Spare, Prince Harry’s memoir, was released on January 10, 2023. The long-anticipated novel was ghost-written by J. R. Moehringer and published by Penguin Random House. This book has created history, breaking the Guinness Book of World Records record for fastest-selling non-fiction book. Spare, in its first week after publication, sold 3.2 million copies worldwide. Out of the 3.2 million copies sold, 1.6 million sales came from American buyers. Spare now replaces the previous record holder, A Promised Land, President Barack Obama’s memoir, which sold 1.7 million copies in its first week after publication.
The memoir follows Prince Harry’s life, starting with his childhood before his mother, Princess Diana, tragically died. He talks about how the grief changed him; how he blamed the press for the death of his mother and then understandably grew a distaste for the spotlight. The book then takes us through his joining the British Army, along with the repercussions of this, including post-traumatic stress and panic attacks, and ultimately, his struggle to find true love. This all changed when he met Meghan Markle. The public quickly fell in love with the pair. Meghan was a princess of the people that rivaled his own mother’s legacy. The fairytale wedding and whirlwind romance were quickly overshadowed by a whole new array of obstacles brought onto the couple by the press, including racism, lies, and abuse that led to Harry’s decision to leave the royal family.
To say this book has been long anticipated is an understatement. Globally, there has been an obsession with this family—particularly their secrets since the death of Princess Diana. That it’s nearly unheard of for someone to remove themselves from the royal family is reason enough for Prince Harry’s decision to spark attention, but the fact that in doing so, he is following in his mother’s footsteps, is enough to cause record-breaking intrigue worldwide. With the recent passing of Queen Elizabeth Ⅱ, it’s no wonder this book is already record-breaking.
One might question Prince Harry’s reasoning for releasing such a book and the timing of it. Was it purposely released after the queen had passed? According to journalist Rebecca Mead’s New Yorker article “The Haunting of Prince Harry,” Harry stated that this book was “—an invitation to reconciliation, addressed to his father and brother—a way of speaking to them publicly when all his efforts to address them privately have failed to persuade. Spare is, you might say, Prince Harry’s ‘Mousetrap’—a literary device intended to catch the conscience of the King, and the King after him.”
This book, and it’s wild success, are just proof that at its core, family dynamics are universally complicated. There is a reason that so many different people feel the need to read this book. While a common interest in the royal family and drama in general is definitely a factor, it’s also because every family has its own form of dysfunction. Even though there are very few people who can relate to the royal family in any other way, almost everyone can relate to their family dynamics on some level. While the book is receiving mixed reviews so far, the successful launch can be explained by human nature, both in uncovering the secrets of a notoriously mysterious family, as well as connecting to the universal experience of family drama.
-Ally Orsini, CambridgeEditors Team
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