Prince Harry has revealed that he has enough material to fill another book after cutting stories from his memoir that he believes the King and Prince William would never have forgiven him for revealing.
The Duke of Sussex said that Spare, his ghostwritten tell-all, which made an almighty splash when it was published worldwide this week, was 800 pages long at first draft before he cut it down by half for publication.
He admitted having had difficulty deciding which stories to cut from the book, which included revelations of rows with his brother and his exhortations to his father not to marry Camilla, now the Queen Consort.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the prince said: “The first draft was different. It was 800 pages, and now it’s down to 400 pages. It could have been two books, put it that way. And the hard bit was taking things out.”
He added: “There are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don’t want the world to know. Because I don’t think they would ever forgive me.”
Harry said he had 50 Zoom calls with his ghostwriter regarding the contents of the book, aware that sharing such personal details was “an absolute no” in his family and that he would “get trashed” for anything he included about these interactions.
“This is not about trying to collapse the monarchy – this is about trying to save them from themselves,” he claimed. “I know that I will get crucified by numerous people [for] saying that.”
The prince also revealed that he felt a “responsibility” to reform the institution for the sake of the children in the family who are growing up in the public eye.
One of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis will end up “the spare”, he said. “And that hurts; it worries me.” Harry wrote in his book that he was “the spare” to Prince William, who was “the heir”. “I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy,” he wrote.
He admitted that Prince William was frustrated by his concern for the young royals, adding: “[William] has made it very clear to me that his kids are not my responsibility.”
Spare became Britain’s fastest-selling non-fiction book ever after it was published on Tuesday, shifting 400,000 copies in the first day. It also performed well abroad, selling 1.4 million copies on the first day in the US.
Besides giving inside details of royal life, Harry also writes about losing his virginity to an unnamed older woman behind a “very busy pub”, taking drugs, and despising the British press.
Large sections of the book are dedicated to the struggles faced by the prince and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, which led to their decision to leave “The Firm”.
