Prince Harry’s Memoir Publication Could Be Delayed to Include Snippets from the Platinum Jubilee
We still don’t have a firm release date for the book.
Prince Harry’s memoir has been long labeled a late 2022 release—yet, as we approach the midpoint of the year, a release date is still not set in stone by either the Duke of Sussex himself or his publisher, Penguin Random House, leaving questions as to whether it will be released this year at all.
This could be for good reason, says royal expert Roya Nikkhah, and it could be linked to Harry’s return to the U.K. for the Platinum Jubilee next month. Nikkah, writing in The Times and reported on by The Daily Express, says a delayed publication date would “avoid overshadowing” the events of the Jubilee, but could also give the prince a chance to write about the Jubilee experience in the heavily anticipated book.
Nikkah says it would “provide Harry an opportunity to give his account of attending next month’s celebrations with Meghan and their children, the first time the Sussexes will have been reunited with the royal family for more than two years.”
The behind-the-scenes details of the Sussex return—which will reportedly not be captured by Netflix cameras—would make a compelling coda to his memoir, which was announced last year as an “intimate and heartfelt memoir” about his life, which he calls “accurate and wholly truthful,” the “definitive account” of his “experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons.”
“I’ve worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story—the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learnt—I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think," Harry wrote of the memoir. "I’m deeply grateful for the opportunity to share what I’ve learned over the course of my life so far and excited for people to read a firsthand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful.”
It cannot be ignored that, surrounding the family's return to the U.K., there exists trepidation over this tell-all. Royal author Ian Lloyd told the Express that the royal family will be “very wary” of the book’s release at the Jubilee, and, says Nikkah, they fear it might be as explosive—if not more so—than Harry and Meghan’s sitdown interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.
“A delayed publication date would probably be a relief to the royal family and courtiers, with some fearing they will come under fire in the book following the Sussexes’ soul-baring interview with Oprah Winfrey,” she says.
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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.