The memoir of exiled Prince Harry hit bookstore shelves on Tuesday, with its grand unpacking of attacks on the British royal family that make a reconciliation with his newly crowned father Charles III and his brother William unlikely.
The most startling excerpts from the book – where William is described from the first chapter as “beloved brother (and) best enemy” during an argument in 2021 – had already been fanned out in the press. They have further weighed down, in the United Kingdom, the popularity of the king’s youngest son, exiled since 2020 in California with his wife Meghan, accused of smearing for commercial purposes an institution for many sacred.
At the WHSmith bookstore in London Victoria station, copies of Spare (The Alternate) left their black plastic packaging at midnight, under the lenses of more journalists than customers.
First to wait, Chris Imafidon, president of an association in education, left with three copies of the book where the Duke of Sussex recounts the pain of remembering his mother Diana, having killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan, but also having taken cocaine or losing his virginity to an older woman.
“I really want to be able to see what his perspective is,” he told AFP.
“I’m going to read it and see what happens in it, then make up my own mind,” said Elisabeth Stang, a 53-year-old neurotherapist from Norway, who bought the book Tuesday morning during a trip to London. .
“Kidnapped by Meghan”
The book is published in 16 languages. It had already been placed by mistake a few hours Thursday on the shelves of bookstores in Spain last week, fanning its main revelations.
The divisions within British royalty come to light there, giving a lackluster image of this institution barely four months after the death of the very popular Elizabeth II and four months before the coronation of Charles III.
William, the heir to the throne, is his main target; we learn about his anger against his younger brother, once thrown to the ground, but also his father, while his “worrying baldness” is mentioned. King Charles III, head of state of 15 countries, appears “not very demonstrative” and above all concerned about his image. Neither Kate, William’s wife, nor Camilla, the queen consort, is spared, who is described as scheming to obtain the crown with the help of a communication consultant ready for all low blows.
Buckingham Palace did not react to the statements of the 38-year-old prince, but sources “close to the royal family” expressed their dissatisfaction in the press, which was very hostile to the “Sussex”.
One such source told The Independent that according to the king, Camilla and William, the situation will not be able to improve because Harry has been “kidnapped by a cult of psychotherapy and by Meghan”.
Record unpopularity
In The Suna source claims that even if “Harry spared his father”, “it is of little importance to Charles, because he went after Camilla”, a “red line”.
The prince gave several television interviews to promote and defend his book, from California where he went into exile in 2020 with his wife Meghan. He assured that he wanted to “reclaim” his story but did not want to “hurt” anyone.
In an interview with the magazine People published on Tuesday, he describes his book and his “truths” as being “a continuation of (his) mental health journey”.
“It’s a straightforward description of my life — the positive, the negative, and everything in between,” he says.
But the British seem tired of this princely soap opera. According to a YouGov poll, 64% of Britons have a negative image of Harry, although sympathy is stronger among young people.
“This book shows that Harry is very tormented,” Pauline Maclaran, professor of marketing at the Royal Holloway University of London and co-author of a book on the monarchy in popular culture, told AFP. “We see how the past, in particular the death of his mother (in 1997, editor’s note), damaged him. »
The professor, on the other hand, seems unconcerned about the repercussions on the royal family: “The monarchy has gone through many other threats and, in a way, the turbulence of the 1990s and the scandals were then much greater”.