As Britain’s elite retire to their European holiday villas or swelter in a British heatwave, one of the chief topics of conversation is idle speculation about what Prince Harry’s forthcoming memoir will or will not contain, and just how the unspooling of royal secrets by the ultimate insider will affect the monarchy.
While no-one outside a few publishing executives knows for certain whether the book will be big bang or damp squib, what seems less in doubt is that the prospect of Harry’s memoir hanging over the Windsors may well be a core reason why William has so far failed to reconcile with his brother.
While the royal family have affected glorious unconcern over what the the book is going to say, with the palaces briefing that Harry and Meghan are now private individuals and can do, say and publish whatever they want, and indeed congratulating them on their personal profitability, it is of course hard to imagine that William wouldn’t want to wait and see what Harry reveals before deciding what, if anything, to do next to patch up the relationship with his brother.
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Harry himself has said the book will be his story; “the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned... a firsthand account of my life that’s accurate and wholly truthful.”
Royal author Christopher Andersen told The Daily Beast: “Prince Charles’ operatives have been scrambling for months to find out what other bombshells await, but to no avail. No one expected Harry’s book to be a valentine to his relatives. But you get the sense in the wake of the Jubilee that now the gloves are truly off.”
The simple fact is that the memoir could be nothing much to worry about, focusing, for example, on Harry’s own mental health struggles, or his memories of his mother, in which case a Windsor-Sussex reconciliation could be a fairly straightforward matter.
Or its publication could be a bomb going off, which indicts Camilla for the break-up of his parents’ marriage and seeks to question Charles’ legitimacy as monarch.
Duncan Larcombe, a royal author and former royal editor at The Sun, told The Daily Beast: “How can the royals welcome Harry back into the fold when he has effectively turned himself into a journalist? As long as that book hangs over them like a sword of Damocles, how can they be expected to extend an olive branch?
“Once the book is out, William will have to make a decision about what he is going to to do about Harry, but he is not going to do a thing until he knows what is on every page of that book. The reality is that if, as a senior member of the royal family, you have written a tell-all book, you have broken rule No. 1 of the royal family.”
Few at the palace or in William’s circle of friends seem to be much persuaded by a recent spate of reports suggesting the book has been delayed or canceled. The consensus is that the book will come out this fall, more or less in accordance with the dates the publishers have been saying, although publishing sources concede it is a little odd that the book’s publication date has not yet been officially announced.
While a delay is possible, cancellation of the title would represent such an extraordinary volte-face for Harry and the publishers—which are thought to have paid around $20 million for the title—that knowledgeable publishing industry insiders are discounting it entirely.
The Sussexes’ office did not reply to a request for comment (Prince William’s office was also contacted by The Daily Beast and also did not comment on the issues raised in this article), but the publishers themselves have insisted the schedule is unchanged. And a publishing source cited in a report by Page Six earlier this week said the book was coming out as planned this fall, with one source saying: “It’s juicy, that’s for sure,” and another commenting, “There’s a lot of new stories in there about the past that Harry has not spoken about before, about his childhood … there is some content in there that should make his family nervous.”
Nervous is one thing, but, to be fair, if this is the best that the book’s hype men can do, then it doesn’t sound like the royals need to be digging in for a series of bring-down-the monarchy revelations.
And of course, Harry and Meghan’s interview with Oprah has meant that for any further revelations to have remotely the same kind of effect they would have to be so explosive and so extraordinary that they really would have to be on another level. The huge question that the Oprah interview left unanswered will remain unanswered, as Harry has promised he will never name the royal racist who the couple said questioned the likely skin tone of their then-unborn children.
While the interview seemed at first to be a hugely damaging event for the royals, the passing of time has revealed it to be much less destabilizing than feared. The royals are still here, and appear to be getting on just fine without the Sussexes. And while Meghan and Harry have their fans, the attacking tone of the interview didn’t appear to win them many new ones.
One also has to wonder, if Meghan is really serious about pursuing a political career, whether it might ultimately not be in her interests for her and her husband to be very obviously in a public slanging match with the future head of state of another country.
Harry’s own story would still be a compelling read. Harry’s ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer, has focused several times in his writing career on stories of addiction and recovery. While there is no suggestion that Harry had a drug or alcohol problem, Harry’s book may seek to tell a story of spiritual renewal in a similar vein to Andre Agassi’s extraordinary bestselling autobiography, Open (without the crystal meth use, of course), which was also ghosted by Moehringer.
If Harry’s book follows the usual publishing schedule for Christmas blockbusters, it will likely be published on so-called “Super Thursday,” the second Thursday in October, when literally hundreds of the biggest titles in the world are released in preparation for the all-important festive shopping season.
Intriguingly, just a few days later, William and Kate are expected to make an official visit to the U.S.—their first since 2014 when Kate was pregnant with Charlotte—for the final of the 2022 Earthshot prize which will see five green businesses or initiatives awarded grants of £1m each.
One can only imagine the intensity of William’s fury if he is obliged to spend the weekend of his big green initiative answering questions about his little brother’s book and the collapse of his parents’ marriage.
Harry might be less troubled by the prospect of overshadowing William’s American moment (although it neatly encapsulates the ongoing dilemma for purpose-driven celebrities: that people in general are far more interested in salacious gossip than worthy causes); he previously appeared to dismiss the Earthshot prize in a secretly recorded phone conversation with Russian comedians Vladimir ‘Vovan’ Kuznetsov and Alexei ‘Lexus’ Stolyarov, who he believed were Greta Thunberg and her father, saying that, when it comes to initiating ecological action; “Small steps or giving out prizes doesn’t make any difference these days.”
There is clearly no love lost between Harry and his brother. In his interview with Hoda Kotb in April, he avoided answering a question about whether he “missed” William or Charles.
Larcombe adds that it is quite likely that Harry would currently be embarrassed to “look his own family in the eye” if he has indeed fired a missile into the family that, although it has yet to land, could cause terrible trouble, upset and disappointment when it does if it is deeply revelatory.
Andersen said: “Anyone who imagines an olive branch will be extended by either William or Charles before Harry’s book comes out is delusional. What more evidence is needed than the cold shoulder the Sussexes received during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee? It was painful to watch, frankly.”
Andersen, author of a series of bestselling royal books including Diana’s Boys and Brothers and Wives, adds that there is “no hope” at the palace of Harry toning the book down. He thinks it will be explosive.
“He has promised a truthful and candid account of his life as a prince, and if he delivers anything close to that, how can it not be damaging to the monarchy? After all, scandal, tragedy, and drama have swirled around Harry his entire life.”
Indeed, the other consideration is commercial. Given that they have been unable to deliver a single show for Netflix thus far, or a coherent podcast offering for Spotify, the couple badly need a hit.
The question making the Windsors nervous is how many of the family secrets they are prepared to sell off to achieve that goal, and until that is known, relations will likely remain in the deep freeze.
