For a long time, Prince Harry was preoccupied with exposing the hurt he felt from his royal rift. But the tide has now turned, if one royal expert is to be believed.
The Duke of Sussex quietly released the paperback version of his explosive memoir Spare on 24 October—so quietly in fact that even the most fervent royal watchers would be forgiven for not having heard about it. According to OK!, the paperback only reached number 73 on the British charts, which is likely due in part to the lack of publicity.
Speaking of which, Harry opted not to do any press leading up to, or directly following, the release—drawing attention away from the drama in his book and towards some of his other current projects.
Meaningfully, the Duke decided not to add any exclusive content to the paperback edition of Spare, despite claiming soon after the book was published that he originally had enough material for a second memoir. "The first draft was different," he told the Telegraph in January 2023. "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."
Royal commentator Jennie Bond spoke to OK! about Harry's decision not to include exclusive materials in the new version of Spare, and about how he might feel about the paperback "flopping," relatively speaking.
"I don’t think he will be particularly upset about this," Jennie said. "He made an awful lot of money from the original contract and, whatever he says, he is already a very wealthy man."
She continued: "I don’t think his decision to write Spare was ever a predominantly financial decision. I think he really wanted the world to know how he felt about his life, his family and the way he felt the Palace treated him.
"I think he has made a conscious decision to move on from all the bitterness and had no interest in dredging up more stories for the paperback. That has to be a good decision for everyone involved."
Jennie's comments ring true: while in the first years after Harry and Meghan Markle left the UK they revealed bombshell after bombshell about royals such as Prince William and King Charles, in recent months they appear to have moved on to other things. Could this signal an end to the royal feud? We'll have to wait and see.
