The timing of Prince Harry’s paperback memoir’s release has been criticised by a royal commentator who described it as “inconvenient” after it clashed with the royal tour in Australia and Samoa.
The Duke of Sussex’s explosive book, Spare, gets released today, October 24, in the UK in its paperback edition, at the same time as King Charles and Queen Camilla are carrying out a full day of engagements in Samoa, following their trip to Australia earlier this week.
Spare’s paperback edition will not feature any new material.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams claimed that “it is open to question” whether it was Harry who chose the date of the release or his publisher, Penguin Random House.
He told Express.co.uk: “It is open to question whether Harry chose the date of the release of his memoir, Spare, or whether its publishers Random House, decided on it.
“However, it is inconvenient, to put it mildly, that it is in the middle of a highly significant royal tour for King Charles. Some will see this as an example of the Sussexes, once again, seizing the limelight.”
There is no evidence whatsoever to suggest the timing of the book’s release was planned around the royal tour or that the duke had any say in it. Usually, publishing companies are in charge of the timing of new releases.
Mr Fitzwilliams noted that the duke will not be making any interviews to promote the paperback, a move that could have potentially damaged his relationship with the royals even more.
He said: “The Royal Family will be relieved he has not added any of the 400 pages he said he removed because they were too sensitive.
“Also that he is not giving any interviews to promote it.
“If he had, the optics, given that the memoir paints the royal family in a highly pejorative light, would have been terrible as the King and the Princess of Wales are both battling cancer.”
Harry’s memoir caused a media storm when it was first released in January 2023 with its sensational claims against the royals.
The prince spoke about his life growing up within the Firm, the effect his mother’s death in 1997 had on him as well as his relationship with the other royals.