Prince Harry's Memoir: A World Publishing Phenomenon

[MrsMaxDeWinter]

There will likely be several bashing threads on Harry's memoir before it is published, but I am interested in discussing with anyone who is interested in the very interesting marketing choices of the publishers and their approach.

English language editions of SPARE will be published on 10 January 2023 in EIGHT territories: the US, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and Canada.

The book will also be published in translation in 15 additional languages:

SPANISH Plaza & Janés/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial
GERMAN Penguin Verlag/Penguin Random House Verlagsgruppe GmbH, PORTUGUESE BRAZIL Objetiva/Grupo Companhia das Letras
PORTUGUESE PORTUGAL Objectiva/Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, SIMPLIFIED CHINESE Penguin Random House China
DANISH Politikens Forlag
DUTCH Hollands Diep, an imprint of Overamstel
FINNISH Otava Publishing Company Ltd
FRENCH Éditions Fayard
GREEK Pedio Books
HUNGARIAN Corvina Kiadó
ITALIAN Mondadori,
POLISH Wydawnictwo Marginesy,
ROMANIAN Nemira Publishing House,
SWEDISH Albert Bonniers Förlag.

This is absolutely sensational as it means it will be simultaneously published in 23 territories on the same day.

There are not many books where simultaneous release occurs in different markets. From this, I would say that the book will more than earn its advance, just from the foreign sales alone.

They also chose a banger of a title as it puts focus on the troubling notion of the Spare in a system based on primogeniture, and one that imbues both intrinsic and extrinsic value based on a person's birth order.

Imagine growing up knowing that no matter how loved you may be, your constitutional role is ultimately to be the spare to the heir.

Can't wait to read it!

Of course the RF, and in particular Charles, would have set them up. He might have been irrelevant to the monarchy but over the years they did everything in their means to help him find an independent life and something worthwhile to do. The army, Invictus games, all of it was aided and abetted by the royal family, as well as all the attempts to hide his drunken exploits as a youth. They wanted him to have a good life. He was the grandson and son; he was given assistance in all walks of life. He turned down several opportunities offered. I don't have the receipts to hand but that's well known. He was definitely not hung out to dry, neither before nor after Meghan.

But he cut himself off and was told there is no half in/half out. Charles gave him loads of money to help in the beginning, certainly enough to set up a more modest lifestyle if he so wanted, a lifestyle most of us could only dream of.

@Malahaha

Thank you for your excellent posts

Of course the RF, and in particular Charles, would have set them up. He might have been irrelevant to the monarchy but over the years they did everything in their means to help him find an independent life and something worthwhile to do

They supported him obviously because he was part of the institution. As they support all working royals. You are sure not saying they supported him in order to become independent of them? The whole point is that no one expected him to want to be independent, so they supported him from within the institution to be in the institution.

The army, Invictus games, all of it was aided and abetted by the royal family, as well as all the attempts to hide his drunken exploits as a youth. They wanted him to have a good life. He was the grandson and son; he was given assistance in all walks of life. He turned down several opportunities offered. I don't have the receipts to hand but that's well known. He was definitely not hung out to dry, neither before nor after Meghan.

As above. He did not enter the army so that he could be independent, he did it because they all do army service of some kind, some more successfully than others. He left the army because he became frustrated with not being in active service. Can you not imagine how awful it must have been not to be able to do the one thing he found he was actually good at, because the media were threatening to reveal his location and endanger both him and his fellow soldiers? He retired in the end because he was unhappy with a desk job.

As for Invictus, it was Harry's initiative but it started as a family gig, under the Royal Foundation.

But he cut himself off and was told there is no half in/half out. Charles gave him loads of money to help in the beginning, certainly enough to set up a more modest lifestyle if he so wanted, a lifestyle most of us could only dream of.

This was a spectacular failure of imagination, because with enough patience and goodwill on both sides, I believe that a half way house could have been found that didn't require them to make lots of money, and that would have allowed the relationships to be amicable. It all went tits up. I saw an interview with Valentine Low, who is highly regarded here, who said the whole thing was handled badly on both sides. I agree with that.

Further, Charles gave him and William a share of about 4 million pounds I believe. As has been reported widely, Harry is a target for Al Quaida and other loonies because of his military service. His wife and children are also targets from racists, one or two of whom have been convicted in the UK for death threats. They need security, and a share of 4 million from Charles was not going to cut it.

Some have this fantasy that H and M could have lived a simple ordinary life in a little house in England. The reality is that them just leaving has been enough to bring them a tidal wave of hate because it has been seen as a rejection and betrayal of a Royal Family and monarchy that people hold dear without thinking about what living these lives, ordered from birth, actually do to those who actually have to live them.

And, as he has said eloquently, he inherited the risk.

There is no life he could have lived that meant he was not the son of the King, a soldier who served in Afghanistan, who married a biracial woman subject to racial hatred and death threats. Even if the calls to have their titles removed succeed, he will remain with the risk he was born with, and that his army service exarcebated, and money that might be enough to you and me would barely cover his security.

Still waiting for that apology!

I am glad Harry is writing his memoir precisely because there has been so much speculation about his life, and his relationships, including with his father.

Air and sunlight are always a good thing.

But there will still be speculation about these things, because the book will all be from Harry's POV. Others members of the RF may well remember things differently...

And the fallout this will have will be immense. I hope they money makes up for Harry destroying any remaining relationship he has with his family...🤔

And I don't believe that everything has to be talked a about in public. God, no. A lot of things should be kept private - Charles's wish to be a tampon, for example. I could have lived without knowing that.

Harry has had an amazingly privileged life, with opportunities most people could only dream of. Yet he's a moaning, whingeing fool, never considering how lucky he is but always complaining.

Well I'm sure Charles and Camilla would have preferred their private conversation to remain private.

I don't believe those taped phone conversations (and Squidgy Diana) were amateur accidents.

It's not that long ago that people don't remember that H&M leaving was presented as a fait accompli by the couple - they just announced it, to Harry's family and the world. They'd decided what they wanted to do and expected everyone else to just agree. Not thought through, or just decided with the expectation they would get what they wanted?

Meghan could have gone back to acting. Her position would have made her very bankable I would imagine. I'm actually not sure why she hasn't done that anyway. A remake of The Buccaneers with Meghan as Nan, perhaps? She can play herself in The Crown.

There are plenty of roles in the military which don't require sitting at a desk all day. Harry could have worked with veterans, been involved with training, logistics, all kinds of jobs.

They don't need an 11 bed house in Montecito. I suppose living in particular areas would make it easier from a security point of view, but I'm sure they could have found something a little cheaper.

I agree that Prince Charles would have probably helped out with housing etc if they'd discussed wanting to leave, but the half in half out scenario - doing the high profile, glamorous royal stuff and doing their own thing - can see why the Queen didn't run with that one.

It seems the resentment around H and M is because they left, not just how they left.

I disagree with this - I think they could definitely have left to make their own living elsewhere and people would have wished them well. There are many members of the RF doing just that and they were well-liked.

What didn't go down so well was their hamfisted comms strategy of announcing stuff before it was agreed (still doing this now cf Meghan going to Balmoral), some of the language they used which seemed to disrespect the queen, the complaining (especially about not having enough money and security), talking publicly about people who couldn't respond, and the warping of the truth. And being so desperate to leave the RF that they had to go before anything was agreed, but then spend the next 3 years (so far) going on about it, while hanging on to the titles that presumably they despise, in order to make money. I think that's the view a lot of their detractors take. It's not about the leaving, it's the behaviour. Remember they were incredibly popular, people had a very special affection for Harry after what he went through as a child and just wanted him to be happy I think.

I don’t think a half way house could have been found, because it went against everything the monarchy stood for.

Choosing a Disney premiere (to hawk your wives voice over skills) over a memorial to remember fallen soldiers shows exactly why their model wouldn’t have worked

There was a US publicity team and a palace team. The US team accepted gigs without communicating with the palace. The US team took precedence over the palace, which wasn’t going to fly.either in a palace funded model

I think the break was the right thing for all of them. I think they couldn’t have coped with being second fiddle to W&K and falling out of relevancy.

I don’t think that ‘air and sunlight’ are always a good thing when you’re playing a dangerous game with the UK media and your partner is far more vulnerable to its class-based snobbery than you are. I think it’s quite selfish and naive.

Of the book ‘Spare’ an Archewell blurb says that Harry will reveal his

hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief

It’s inevitable that he has woven Meghan into this narrative. So she becomes a person of interest herself re the ‘publishing phenomenon’.

She meanwhile only knows as much as he’s telling her about a lot of his past and about various conversations with royal family members; and as posters have pointed out, it’s by no means a consistent narrative and leaves her exposed when she publicly talks about it.

I think Harry will pull Meghan down with him when the media turn on them over this, and she’ll not be the one to bob to the surface first and be pulled out by the royal family.

God knows what files of dirt the Murdoch empire and the Mail are sitting on, waiting for the big day. Harry should probably stop poking the dog for his wife’s sake.

They could have left, made the interview with Oprah a positive about moving to America for the amazing opportunities, love the RF and can’t wait to see them and Archie loves spending time with his cousins, hopping they’ll come visit once we’re settled etc can’t wait to live in California and try surfing etc

They could have ‘gone high’ as Michelle Obama puts it, but instead spent their time in victimhood twisting the narrative to make it seem they were prisoners trapped in the tower.

I remember after the Oprah and early podcast interviews, which were widely thought to have unfairly trashed the institution of the RF and by extension the Queen, there was this idea that before any rapprochement could happen, they were waiting for an apology. Harry and Meghan that is. I don't think that did them any favours either.

(I wonder if at that point the narrative in their heads really was that there would be an apology and some grovelling from the palace and they would be begged to return to the fold in the half-in/half-out arrangement that they wanted in the first place.)

@Ohnonevermind

Harry was not hawking his wife's skills to Bob Iger -- she had already agreed to the voice overwork on the Elephants documentary before they met. They were talking about his good she would be on that already agreed project, not touting for work.

www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/latest/a31965232/prince-harry-meghan-markle-disney-voiceover-pitch/

I think Harry will pull Meghan down with him when the media turn on them over this, and she’ll not be the one to bob to the surface first and be pulled out by the royal family. God knows what files of dirt the Murdoch empire and the Mail are sitting on, waiting for the big day. Harry should probably stop poking the dog for his wife’s sake.

@AutumnsCrow The media have already turned on them. When the Mail writes 18 attacking stories on one podcast, how much more will it be before they look more unhinged than they do now.

Meghan won a front page apology from the Mail. Harry is suing them, and has also won before. If they did not unleash their dirt then, what makes you think there is any dirt now?

And when you say "Harry should stop poking the dog for his wife's sake", is it really your view that they should shut up to avoid this dirt, meaning you approve of the media blackmailing them into silence, all for the sake of a deeply flawed Royal Family?

Are you really saying being blackmailed by the press is okay?

@MrsMaxDeWinter
You are right - Harry is likely to come here - I just heard on the radio - apparently he is contracted to do at least one Interview in the UK.

Yeh, they thought that they'd get an apology and have the power of being RIGHT

But it didn't roll out that way. They never visualised how the froideur would end if they didn't receive an apology.

Are you really saying being blackmailed by the press is okay?

No.

Meghan won the copyright battle with the DM - her letter was deemed to belong to her and the DM shouldn’t have published it but MM was found out as a liar, both her and Omid lied to the court about her helping with the book.

Spot on . During/ after they’d break in Canada , Harry told his father what he and M wanted . His father told him to put it all in writing . Rather than do this , H and M announced their intentions to the world !
Could both sides have handled things differently? H and M , definitely. The RF ? Well we don’t know the details of all the discussions so it is possible that various options were offered such as a couple of years in Africa but none were acceptable.

It seems likely that M was determined to go back to America but The Queen wouldn’t agree to them monetising their roles.

Have you watched/ listen to the exchange between Harry and Bob ?? Clips have been posted on other threads . Of course he was touting ! And on an evening he should have been at a military event . Shameful.

The sniping ‘service is universal’ and that they could use royal if they wanted to made them
look like immature dicks

They also left under the bullying cloud. There is a culture of assertive women in the RF (TQ/PA) but no-one likes bullies

“Harry told his father what he and M wanted . His father told him to put it all in writing . Rather than do this , H and M announced their intentions to the world !”

How do we know about Charles requesting that Harry put it all in writing? I’ve never heard this before. Was it in the Oprah interview?

He was a no show at jubilee events either. Sulking most likely.

But this is the person to raise all our spirits with his amazing uplifting ‘publishing phenomenon’

There were several reports about it at the time and it was included in Finding Freedom.

It seems the resentment around H and M is because they left, not just how they left

This is an attempt to bolster H & M's image in order to make them appear more desirable than they really are. The long-suffering public couldn't care less that they left. In fact, happiness at having two less royal mouths to feed would not be an understatement. What people resent is H & M's continued attempts to get their half in/half/out by the back door when they have been told "No".

if they had left in a positive manner, moved forward, less victimhood, upwards and onwards we’d be having a very different discussion, but book sales might not be so high

I understand that the RF was shocked and dumbfounded by Meghan's behaviour towards staff. She yelled at them, bullied them, and they were literally quaking in their shoes whenever she entered a room. She was also incredibly rude to her hosts in Australia, demanding a whole house rather than just a wing. She was all demure and sweet before marriage; she believed she would reform the whole system, modernise it under an American model which meant she could make demands and they would jump to fulfill them. She did not understand the meaning of Service and Duty, which is at the core of being a member of that family. She refused to follow protocol, but expected to get whatever she wanted, tiaras and palaces and what-not.

Meghan wanted all the glamour and the galas and the fame, but the boring things like opening factories and schools -- nah. But that's the bread and butter of royal work.

@MrsMaxDeWinter Nobody is bashing them for no reason. Many of us were delighted when he found what seemed like the love of his life, and wanted him to be happy. It is Meghan's atrocious behaviour that soured us, and we've been pointing it out ever since. For me, it was that wedding: no members of her family except Doria, and a host of A listers she'd never met. Nothing could scream "social climber" more loudly.

In the end, the RF were glad to get rid of them, and Charles was happy to ease their way financially -- until that was no longer feasible. They always knew he was unhappy as a working royal, and the family members who leave are always supported. No question that Harry would have been nicely accommodated had he done the leaving in a sensible way.