Prince Harry’s eagerly awaited memoir, ‘Spare,’ to come out Jan. 10
NEW YORK — Prince Harry’s memoir, “Spare,” an object of obsessive anticipation worldwide since it was first announced last year, is coming out Jan. 10.
The book is being billed by Penguin Random House as an account told with “raw, unflinching honesty” and filled with ”insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.”
In a statement released Thursday, Penguin Random House summoned memories of the shocking death in 1997 of Prince Harry’s mother, Diana, and of Harry and his elder brother, William, “walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow — and horror.”
“As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling — and how their lives would play out from that point on,” the statement reads in part.
“For Harry, this is his story at last.”
The memoir’s title plays on Harry’s status as a royal “spare” — not the first in line to succession. William, who is next in line to the British throne, and Harry were sometimes referred to as “the heir and the spare.”
Upon news of Queen Elizabeth II’s decline and subsequent death, critics online debated Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan’s relationship with the queen.
The 416-page book will come out in 16 languages and also will be released in an audio edition read by Harry himself. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Harry will be using proceeds from “Spare” to donate to British charities. He has already given $1.5 million to Sentebale, an organization he co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help children and young people in Lesotho and Botswana affected by HIV/AIDS.
Penguin Random House identifies Prince Harry as “a husband, father, humanitarian, military veteran, mental wellness advocate, and environmentalist.”
Watchers of the British royal family have speculated endlessly since the book was first announced in July 2021, billed as an “intimate and heartfelt” memoir and tentatively scheduled for release this year.
Harry, who is also the Duke of Sussex, had already revealed a news-making willingness to discuss his private life when he and his American-born wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, were interviewed for a March 2021 broadcast by Oprah Winfrey, their neighbor in the Santa Barbara area. The couple spoke of Meghan’s deep unhappiness with her new life in England, alleged racism within the royal family and Harry’s fear that his wife’s life might be endangered had they remained in his native country.
‘Her unwavering grace and dignity remained true throughout her life and now her everlasting legacy,’ Prince Harry said after the death of the queen.
In 1992, Diana worked with author Andrew Morton on her explosive memoir “Diana: Her True Story,” in which she described at length her unhappy marriage to the now-King Charles III, Harry’s father.
Harry and Meghan stepped back from their royal duties in 2020 and moved to the U.S. Harry told Winfrey that his family cut him off financially and that he helped pay for his security with money left to him by his mother. They have launched numerous initiatives, including a Netflix production deal and the “impact-driven nonprofit” Archewell Foundation.
The book’s delay led to rumors that Harry was hesitating to say too much about his family, or was perhaps revising the narrative after his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, died in September. He has spoken of being estranged from William, although the brothers and their wives appeared in public together during the mourning period following the queen’s death.
“Penguin Random House is honored to be publishing Prince Harry’s candid and emotionally powerful story for readers everywhere,” the global CEO of Penguin Random House, Markus Dohle, said in a statement. “He shares a remarkably moving personal journey from trauma to healing, one that speaks to the power of love and will inspire and encourage millions of people around the world.”
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