Anytime a celebrity announces they’re releasing a tell-all memoir, readers are going to expect a little bit of mud-slinging, and seemingly few people had more potential to do so than Prince Harry, who stepped away from his royal duties in 2021 with wife Meghan Markle. He didn’t disappoint either, with Spare spilling the royal tea with plenty of stories about his father, brother, stepmother and even his penis. A week after the memoir’s release, the big revelations have equaled millions of book sales for the Duke of Sussex, but have had a less-than-favorable impact on Harry’s brother and sister-in-law.
Prince William and Kate Middleton were definitely not spared in Spare. In the book, Prince Harry recalled a physical fight he got into with his brother during an argument about Meghan Markle, and he even accused the Prince and Princess of Wales of playing a part in his decision to wear a Nazi costume to a 2005 party. Those allegations — and many others — have translated into 3.2 million sales worldwide of Spare in the memoir’s first week, according to the Associated Press, putting it on track to be one of the bestselling memoirs of all time.
The sales may come at a cost, though, and not just for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The Telegraph reports that Prince William and Kate Middleton’s popularity ratings have plummeted amid the book’s revelations, with William’s ratings dropping 8 percentage points to 61% and Kate falling 7 points to 60%. Despite the decline, the Prince and Princess of Wales remain the most popular members of the Royal Family. Prince Harry, meanwhile, also dropped 7 points, with his favorability now standing at 23%.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been controversial figures since deciding to leave the Royal Family and move to the United States. The couple started speaking out about their decision almost immediately, doing a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021. Late last year, they released the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, which received brutal reviews from viewers, with Markle’s half-sister calling it a “series of lies.”
However, despite the public’s opinion of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the sales of Spare prove that people were, if not supportive, at least interested in what Prince Harry had to say. The book sold 400,000 copies in all formats in the U.K. on the first day alone, and 1.6 million in the United States in its first week — sales that the AP reports are comparable to President Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land” and former first lady Michelle Obama’s “Becoming.”
As well as being released in multiple formats across all English-language markets, the tell-all has also been translated into 15 other languages — many of whose titles are arguably harsher than Spare. The English title, Spare, is reportedly a reference to a hurtful comment made by now-King Charles III on the day of Prince Harry’s birth, when he remarked that Princess Diana had given him “an heir and a spare.”
Spare is available to purchase in all formats now, and you can also learn more about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s life in the six-part docuseries Harry & Meghan, which can be streamed with a Netflix subscription.
