‘Spare’ Widely Expected to Be “More Inflammatory” Than Netflix Docuseries

(Image credit: Getty)

published 27 December 2022

It seems the intense pop culture spotlight—and some might say attacks—aimed at the royal family are coming about one every month these days: The Crown season five on Netflix in November. Harry & Meghan, the couple’s six part-docuseries that also aired on Netflix, in December. And, yet to come, Spare, Prince Harry’s forthcoming memoir, which hits shelves January 10 (with a preceding interview with Anderson Cooper two days prior on January 8).

And, while the general consensus is that The Crown and Harry & Meghan were lighter hits than perhaps expected, OK reports that Spare “will be even more damaging to the monarchy.”

Citing a report from The Times, the outlet reports the tell-all “is widely expected to be even more inflammatory than the couple’s [Harry & Meghan] Netflix series.” The book—published by Penguin Random House—apparently “includes claims about the monarchy that are more incendiary than those made in the Netflix series.”

The 416-page book was written by Harry and ghostwriter (and veteran biographer) J.R. Moehringer, and the contents of which are still largely if not wholly unknown to members of the royal family and the public. To promote the book, Harry apparently will sit for only two interviews: the aforementioned January 8 sit-down with Anderson Cooper, as well as with ITV’s Tom Bradby, who famously interviewed Harry and Meghan Markle during their tour of Africa in 2019, just months before the couple stepped back as working members of the royal family in January 2020.

And, as Spare poises itself to be the most damaging tell-all of all, it seems Harry’s older brother Prince William is already less than pleased with the couple’s docuseries, according to royal expert Katie Nicholl. “[William] will be taking this very personally,” she says. “I think tempers are flaring, tempers are high. There’s a lot of tension…anger and resentment.”

Any hopes for a reconciliation are being dashed more and more, as a friend of William’s says “things have been very strained for a while. There is sadness at where things currently are with his brother…and there’s a memoir coming.”

A memoir Penguin Random House reportedly paid $20 million for, no less—and with a price tag like that, one can expect at least a substantial amount of juice to be squeezed. Another close friend of William’s says, simply, “the whole thing is mad.”

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.