There has been renewed speculation that Meghan Markle could be planning to write a bombshell memoir, along the lines of her husband Prince Harry’s hit book, Spare.
A new report in the U.K. magazine Closer said that Meghan’s willingness to discuss her mental health struggles and suicidal feelings when she was a royal in her latest TV interview has triggered fresh speculation about a Meghan memoir.
A source told the magazine: “Eventually Meghan is going to want to write her memoir, Harry is going to want to update Spare, and they are going to want to sit down and promote themselves on TV. They will not shy away from answering questions about the royals. For now, they’re biding their time.”
ADVERTISEMENT
The reports feed into long-standing speculation that the duchess could indeed pen a memoir.
Meghan herself is the energizing force behind the most credible of these stories, having frequently hinted, or indeed said directly, that she has more to say on the matter of her departure from the British royal family.
For example, in her high-profile interview with The Cut, part of New York magazine, in August 2022, Meghan made several statements that were widely interpreted as signaling that she has plans for a memoir.
For example, during the interview, she said she had found an old journal at their former home, Frogmore Cottage in Windsor. She said, “You go back and you open drawers and you’re like, Oh my gosh. This is what I was writing in my journal there?”
In another section of the interview she said, “I can say anything… I have a lot to say until I don’t. Do you like that? Sometimes, as they say, the silent part is still part of the song.”
Speculation about Meghan writing a memoir is closely tied to the publishing deal that she and Harry signed with Penguin Random House. Reports indicate that this deal is for four books. Two of these have already been published: Meghan’s children’s book, The Bench (2021), and Harry’s memoir, Spare (2023).
This leaves two more books under the contract, and it is widely rumored that one of these could potentially be Meghan’s own memoir.
Royal commentator Tom Bower, who has been critical of Meghan and Harry in the past, has previously claimed that Meghan was working on her own memoir. He suggested that this book would be a “tell-all” designed to set the record straight from her perspective.
There had been speculation that Meghan would desist from writing a memoir to try and ameliorate relationships with the Windsors.
However, given that Harry and Charles are no longer speaking by phone, as reported by The Daily Beast, the couple may now judge that to be a futile hope.
Of course, it’s not just Meghan who could write another book; Harry’s publishers would be keen for him to go again after the staggering success of Spare.
And Harry has explicitly said that he has “enough material” for another book.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Harry said the original draft of Spare was much longer and included a lot of material that he chose to leave out to protect his family.
He said, “The first draft was different. It was 800 pages, and now it’s down to 400 pages. It could have been two books, put it that way. And the hard bit was taking things out.”
Ultimately, another dishy, gossipy book would probably hurt Harry and Meghan’s longer-term attempts to reinvent themselves and move beyond the narrative of recrimination.
But given the reported $20 million that Harry earned from the Spare deal, it would be foolish to discount the possibility of another blockbuster book.
