After months of anticipation and a sustained media push, Prince Harry’s royal book “Spare” was eventually released in his native UK on Tuesday, threatening the royal family with further embarrassment.
Some UK bookstores were open late for the midnight release of the most important royal book since Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, collaborated with Andrew Morton on “Diana: Her True Story” in 1992.
The book was accompanied by four television interviews in the United Kingdom and the United States, where he now resides with his wife Meghan.
However, the contents of Harry’s ghost-written memoir, which will be accessible in 16 languages and as an audiobook, were widely leaked after copies were unintentionally sold early in Spain.
According to individuals who obtained a copy of the book, Harry claims that his brother William physically struck him while they battled about Meghan.
It also includes a story of how he lost his virginity, an admission of youthful drug usage, and a claim that he killed 25 people while serving with the British military in Afghanistan, which earned him censure from hardline Islamists the Taliban.
Popularity plunge
As the British media pores through Harry’s assertions in minute detail, the family, particularly William and their father King Charles III, will be fearful of what more embarrassing and hazardous disclosures are lurking inside its pages.
Queen Consort Camilla appears to be in for a difficult ride as well after Harry used an interview with US network CBS to take aim at his stepmother.
Camilla, long demonized as the “other woman” in Charles and Diana’s marriage, he claimed, mounted a brilliant but “dangerous” effort to win over the press herself.
The book follows the six-hour Netflix docuseries “Harry & Meghan,” in which the pair airs their concerns with the royal family and the British media once more.
If the couple was seeking to inspire pity, recent polls appear to demonstrate the opposite reaction – at least in the UK.
According to a YouGov poll released on Monday, 64 percent of people now have an unfavorable opinion of the once-popular ginger prince, his lowest-ever rating, and Meghan now has a low rating.
“Soap opera”
According to official rating statistics, 4.1 million people turned to the first of Harry’s interviews, with Britain’s ITV, after days of TV previews and print leaks.
In the interview, the Duke of Sussex surprised everyone by stating that he and his mixed-race wife never accused the royal family of racism because of comments made regarding their unborn son’s skin tone.
“No, I didn’t. The British press said that” Harry said, adding that Meghan had also not called the royals “racist”.
The initial allegation, made in a shocking interview given by Harry and Meghan to US chat show host Oprah Winfrey in March 2021, sparked a transatlantic controversy.
According to CBS, the prince reportedly acknowledged being “probably biased” before meeting Meghan and accused William and Kate of never giving her an opportunity.
Despite a lack of touch, Harry insists on reconciling with his father and brother but says the onus is on them, refusing to clarify whether he will attend Charles’ coronation in May.
After the recent “soap opera,” Harry and Meghan’s friend and biographer, Omid Scobie, predicted that the couple would keep a lower profile.
