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!

And I wonder how all the other spares feel - Princess Anne, Andrew, Prince Edward - plus all the other ones worldwide?

Surely they live lives of such riches and privilege that they can get over their birth order? Harry wouldn't have had a fraction of the opportunities he's had if he wasn't born royal.

It is possible to live out of the limelight - we never hear a squeak about Peter, Princess Anne's son - except when his marriage failed whcih was years ago.
He must live a very boring life ( or maybe he's just busy getting on with it and not seeking attention).

Well my suspicions are that he'll have sone the same as the Oprah interview and there will be lies scattered between sone true events.

I hope he realises this is yet another nail or three in the coffin for his relationship with his family. A concern I have is that MM is cold and calculating, she's using Harry like a puppet. Harry, unfortunately, is a bit dim, loved up and blind. He's following her like a lost puppy, which considering how he seems to feel about his royal status (which he still holds like a favourite teddy as it brings wealth and status they both crave, yet wants to go it 'alone' with MM ), when this all comes crashing down on him, when she no doubt will leave him in the future, what then does he have ... nothing, and likely no family left to help him. This point in the future will be a grave point in this man-puppets lonely life.

Instead of whinging about his awful life as a "spare" he should look towards his Auntie Anne.
She was the spare who would never be.monarch under the old rules. She works hard, doesn't complain, doesn't suffer fools gladly. I would love to have known her private opinions on the megxit saga and Oprah interview.
I'm willing to bet it wasn't pretty 🤣🤣

Not paying £28 to read about the whinges and tribulations of a privileged man child.

It will be in papers anyway.

The King and PW won’t respond because it is the dignified thing to do. People seem to have forgotten this in the world of tell all books, salacious press releases and social media wars.

He knows full well that they won’t be dragged into a public slanging match with him so he can say what he likes.

I find it incredibly sad. I wonder if he’ll come to regret this.

And the people cheering him on as he ‘finds freedom’ by burning all his bridges with us family and old friends are no better than the people who run TMZ. Gossip (which is essentially what a tell all book is) is the lowest form of communication.

You aren’t better than the people who spread hate and likes about Meghan and Harry. You are exactly the same.

As the Queen pointed out- everyone has their version of the truth. It is incredibly childish be believe your view point it THE truth.

Don’t get me wrong- people don’t have to associate with family members who have hurt them. But it is tacky and selfish to go advertising your private arguments in public.

Really interesting OP. I hadn't even heard he has a book coming out

@milti As a PP said, you show yourself for what you really are with infantile posts like this. There’s no need for this kind of crap.

I’m not one to normally take interest in H&M, but the title is so good I’m tempted to read it.

Wouldn't he have had legal advice when signing such a big contract? I'm not sure how much he was paid for this deal but I don't think he will have done it for peanuts (more fool him if he did) and I would think anyone would get legal advice when doing a big deal. If he didn't get legal advice perhaps it will be a lesson learned.

Agree . It’s sad when a marriage breaks down , especially when there are children but I honestly cannot see this one lasting .

I would think being the spare and not the heir came with it many advantages. It’s tough at the top is it not? If he can’t bare being spare, what must he think life is like for all of us low life? He’s a damned sight higher up the food chain than I am, maybe I ought to write a book about it.

But would he listen ? Is it not more likely that H was looking at ways to earn big bucks and the memoir suggestion was put to him so he jumped at it ?
If reports are true that he tried to tone things down after The Queen’s death , it suggests he was starting to have second thoughts .
I really think this is a bad idea.

Agree with this.

Going to read it and the title made me laugh.
I am just imagining the complete meltdowns on MN,the numerous threads, the total outrage,the bunfights, the deleted posts, I doubt MN will survive to be honest!

I agree and imagine this and the book isn't even out yet, but many have already predicted what is in there.

Even wealthy people are allowed to have and express feelings about how they were raised or felt unvalued, and to talk about grief and sadness and loss.
and this.
I quite like Harry and I am interested in reading i. tbh I didn't have much interest in either of them before finding this other world on MN where people who apparently don't like them or what they do but make time in their day or their mission to criticise them to point of absurd at times.

Yes he is a spare and just because he isn't the only spare doesn't mean he can't talk about it. He may have already discussed it with Charles - or other family members for example his mother's side -

One PP writes they admire Ann for her never explain/complain etc ... but next sentence writes they wish they knew what she thought about the Oprah interview 🙄

I am not going to buy the book but I am interested in the marketing strategy too. I think that once it's public, the media will report every last detail which will only cause people to think there's no point in actually buying it. So the strategy seems to be to wrack up a lot of sales in pre-orders in order to offset this effect.

Oh yes he might have had advice and ignored it but I was replying to @Sling saying she thinks he didn't know what he was getting into and I thought he would have legal advice and consider the advice. If he ignored the advice that's on him isn't it.

Really? Everything? Anything? Where's your evidence?

its funny how people are so up in arms about H doing a book, yet have fawned over the bowers/courtiers books.

I'll read it, and I've never read a royal book before. I'm not a royalist but I find all the customs and formalities interesting so will be reading as much for the little details as for the stuff that'll be in the headlines.

I'm afraid this poster will be sorely disappointed regarding the little details and customs and formalities. It occurred to me that it's quite amazing really how little Harry understands of the rules/traditions/and working behind the scenes that the Monarchy entails despite it being his life.

For instance take the whole security row - he appears to have thought that he was entitled to a British (tax payer funded) security contingent to follow him around the world wherever he and his family please to go. He's had security all his life (before megxit) and so do members of his family. But the workings of the allocation, the costs, the rules are all minor details that completely passed him by, he just took it for granted and was stunned to find it wasn't his by entitlement for life, whatever he did or wherever he went.

Or think about their first year in California when Remembrance Sunday came around. He still nominally held his military roles at that point and of course wanted a wreath laid in his name. But this isn't like a work condolence card from the whole team and if you weren't there you ask someone to add your name. There's a strict ceremony and protocol, The Queen was a stickler for all the details. Individual members of the Royal Family lay wreaths followed by other personages. But they can't turn around and grab another one to lay from the family member abroad! Of course The Queen wasn't going to be having it. Yet it came as a complete surprise to him. (Probably another mean insult added to the list of grievances).

Then there's (what we think we know about) tiara gate. Meghan wanted access to the tiara at short notice for a trial with the hairdresser. Harry or someone contacted Angela Kelly to hop to it, tear down the motorway from Windsor to Buckingham Palace pronto jangling the keys to the vault to produce the tiara asap. AK pointed out this wasn't the way things worked and an appointment was necessary. H may or may not have had a hissy fit and The Queen may or may not have put him in his place regarding the matter.
Well, granted H probably hadn't been much involved in extracting priceless jewellery from the palace vaults before but surely it can't have escaped his general knowledge of the workings that they would be very securely kept and there would be a system for gaining access to certain pieces. A system that undoubtedly didn't/doesn't operate on spontaneous whims. And AK as The Queen's closest member of staff would have her plans/duties/schedule according to The Queen's needs - who would think she'd say to Her Majesty "Sorry Ma'am, I can't help you sort your clothes for this afternoon after all, I've got to run along and get the tiara for H&M". Almost anyone with half a brain would know you would need approval from TQ to "borrow" her close attendant and you'd better suck up to her or she'd be complaining to TQ.

My friend who works at Highgrove and who is the embodiment of discretion did once let slip an instance, probably because she was so outraged. Obviously I can't repeat but I will say it involved entitlement and bad temper at being told No. And a similar lack of understanding of the workings behind the scenes.
Angela Kelly isn't the only Royal employee who has had to put Harry in his place and say No and it doesn't go down well. But it is probably fairly easy for those who are employed by one of the principals and who know their boss will back them up. For those directly employed by H&M the word No will be impossible to say.

Anyway those are details we won't be seeing in the book, and where there are instances of supposed slights and lack of cooperation I think we will do well to read between the lines and consider what the actual protocol would be. He can rail against the rules and the people blocking his plans but I suggest that often the root of it will be a sheer lack of understanding of how things work behind the scenes and what is involved. Possibly one can blame his upbringing in this respect - it's a shame no one told him. I suppose William, schooled personally by The Queen from an early age, with all those Sunday afternoon teas while he was at Eton, will have learnt so much but no one bothered to tell Harry. 🤷‍♀️

@ancientgran I'm sure he had legal advice especially on the finances, I guess I meant he was likely naive in thinking he could control the content and marketing of the book.

I always get the impression he wants to tell his story his way but first the palace controlled it and now the money men in publishing and TV control. They don't care about him they just want enough gossip for high sales figures.

Interesting, all this speculation about what happened and what did not, and how you expect us to take on trust the word of a friend who bla bla bla.

All the more reason why some of us are looking forward to reading Harry's own take on his own life.

Roll on 10 January!

It’s just a ploy to keep H&M in the public eye. They must be frightened to death of becoming irrelevant.

If the sales don't match though it could also be a disaster
I mean will most people care? Around the world

He may if beeb the spare but so was his great grandfather
I think I would prefer to be the spare tbh , less pressure , more freedoms than his brother and any if them can abdicate if they so wish
Charlotte and louis are the same can we expect a book from them , as were Edward and andrew, or do you think william and kate had 2 kids so not just one to feel like the spare