After months of speculation, there is a release date for Prince Harry’s memoirs: The work will be released on January 10, 2023 and is entitled “Spare”. The publisher Penguin Random House announced this on its website. The book can already be pre-ordered. The title probably alludes to the phrase “the heir and the spare”. The term refers to the heir to the throne – in this case Harry’s brother Prince William – and his younger successor, who could come into play in the event of the elder’s death. The German book title is “Reserve”, as the publisher announced.
The “New York Times” had previously reported on the release date, citing industry circles. Originally it was planned that the book would be published this fall and that it would find many buyers in line with the Christmas business.
But with the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September, Prince Harry is said to have asked for a delay in order to be able to revise some passages. What the royal writes in his biography is not only eagerly awaited in the royal family. Because apart from the Queen, no one in the family should have been informed in advance that Harry is planning to publish a book.
When the publisher Penguin Random House announced the project last summer, the royal family was all the more surprised, if not shocked. “I am writing this not as the prince I was born, but as the man I have become,” Harry said in a statement at the time, announcing a “first-hand account of my life that is accurate and… is truthful”.
A lot has happened since then. Not just the death of the Queen and his father Charles’s accession to the throne. In an interview with the magazine “The Cut” a few months ago, Harry’s wife Meghan made it clear again that the relationship between her and the royal family is not just harmonious. Harry’s book could further aggravate their already strained relationship.
“Is his goal to increase his notoriety with a certain segment of the public, or is it to heal the rift with his family? Those are somewhat competing goals and it’s hard to achieve both,” he said literary agent Matt Latimer of the New York Times.
Recently, the couple’s Netflix deal has also caused increased displeasure. The streaming service has announced a documentary about the lives of Harry and Meghan. Exact details are not yet known, most recently the release originally planned for December was postponed to the coming year – probably also to create some time distance to the new season of the series “The Crown”, which starts on November 9th.
In an interview with Variety magazine, Meghan recently revealed that film producer Liz Garbus is responsible for the documentary project. Among other things, she directed the series “The Handmaid’s Tale”. “It’s nice that we can entrust our story to someone – an experienced director whose work I’ve long admired – even if that means it might not be how we would have told it,” said the 41-year-old.
Quellen: “New York Times”, “The Cut”, “Variety”
