Turns out that there’s no such thing as bad publicity. Despite leaking faster than Labour’s doomed manifesto in 2019, Prince Harry’s book has done rather well. As of last night, more than 400,000 copies of Spare had been sold making it the fastest selling non-fiction book according to the publisher. Cue lots of gags that it should be in fiction or crime and one bookstore impishly dressed their window placing Spare next to the (brilliant) novel How To Kill Your Family.
Of course, the critics are split down predictable lines. All the people ranting that it’s the worst, most irrelevant piece of toilet paper in the history of time are the same people dedicating acres of newsprint or hours of puce faced, eye-bulging booming on air.
I have been a great supporter of the Sussexes but have mixed views about where things are now. I met Prince Harry back in 2020 in Edinburgh when he asked me to host a conference. We had a long conversation and he was very open about how hurt and angry he was with both the press and members of the royal family who he felt were feeding the feral beast. I saw a very articulate, warm, determined and defiant man who was not going to let this go. I just didn’t think he would go this far.
I do wonder who is advising him now, but it’s clear he was on a personal mission to splurge it all out on his own terms and that he has done. For better or worse. I didn’t agree with everything Harry told ITV’s Tom Bradby and was disappointed he didn’t seem to understand that unconscious bias and racism are intrinsically linked. That he hadn’t educated himself on that important argument was a surprise to many. Myself included.
I still remain sympathetic and think the way the Sussexes were treated shamed our nation. I could see his fierce love for his wife and how that all connected back to the grief around losing his mother. For the first time in his life, after Diana, he had someone who put him first and who was unconditionally on his side. He didn’t want history to repeat itself and he clearly wants to be the husband to Meghan that Diana never had.
As much as everyone slags him off in an old-fashioned way for being “hen-pecked” or under some malevolent spell, I think in this age of toxic masculinity, it’s refreshing to see an attractive high-profile man enthusiastically want to be a good, supportive, loyal husband.
They are brave to have spoken out against powerful forces and to be prepared to be this unpopular.
I suspect history will judge them more kindly than their reactionary culture war critics. But the big question is what happens now not just to them but to the royal family and the country. There’s a glaring naivety in thinking they can come back. You can’t say those things publicly and expect any kind of reconciliation. That ship has sailed and been firebombed. This isn’t a feel-good family story like This is Us. This is now pure Succession. They must know that.
Many people will say good riddance, but all of this creates enormous damage for the royal family. While many feel quite uncomfortable about just how far Harry has gone, they also feel pretty queasy about what’s been revealed about the royal family, how they operate and the company they keep.
All this casts a huge cloud over the coronation. The Palace must feel like they did after Diana did her Panorama interview, but they cannot just carry on with business as usual. The King must make modernising every aspect of the royal family a priority. And that includes this outdated strategy of stony silence. He needs to be visible in his efforts. He can’t hide away being a distant, tormented, frustrated monarch.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of this family rift, it’s really hurt this country from different angles. What a depressing way to start the new year. If the King can’t reach out to his son, he should reach out to his citizens and show us that the royal family has relevance to modern Britain and some nobility.
