After months of speculation about whether it would actually be released, Penguin Random House has confirmed that Prince Harry’s memoir will hit shelves on January 10, 2023. Due to be published globally in 16 different languages, the book is titled Spare – nodding to the much-quoted phrase, “heir and spare”, when referring to Princes William and Harry. According to the press release, “Spare takes readers immediately back to one of the most searing images of the 20th century: two young boys, two princes, 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. For Harry, this is his story at last.”
The Duke of Sussex announced the book deal in the summer of 2021, with his publishers describing the work as “a literary memoir” that will trace “his lifetime in the public eye from childhood to the present day, including his dedication to service, the military duty that twice took him to the frontlines of Afghanistan, and the joy he has found in being a husband and father”. Harry, meanwhile, stressed that he would be writing the book “not as the prince I was born, but as the man I have become… I’ve worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story – the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned – I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think. I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned over the course of my life so far and excited for people to read a firsthand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful.”
While the decision to publish a royal memoir is controversial, it’s by no means unprecedented. Famously, Princess Diana worked on a pseudo-autobiography with Andrew Morton, Diana: Her True Story, in the early ’90s, and she’s just one of a handful of members of the family to do so – albeit usually following a rift with the Windsors. Most recently, the Duchess of York released Finding Sarah in 1996, while the Duke and Duchess of Windsor published A King’s Story and The Heart Has Its Reasons, respectively, in the ’50s. (In the mood for some lighter reading? There’s always Meghan’s Harry-inspired children’s story, The Bench.) Spare’s release will be followed by the Sussexes’ equally controversial docu-series with Netflix, which the streaming giant recently postponed following backlash over The Crown.
This article first appeared on vogue.co.uk
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