After months of hype, Prince Harry's memoir goes on sale

LONDON —After months of anticipation and a sustained publicity blitz, Prince Harry's autobiography "Spare" finally went on sale in his native United Kingdom (UK) on Tuesday (Jan 10), threatening more embarrassment for the royal family.

Some UK stores opened late for the midnight release of the biggest royal book since Harry's mother Princess Diana collaborated with Andrew Morton for "Diana: Her True Story" in 1992.

The publication has been accompanied by four television interviews in the UK and the United States, where he now lives with wife Princess Meghan.

But the contents of Harry's ghost-written memoir, which will be available in 16 languages and as an audiobook, have already been widely leaked after copies mistakenly went on sale early in Spain.

The book contains a claim from Prince Harry that his brother Prince William physically attacked him as they argued about Princess Meghan, according to those who got their hands one of those copies. 

It also gives an account of how he lost his virginity, an admission of teenage drug use and a claim he killed 25 people while serving in Afghanistan with the British military, which earned him a rebuke from hardline Islamists the Taliban.

POPULARITY PLUNGE

The family, particularly Prince William and father King Charles III, will be fearing what other embarrassing and dangerous revelations are contained within its pages, as the British media picks over Harry's claims in minute detail.

Queen Consort Camilla also looks set for a rough ride after Harry used an interview with the United States (US) network CBS to take aim at his stepmother.

Queen Consort Camilla — long vilified as the "other woman" in King Charles and Lady Diana's marriage — waged a cunning but "dangerous" campaign to win over the press herself, he said, calling her "the villain".

The book comes on the back of six-hour Netflix docuseries "Harry & Meghan", in which the couple again aired their grievances with the royal family and the British media. 

If the couple were hoping to elicit sympathy, recent polls appear to show that they are having the opposite effect — at least in the UK.

A YouGov poll on Monday found that 64 per cent now have a negative view of the once-popular ginger prince — his lowest-ever rating — and that Meghan also scores dismally.

'SOAP OPERA' 

And after days of TV trailers and newspaper leaks, a relatively low figure of 4.1 million people tuned into the first of Harry's interviews, with Britain's ITV, according to official ratings data.

In the interview, the Duke of Sussex caused bafflement by insisting he and his mixed-race wife never accused the royal family of racism over comments made about the skin tone of their unborn son.

"No I didn't. The British press said that," Prince Harry said, adding that Meghan had also not called the royals "racist".

The initial allegation, made in a bombshell interview given by Prince Harry and Princess Meghan in March 2021 to US chat show host Oprah Winfrey, caused a transatlantic uproar.

To CBS, the prince also admitted to being "probably bigoted" before he met Princess Meghan, and accused Prince William and his wife Princess Kate of never giving her a chance.

Prince Harry maintains he wants a rapprochement with his father and brother, despite a lack of contact with them, but said the onus was on them, refusing to confirm whether he will attend Charles's coronation in May.

Mr Omid Scobie, a friend and biographer of Prince Harry and _Princess Meghan, said the couple were likely now to adopt a lower profile after the recent "soap opera".

"I think we're going to see, for the rest of this year, a couple sort of retreating from a lot of what we've seen over the last few months," he told BBC radio. AFP