Prince Harry’s controversial memoir, in which he railed against his royal relatives, in particular King Charles and Prince William, was first released in January 2023 – and the book’s publisher has issued an update on the title
Prince Harry sent shockwaves around the world when he released his controversial memoir, Spare.
The Duke of Sussex used the tell-all book to make various claims about his family including that Prince William called his wife Meghan Markle ‘difficult’, ‘rude’ and ‘abrasive’ and pushed him into a dog bowl, that King Charles was jealous of the Prince and Princess of Wales and that Charles refused to allow Meghan to join her husband in Scotland as the late Queen was dying.
The memoir was released in January 2023 but since that time, Harry appears to have decided against criticising his royal relatives in public. However, now there’s a fresh update on the book.
Harry with his father King Charles and brother Prince William (
Getty Images)
It has been announced by publisher Penguin that Spare will be re-released in two month’s time in a paperback version. Usually, when a paperback version of a non-fiction book is released, additional chapters or updated information is included in the new format.
However, in what has been seen as a potential olive branch to Charles, William and the rest of the royals, the paperback version of Spare will not contain any new information. It will have the same cover image in a newly designed package, however, the “contents of the book are unchanged”.
Many had questions about whether Harry would offer up more bombshells in an updated version of Spare given so much has happened since the book was published in early 2023. Since then both Charles and Kate have received cancer diagnoses, while Harry’s children Archie and Lilibet have both been given prince and princess titles. The paperback version will be released on October 22 in the United States and October 24 in the UK.
Since the release of Spare, things seem to have gone from bad to worse for relations between Harry and his father and older brother. When it comes to Harry and William, their feud, brewing before the book was released, has become even more frosty. According to The Sunday Times, it is understood the brothers last spoke at their grandmother the late Queen’s funeral in September 2022 – and even then, according to Harry’s memoir, they “barely exchanged a word”.
The paperback version of Spare will be released in October (
Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The publication reports that William is unlikely to forgive his younger brother any time soon for his digs against wife Kate in Spare with friends telling the newspaper as things stand, the Prince of Wales would not want Harry at his Coronation, whenever that time comes.
One friend told the Sunday Times: “They are estranged, which is dreadfully sad”, while another added that Harry rarely comes up in conversation with William and explained: “This year his focus has very much been on his wife, his children and his father.”
The friends’ comments come as Harry also has a very tricky bond with his father King Charles, with recent reports suggesting they too are no longer speaking. They last met face to face when Harry raced to London from California when news broke about the monarch’s cancer diagnosis in February. But since that meeting, Harry has not seen his father despite them both being in London on the same day in May.
Harry came to the UK to attend a service at St Paul’s Cathedral to mark 10 years of the Invictus Games but he did not meet his dad, with a statement suggesting the King was too busy to see him. But just this week, it was reported that Charles had offered his son a room at Buckingham Palace for his trip to London, but Harry declined it and opted for a hotel.
A source told The Times : “I don’t know what more the King could have done. He offered Harry to stay at Buckingham Palace but it seems even that wasn’t good enough. It was far from clear what the duke’s plans were. When it came to it there was no space in the King’s diary in between treatment and other scheduled events.”
Meanwhile, last month it was reported that father and son are no longer speaking with one long-running issue seeing their estrangement deepen. Harry has been embroiled in a long-running battle over his security when he comes to the UK after he automatically lost the right to his police protection when he stepped down as a working royal.
