already received pushback from many, royal biographer Angela Levin even dubbed Harry's decision to write the book as “cruel” considering the royal family’s likely non-response.
"I think [publishing a tell-all book while] knowing his family won't sue and they won't answer back ... It's a one-way nastiness," she explained shortly after last week’s announcement.
Levin also shared how the book’s title may hint at issues Harry has grappled with over the years. A potential callback to the expression “the heir and the spare,” a quip often aimed towards Harry and his older brother, Prince William, the author explained that this choice of title may be very indicative of the new memoirist’s insecurities.
"It tells you what he thinks about himself with some great deep shame that somehow he didn't feel he was better than that,” she explained, noting that the siblings’ mother, the late Princess Diana, attempted to help her younger son when it came to these worries.
"Diana did her absolute best that he wouldn't feel like that,” Levin recalled. “She tried to tell him there were more options, more things would be open to him.”
