Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, is already the transatlantic talk of the town, and it’s already available for preorder. I would imagine that it will end up being the biggest pre-order of the year on Amazon. Even people who aren’t regular royal gossip followers are like “cool title, I’d like to read that book.” We have to wait two and a half months, sob! But we’ll get there, one step at a time, battling back another palace-orchestrated smear campaign on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. You know how King Charles has masterminded an unhinged campaign against The Crown? The campaign against Harry in the next ten weeks will be like that, only much, much worse.
The Mail actually had a rare complimentary piece on the title, Spare. They talked to a branding expert who was impressed with the humor, simplicity and evocative nature of the single-word title, combined with the close-up cover photo taken by Ramona Rosales. True story: Ramona Rosales also did Meghan’s recent Variety cover shoot. Rosales does a lot of work for Variety, judging from her Instagram.
In most language translations, Spare will be translated plainly, but in Spanish, the memoir will be called Spare: En La Sombra, or In The Shadow. Hilaria Baldwin said “si, yo se!” While Harry is reportedly getting $20 million upfront for this memoir, he’s also pledged to donate the money to charity. I assume that the check went straight into the Archewell Foundation, where it will be allocated over time. Harry has already started – within the press release for Spare, he announced that he will be donating $1.5 million to Sentebale (his Lesotho AIDS charity) and £300,000 to WellChild. This follows donations to Save the Children and UNICEF made by Harry and Meghan earlier this week, targeted to Nigerian flood relief.
Lastly, in the wake of the Spare news, Dan Wootton punched out a screed against Harry, against books, against memoirs, against gingers and against American wives. Wootton must have been shrieking into the abyss for hours, hollering about “Prince Harry appears to want to bring down the Royal Family” and Harry’s “ghoulish decision to press ahead with the publication of his expected monarchy and family-bashing autobiography just four months after the death of Queen Elizabeth the Great and four months before the historic coronation of his father King Charles.” Wootton claimed with a straight face that senior royals and courtiers believed that Harry would make a U-turn on his memoir after “Harry and Meghan were welcomed back into the Windsor bosom in the days before the Queen’s funeral.” You mean when Charles went out of his way to repeatedly and publicly snub Harry and try to humiliate a man who was grieving for a beloved grandmother? Yeah, as we said at the time – the Queen’s funeral was when Harry and Meghan understood that they would never come back, under any circumstances.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, book cover courtesy of Penguin Random House.
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- Camera Press Rota 04335408. Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Westminster Hall for the lying in State of The Late HM Queen Elizabeth II,Image: 722705013, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: Camera Press Rota, Model Release: no, Credit line: Mark Stewart / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 17: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives to hold a vigil in honour of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall on September 17, 2022 in London, England. Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren mount a family vigil over her coffin lying in state in Westminster Hall. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 723678941, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- LONDON, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 17: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives to hold a vigil in honour of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Hall on September 17, 2022 in London, England. Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren mount a family vigil over her coffin lying in state in Westminster Hall. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 723679392, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Chris Jackson / Avalon
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- WINDSOR, ENGLAND – SEPTEMBER 19: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives at Windsor Castle on September 19, 2022 in Windsor, England. The committal service at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, took place following the state funeral at Westminster Abbey. A private burial in The King George VI Memorial Chapel followed. Queen Elizabeth II died at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on September 8, 2022, and is succeeded by her eldest son, King Charles III.,Image: 724206159, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: -, Model Release: no, Credit line: Leon Neal / Avalon
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- King Charles, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Featuring: Prince Harry, Meghan Duchess of Sussex Where: Windsor, England, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- King Charles, Camilla, Queen Consort, Prince William, Catherine Princess of Wales, Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex on a walkabout to meet members of the public at Windsor Castle in Berkshire following the death of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday. Featuring: Prince Harry Where: Windsor, England, United Kingdom When: 10 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
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- State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II held at Westminster Abbey in London. Featuring: Prince William, Prince of Wales, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Peter Phillips, King Charles III, Princess Anne, Princess Royal Where: London, England, United Kingdom When: 19 Sep 2022 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images **North America Rights Only**
That DailyFail cover. OMG. Literally ranting over Harry’s book to distract from Charles meeting with monet launderers.
Disgusting. They’re not even trying to hide the fact they’re using Haz for deflection.
I haven’t read the Fail for years now because, mental health! Except for occasional pics but my rule is never read the article or comments!
If you’ve read the captions, then you’ve read the articles! All of their “articles” seem to be a reprint of the main caption interspersed with additional photos to make them appear as if they were a long read. They’re like fifth graders trying to stretch a paragraph into a 2-page report by adding large photos and using 18pt Comic Sans.
Cashew I’ve been much happier not reading it last 5 years. I might see the odd headline but I only go there for pics I can’t see elsewhere. It’s amazing how much one can avoid! I don’t feel perpetually miserable now. It’s fine once every 6 months and I barely see headlines.
He has always been used as a distraction and a deflection. To the rest of the BRF, the courtiers, and royal rota, Harry is not a human being with feelings and thoughts of his own; he is merely a meat shield in human form.
Sadly true….
And now Andrew and his ex sarah are praised to the skies for caring for the queens corgis and Harry and Meghan are trashed by the media. Just disgraceful
Billy Joel’s “My Life” just came up on my playlist. This is exactly what the rota and Chuck and Will can’t stand. Harry is a human being with his own life. He is not an object to be used as they wish, to cover their transgressions and do their work.
“I don’t care what you say anymore, this is my life
Go ahead with your own life, leave me alone”
He truly is “Good King Harry.”
A simply stellar human.
@Emly-C That’s far from my favorite Billy Joel song but there are days I crank it to sing along loudly!
The Mail: Harry is bringing down the monarchy!
Also The Mail: Here’s a photo of the King with his money launderer.
I mean, its so obvious what they’re doing that its funny in a really sad/pathetic way.
Looking extremely forward to reading Harry’s own words and am going through my pallet of popcorn 🍿 as I watch the the little fires everywhere from BP, KP, and their minions. 2023 is already shaping up to be delightful.
I know this isn’t supposed to be the takeaway from this article, but “Queen Elizabeth the Great”? Um, why? Because she just happened to stay alive longer than any other monarch? You don’t get to be called “the Great” when the empire fell to pieces (thank god!) during your reign and the Commonwealth began to crumble. Settle down, Danny.
I noticed that too! He was so far over the top in that screed.
And there already was a Queen Elizabeth with a true claim to “the Great.” (Not “the Good,” but that’s different.) She most definitely did not stick her head in the sand when there were problems.
Funnily enough, QE the First did nothing when there were problems, and hoped that eventually the problem would go away. It usually did.
I had assumed that was Kaiser just exaggerating what he said but nope, apparently not, lol. These people….
I thought it was a Kiaser-ism too! Good looking out, Miranda.
I was gobsmacked when I read Elizabeth the Great. Great, my foot. When people say what a wonderful queen she was, I ask them to tell me what things she did that made her an excellent monarch, And they look at me puzzled, and then can’t come up with anything. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Then they say well her coronation was hugely popular around the world. Then I say oh, she was Elizabeth the Great because she walked down a carpeted aisle dripping with jewellery? Then I’m told I’m argumentative and I don’t understand!
I grew up in the UK and became accustomed to the monarchy because it was there. My disenchantment began in the mid 60s when a huge slag heap at a coal mine slid down a slope and buried a village. Aberfan. Over 140 people were killed including over 100 children in school. And Elizabeth the Great? Carried on with whatever she was doing at the time, i.e. did nothing. The country was up in arms about the royal response or lack thereof, and Lord Snowdon (Margaret’s husband) and then Prince Philip went to visit. Eventually (I think it may have been a week or two afterwards) the queen went to the site. I remember my parents discussing the fact there was a lot of backpedalling about the queen not going or sending a message, and my dad was adamant that the subsequent stories about she didn’t want to get in the way, were just CYA. Both my parents believed that the Royals lived in such a bubble that they had no idea how something so horrific could affect people, and they were so emotionally sterile they couldn’t imagine the pain. My dad was particularly upset that the queen didn’t appear to understand her role which was to support her subjects. His opinion was that she fell down on the job, and ever after he could not abide her or her family.
As for me, I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but as the years have gone by it’s gone from hard to do so, to very hard, to impossible.
How generous of Harry and Meghan (I assume Meghan agreed to it) to donate their earnings from his memoirs book sales to charity. It just goes to show that they are not only beautiful on the outside but the inside too. Harry and Meghan could have paid off their mortgage on their Montecito home with that money but they chose to improve the lives of total strangers instead by donating it to worthwhile causes. I just love them more everyday.
I wonder if their home in Montecito isn’t already paid off, though? Or it’s set up to be paid through a trust? Their net worth (that is publicly known – so a lot more could be privately reported, again for example if he has money in an irrevocable or revocable trust) is 60 million that may or may not take this 20 million into account. Like I doubt that the home is in their names, but rather in the name of a trust (it’s still theirs, they own it, but it’s in the “Harry Mountbatten-Windsor revocable trust” name, or it could be the “HMW revocable trust” etc).
But either way, if they want their house to be paid off, it already is. I just doubt that they themselves are making monthly mortgage payments on it, because that doesn’t make sense financially unless the interest rates were so good when they purchased – and they were certainly better then than they are now! From a financial and security standpoint, I don’t think they themselves are making monthly payments on a personal loan in a house held in their personal names. But I am only speaking from personal knowledge, based on what I’ve seen in the units held in the condo building I live in, or more importantly what I’ve seen in Naples, Florida where my mom lives. Like the building in DC where I own a condo, I can search tax records on every unit, which I did one day when I was bored, and several of the nicest units (worth 5 million or so) are owned by a trust. So I could never figure out who lived there, haha!
While I think the amount they privately and publicly donate to charity is astonishing, and bless them for it, I also think that they make smart financial choices.
TBH, I was under the impression the fee for writing the book was for him, and the proceeds from the sales were to be donated… but I dunno.
At the end of the day I think they are quite savvy about money and are not going to be doing silly things with regards to their personal finances.
@InsertCatchyName, that’s what I thought, too. I don’t care enough to go back to read all of the press releases/articles/etc. and figure out what was stated officially and what’s just speculation, but for some reason, I was under the impression that the advance was Harry’s to keep, and that he would donate all profits above and beyond that. I’m really not sure; I could definitely be wrong. But doing it that way also seems to make a lot of sense.
In any case, he’s donating way more of his own (earned) money than any other member of the BRF, so nobody should be bitching about it and claim he’s not giving enough…give me a break.
The rest of them do nothing but constantly TAKE from other people so they’re in no position to criticize Harry.
I really thought that would be the deal. He’s not making money off it. I bet any press he does will be centered on childhood mental health. (And even though everyone says unlikely I’m still hoping for a speaking tour.)
I do worry a bit about how they are always donating money they make to charity. Their life is not inexpensive. They seem to have gotten in at the top of the bubble on both streaming and podcasting. Their lives will be long and the money won’t necessarily be flowing like it is now.
However, Meghan does seem to have a good head on her shoulders. I just hope they are making sure that charitable is coming after building that nest egg that will last them their lives. There will be causes just as worthy in the future.
I mean, they literally announced a partnership with an ethical investment firm. At this point their money is making money and they have plenty of capital to cover their charitable endeavors on top of their lifestyle.
Looking at this again, I’m realizing that a lot of this money is going to their own charities and thus supporting them.
@Sunday Their life is very expensive. They don’t know if the money is going to keep coming at the rate it currently is. In fact, it probably won’t. I’m sure they are being smart, but all it takes is losing one of your income streams to make previous charitable donations seem unwise. Look at Amber Heard. She pledged a large donation to the ACLU. Johnny tied her up in very expensive court cases. She had to spend the money on that and now he is attacking her for not making the promised donations. Circumstances can change, especially when there is someone as bitter and powerful as the BRF (and Murdoch) gunning for you. And I’m not against their being charitable, just worried that their desire to seem blameless in the face of all the attacks against them may lead to unwise financial decisions.
I’m sure Harry and Meghan know how to handle their money. They are two intelligent people.
Fortunately for H&M, their connections ensure that they have access to the best financial advisors possible. I imagine they have trusts set up for themselves and their children, and they’re increasing the principle with Harry’s salary from BetterUp and Meghan’s podcasting. They’re not giving it ALL away — and good for them.
Prince Harry seems like a bright fellow so I wouldn’t worry about that. Also, Meghan was an actress and had to support herself, so she understands that when people take on projects intermittently, they have to plan for uncertain times. And we’ve ALL been through the same pandemic when work and income sources were altered. I think that anyone who was paying attention re-learned these important lessons again.
Love, love, love the book title. So powerful. Harry is taking ownership of what he’s been called since he was born. I’m hard pressed to find ANY book written by an RR that has not referenced him as a SPARE-much less the multitude of BM/RR articles. Preordered his book at my local bookseller at full price. The owner is fabulous and will not carry RR books. She loves M & H.
The official announcement from PRH was that the would be donating proceeds-not all proceeds.
lol at the faux concern about the Sussexes finances. As if..hypothetically, they bought their Montecito home in June/July 2020l Interest rates were 3% or less. The sell price was $14.5 mil. According to the BM, the Sussexes took out a loan for $9.5 million in 2020. Rates were 3% or less at that time. May 2022 – their Montecito home doubled in value.
Well not all the money – only some. I’m sure the advance he got is much more than what he donated.
“but in Spanish, the memoir will be called Spare: En La Sombra, or In The Shadow. Hilaria Baldwin said “si, yo se!” “
lmao
I lmyo too. Okay is Hilaria Baldwin from Spain or not?
Hilary from Boston LOL
Hilaria is Hillary from Boston who used a fake identity to hook a rich celeb, and even after being found out, she doubled down
I cackled so hard
I died! Making fun of Hilaria’s ridiculous lie is never going to get old.
IIRC, “Go Spare” in British slang can mean getting fired from a job and/or getting extremely angry.
So as a noun, could mean, 3 things: superfluous, non-working and/or our outrageously angry?
That’s clever and appropriate, for Harry, but is it accurate? What say you, Brits and Brit-adjacents?
When I saw the cover I was thinking it had the same vibes as Meghan’s Variety photos- that golden hour, sort of hazy dusky feel ,now I know why.
Great name, great cover. Bring it on.
I like it too! And I like how his necklace creates the illusion of parentheses…making the title even more evocative in my opinion
It has been fun to see the meltdown of the royal rotas. Karma is coming for them with release of Harry’s memoir.
Half the time, when it comes to this particular subject, I feel like the rota rats aren’t just taking talking points from the firm…they’re worried about their own role in the dysfunction being called out, and they’re scared as s***. I’ll bet good money that Harry’s memoir exposes the whole system and calls out the rota rats and their part in it specifically. I hontestly think he’ll be much harder on the press (which he’s always loathed) than he will on certain family members.
I’m just flabbergasted at the unmitigated chutzpah in the RR to say that 1) The Sussexes were welcomed back during the queen’s funeral. Are they kidding? If that was a welcome, then that welcome had knuckles in it; and 2) saying that Harry’s decision to publish a book (which was announced at least a year ago) was “ghoulish” just because the queen decided to pop off and die at this time. Weren’t these the same rota who were positively gleeful at the thought that many books about the monarchy & the Sussexes were coming out in 2022, and they openly hoped that their rota(n) books would drown out Harry’s? The RR seems to think that just because they write their feverish wishes in the media every day (like Harry was going to delay his book or cancel it altogether, Hint, Hint), the Sussexes are supposed to comply. Fat chance!
I was going to add a #3 but the less said about Charles’s coronation, the better. Anyway, that’s happening in England, perhaps the Commonwealth countries may be interested but the U.S. certainly isn’t, and Harry lives in the U.S. now. Nothing slows down, or is delayed, or cancelled because Charles will finally get to sit in his mummy’s big chair.
No 2 within hours on Amazon (us) and no 1 within about 12? Hrs of press release? The RR must be spitting chips and it couldn’t happen to nastier people. The title is boss.
The RR were all pre-ordering their copy like the rest of us, while members of the BRF were requesting free copies from Harry.
And I hope the rf receive autographed copies at 11:55 pm Jan 9. Just as Harry received word of queen’s death 5 minutes before it was announced publicly.
I thought it would be a birthday present for Chuck but instead its a bday present for Kate LMAO.
Pre-ordered! Cannot wait. Whoever came up with that title, move of brilliance. It breaks my heart to think how he has lived & been treated like the ‘worst case scenario’ since the day he was born.
At this point, Wootton’s lunacy is just entertaining. I’ve already pre-ordered the hardback and audiobook, and I’ll probably end up ordering the Kindle version, too. Amazon US — #8 in the Top 100, #1 in History, Memoirs, Biographies of Royalty. NUMBER ONE in all categories in the UK! PRH is sitting on a pile of money.
It’s actually #1 on Amazon US for hardcover. Audiobook is #4, Kindle #13 as of a little after 8 am.
It’s 6:15 PDT on the West Coast and the Audiobook is #1 in Biography of Royalty, Kindle is #1 in History, and the Hard cover as you said is #1 for Amazon US.
It’ll be interesting how long this will stay on the best seller list when it hasn’t even been issued. I love that all of these RRs wrote books that can’t compete.
So excited!! Can’t wait…
Here we go again, Danny Boy Wooten ranting again about Harry. But this time it’s different as it’s the last gasps from Wooten as he tries to get in as many articles as he can before Harry’s book comes out. After that he will no longer have a career telling us what Harry thinks as we will know exactly what Harry is thinking … all we need to do is read Harry’s book.
Piers Morgan was melting down on Twitter yesterday. I’m sure he knows he may be dragged in the book. He was part of the phone hacking and his horrible treatment of Meghan. It will be interesting to see if Harry talks about it.
I better A LOT of RRs are fearing they will be targeted in Spare, hence the temper tantrums. I home Harry goes after his Monsters in Law, the Markles.
I hope he ignores the Markles. The Markles are a shit stain on the road they stepped over, and kept on walking. Let the Markles wallow in obscurity. (I just had a delicious thought: what if they could get a Markle to go on the “I’m a Celebrity so I’m gonna do stupid stunt show” along with Rotten Meathead Tindall! They could eat Kangaroo Ass together!)
The Markles are the sort of people who would be livid not to be mentioned, so I really hope Harry doesn’t.
@Lanne and @Christine, ITA. Zero mention of any of the Markles will enrage them more than anything he could write.
Hasn’t Little Tommy Junior (Markle, that is) already gone on that Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here show? I thought he had a few years ago when he needed money.
There will always be whining about whenever H&M do anything: too close to when someone died, someone’s BD (although their family BD’s don’t count), somebody’s coronation, some royal tour, trooping, Christmas speech…… I’m surprised DW didn’t whine about K’s BD.
Good on him for doing that. If this is not the loudest message “you dont own me anymore” I don’t know what is. Happy he’s breaking ties to the Firm. Would love it too in the future if the just went by Harry, show the world he is his own man apart from the title.
No doubt this book will be HUGE. It’s already #1 in US and the UK on Amazon. I preordered the hardback and the Kindle version. I know 2 months seems like a long wait but the last months of the year just fly by because of the holidays (at least to me lol)
I assume Wooton had the same feelings about books published by his fellow Rats around the time of the Queen’s death? Or published recently, during the reign of the new monarch? 🙄
I don’t even understand all of Dan’s mess.
@ChillingInDC, I had to stop reading to go vomit when he mentioned “the Windsor bosom.”
“Harry and Meghan were welcomed back into the Windsor bosom in the days before the Queen’s funeral.”
You mean the days when Charles banned them from that reception for TQ?
Or the days when they banned Harry from wearing his uniform at the funeral and stripped the ER off what he did wear at pre- funeral ceremonies?
Or do you mean the days before the funeral when the Palace crowed about stripping the hrh and titles from Archie and Lili?
Ick. Whose bosom exactly were they welcomed in to? (I know it’s a saying, but that’s a terrible visual).
Certainly not Khate’s…literally and figuratively.
Or the day Charles told Harry to leave his *wife and mother of his two children* in London because only “close family” was allowed at Balmoral.
Yeah……..sofiesta was allowed to be there with her husband edward; bulliam had already telegraphed his decision not to allow his assistant to be there and everyone made excuses for them; and pedoAndrew, of course, isnt married.
So by rights, Meghan OUGHT to have been there, given that both H&M had wanted her to there and had planned for her to be there. So despite the fact that we only heard thru the usual rotarats and not directly from BP (which is their usual M-O to use their media mouthpieces) that M wasnt invited to go to balmoral, there is no doubt in anyone’s mind that a deliberate insult to H&M, particularly M, was handed down from BP, meaning charlesDaTurd.
It has been clear to me since the funeral – especially with H&M’s spokesperson shutting down the “will he/wont he” uniform debacle by saying H is only there to honor his grandmother and that he is prepared to wear a morning suit to any and every event surrounding the funeral – that H&M were steadfastly and conscientiously participating in their final hurrah with the british royal family and were prepared to walk thru fire to accomplish that.
This belief was driven home in The Cut (which that smarmy interviewer botched) when M said altho she had lost her father, she had told H that that doesnt have to be the case with him and his father, tho that decision was entirely up to H. The fact that they have had such a discussion tells me that H is prepared to give charles the same “space” he’s already given to bulliam and the treatment at the funeral might have solidified this decision.
I look forward to confirming this belief when I read SPARE.
The press and roylists are complaining that Harry is not donating enough. But considering the other royals rarely give away any money and always go to charities empty handed, hes doing a lot more that the rest of his family. Kaiser makes a good point the rest of the money from the book has probably has gone to the Foundation.
All William and Kate can offer is an odd smile here and there. And that came directly from William.
They’re mad bc they don’t think he has donated the entire advance. Maybe it did all go to Archewell, maybe he kept some money back for his mortgage, whatever. People are so concerned about his money lol. i don’t see the same kind of energy for the duchies of cornwall and lancaster.
If they donated the whole advance to charity, then the press would just defame the charity or yell that they made the donation for a tax break.
They can’t win.
The original statement in the announcement on Archewell says “Prince Harry will be donating proceeds to charity.” That’s pretty non- specific. Doesn’t say all proceeds, and proceeds could be what he receives from sales, vs any advance. Also of course doesn’t mean there won’t be additional donations as the amount of pre orders becomes apparent.
In any event, he’s committed $2 million or so already, not a bad way to start!
Yeah, they want to monitor the pocket of a private citizen making his own money but show no interest in money that is public and could be used to better millions lives instead of just an elite few.
I will never understand there logic. I’m not worried about Archewell or the Sussex’s donating money, they do it all the time and are supporting their charities financially and with media attention. The real question is what are the Royal foundations doing with all the money they have? They show up empty handed for photo ops and somehow that is acceptable. What is never mentioned is the Sussex’s are taxpayers in two different countries and that is something I’m sure William and Charles have never done in any country. So they can save the outrage, they just look like court jesters.
Prince Harry’s book is available today for preorder in India and France I’m expecting the numbers to continue to rise. So the haters are screaming into the void, numbers talk.
Well at least he gave out money. William and Kate never specified where the money they won in the topless photos lawsuit were going to. The press pretended the damages awarded were going to be donated, but they let that slide.
I wonder how much Bowers, Levin, Brown, Lowe et el donated to charity from their books about Harry to his charities or any charity for that matter?
Just askin’ for a friend. 😉
Question, as I have no knowledge of the publishing world: Does Harry get more money when the book sells well? Or does he only get the $20 million up front?
author here. The 20 million is an advance against royalties. So he gets 20 million up front, and then he doesn’t get paid again until the book earns back the 20 million. Royalties for a hardcover are typically 10-15% of sale of each copy. Paperback is 5-8%. I’m not sure what audio book royalty rate is–my guess is lower than that. However, his contract will stipulate that he likely gets most, if not all of the proceeds from any other medium as well (selling the book for a film/tv option, radio rights, serialization rights, graphic novel rights, etc). Once the book earns back his 20 million against royalties, then his account will accrue the royalties from additional sales. Twice a year, he will receive (or his agent will receive, more likely) a royalty payment. (The agent receives the payment, deducts the 10-15% agent fee, and perhaps a publicist fee, etc). the rest goes to Harry’s account, and his accountant will then deduct taxes (which are not withheld by the publisher). So On top of the 20 million, Harry will likely get six or seven figure royalty checks every year for quite some time. I still get royalty checks for books I published 20 years ago.
A book is considered a failure if it doesn’t earn back the advance–that means the publisher lost money on the book.
Thanks Lanne, that is interesting, I didn’t know that about the “earning back,” but it makes sense, that’s why its called an “advance” I guess.
I’m assuming harry’s book will make back that advance very quickly lol.
Thanks Lanne and the others who replied. I was wondering this question too. It seems like there are a few options for how his contract was structured, but the takeaway is that (regardless of structure) Harry will be earning much more than the initial 20mil. I love this for him so much and hope Dan Rotten and the rest of the RR are choking on their spittle this morning imagining Harry laughing all the way to the bank while their books languish in the 50p bin.
Plus, he’s got a multi-book deal, right? So isn’t this just the first of 3? And (another question for the authors) will he get a separate advance for each book or was the 20mil for all the books? I guess it probably depends on contract structure?
Thanks @lanne! I appreciate the info and I’m glad you are still getting cheques on your work!
Thanks, lanne. It was explained to me once as a bucket. The ‘bucket’ is now 20 million deep (plus production and marketing budget), but that 20 mill is his to keep no matter what. Once the book earns 20 million and costs are covered, the publisher breaks even. Anything after that is profit to be shared however the contract is written. p.s. Now is the time to do purchase requests for your local public library collection.
Thank you!
Lanne thank you so much for sharing!
Will you ever write a book on the BRF and rota rats 😀
It depends on his contract.
The advance could be “advance against royalties” — he receives a royakty (25-33% cover price) per copy sold, the advance is a prepayment of royalties, and he won’t see additional money on the sales until the book sells enough copies that it has “earned out” and the number of copies sold times his royalty exceeds the advance. (Note: most books do not “earn out.”)
He could have taken a one-time flat fee.
Those are basically the two types of advances.
Harry most likely did the first. If the book earns out — and with fifteen languages, it should — it stands the possibility of earning an income every year
The $20 million advance is based on what the publisher thinks the book will sell, or in Prince Harry’s case the multiple books. And those estimates are usually conservative. Then he’ll get royalties on each book sold after that $20 million is recouped. So based on the pre-orders and the international release, both the publisher and the Prince should do very, very well.
20 million is an advance. He gets to keep that money and never give it back. If the book sells enough copies, his advance “earns out.” What that means is, if the book is sold for $20, and Harry earns 10% of the cost for each book sold ($2, in this hypothetical case), you divide 20 mil by $2 to see how many copies it will take to “earn out.” In this hypothetical case, that’s 10 million copies. So if the book sells 10,000,001 copies, Harry will get a royalty check for an additional $2. Any copies over 10 million, he earns a royalty. The publisher probably expects it to sell millions. Maybe even 20 million. If it does, Harry would earn an additional 20 million. If the book doesn’t sell more than 10 million—even if it only sells one copy—Harry gets to keep the 20 mil advance. That’s why people usually fight for higher advances upfront. Some fight for a higher royalty rate because you earn out faster and make more money per book. Hope that rudimentary explanation helps.
Thanks everyone!
I tried to do a library request this morning and the system could not find the book. I just did another one and it did. I should not have to wait to long.
@Barb Mill, I’ve already pre-ordered it so it hadn’t occurred to me to request it from my local library, but after seeing your comment, I’m going to anyway. I know it’s just a tiny drop in the bucket, but want to up his numbers in any way that I can. (Although considering the pre-orders, I don’t think he needs any help, lol.)
Reading Dan Wooten makes me feel utterly filthy, but I had to see if he really did insult gingers.
My god the rending of shirts and gnashing of teeth. This man calls anyone else a “moaner”? Get off the cross, Dan, we need the wood. And claiming Harry is living a life of “unbridled decadence” — earning his own money, of which he donates a ton to charity — unlike the rest of the family, who aren’t decadent at all of course.
I didn’t see any insult to gingers, but I could not read closely any more than I’d want to drink a mug of arsenic. Dear lord. And he ended with this: “How tragic that Harry will stop at nothing for his version of the truth to be published, to hell with the consequences for his father, brother, the memory of his grandmother or even the future of the monarchy itself.”
El. Oh. El. But man Harry must have seen some serious, serious shit. Whether he’ll talk about it in his book, idk. The rota is sure hoping he will though. Then they can scream and vomit and faint while talking about this thing they for some reason haven’t been allowed to talk about, but that they obviously know. There’s something very Iago about it, but far more transparent and screechy.
Lolz…Harry is father to two kids under 4. The only “unbridled decadence” he’s getting is probably a break from watching Paw Patrol
Unbridled decadence. The king cannot move pens himself but gestures to staff to move them. Camilla and Charles have untold luxuries and the wails will have more than 4 lavish residences soon. Wootton is in total denial.
Don’t forget about that gold piano. It’s in GOLD, for God’s sake.
Unbridled decadence with only one house? Not multiple palaces on multiple estates the size of small countries? No special guy to play the bagpipes to him every morning? No valet to draw his bath and put toothpaste on his brush or tie his shoes for him? Yes, indeed.
Unbridled decadence? Because their house has 14 bathrooms? Because Tyler Perry is their friend? Harry has an actual job as Chief Impact Officer at Better Up. He’s not swanning off for two-week holidays at a spa in India that costs more than a thousand dollars a day. With two toddlers, he’s lucky if they don’t wake him up at 5 in the morning.
Tragic? I’m confused. Wooten himself gets paid for publishing his own versions of the truth — even when he knows it’s not true. I wonder if he’s given any thought to the pain he, himself, has caused, along with consequences for individuals and “even the future of the monarchy itself?” The hypocrisy goes deep with this one.
Wooten is truly empurpled over this, isn’t he? What a loon.
@Annel, I cannot stop laughing at “empurpled.” It’s such a perfect description of this unhinged maniac. I want to try and use it more often, especially when talking about William 😂
Oh dear, so you saw The Simpson’s & Kaiser’s “embiggened,” and you raised it with your own “empurpled” huh? Well, I fold. I can’t do any better. (I must admit that I laughed aloud too).
Funny how the RR keeps saying that everything that Harry and Meghan say are are lies and in the same breath say they are trying to destroy the monarchy. If everything is false why are they so worried?
Harry is father to two kids under 4. The only “unbridled decadence” he’s getting is probably a break from watching Paw Patrol.
BTW where’s Tina Brown? She said the book would never see the light of day.
Which one of them said no-one would be interested in Harry’s book?
I can’t remember who said that but I remember somebody saying that.
Brown is somewhere wiping the egg of her face. I don’t think her hit piece The Palace Papers got this much pre-sale traffic. I think the RRs who wrote books about Harry fear Spare will debunk a lot of things they wrote and damage their credibility (more).
Tina Brown is busy buying up all the boxes of Depends she can find because she’s truly going to be sh*tting her knickers for the next few months.
Memo to the BRF and the Rota:
Harry has a couple of new titles: #1 bestselling author and most popular royal.
These titles were bestowed on the husband of Meghan and father of Archie and Lili by people in many countries with their little bags of cash.
Unfortunately, it does not appear that these titles can be taken away. So sorry.
It is a sad commentary that a monarchy should be in chaos because one of it’s own is telling the TRUTH. Wait for it; Charles will do every underhanded thing to get his hands on a copy so he can undermine the truth with his own rewriting of history. If he has to destroy Harry in the process he will.
I’ve been thinking about this since the other week when the argument was that if Harry told what he knows it could bring down Chuck and the entire monarchy. We already know about so many of Chuck’s dirty deeds that I’m wondering if the monarchy-wrecking info is something along the lines of what we know about his nonce brother. Because Chuck was also friends with Jimmy Saville. Im convinced it’s something like this because what else could be so damaging? Emotional abuse of Diana? Check. Cheating? Check. Physical abuse of staff? Check. Bags o’ cash from corrupt people? Check. Inappropriate interference in laws/politics? Check.
I’m sure I’m missing something! (Probable children outside his marriage, just like the rumors about Peggington?) None of those things would bring down the monarchy. But whoever was floating that out there (about Harry knowing this info) must also know how serious it is so maybe it’ll all come out someday.
“if the monarchy-wrecking info is something along the lines of what we know about his nonce brother”
There is a crazy rumor on several unreliable sites that Peggington is not into Rose gardening but is into Rock climbing. Could it be something like this??????
not long ago, we heard that he was investigating the details around what exactly happened to his mother. maybe it’s *that*.
Blitznik, I personally think that if the BRF had anything “sketchy” on Meghan, they would have already put it out there to discredit her. Yes, that’s my personal, unsupported opinion — which is just as valid as your personal unsupported opinion, and even more likely to be true. Maybe I’m “naive” too. Maybe you’re biased. Flinging out words like that is not the same thing as supporting your assertions with actual data.
As to the “receipts” you have a point. And yes, what’s been buried can be unburied. That’s true for Harry. That’s also true of William. Digging up receipts for Harry likely risks digging up more than a few for William in the process. A prudent person would be careful with the digging.
@Blitznik, BURIED? The BRF, working with the British media, took everything they could possibly find about Meghan and splashed it all over the tabloids for the past six years. What exactly do you think has been “buried?” And why would they have buried anything when their goal was to publicly disgrace and discredit her, ultimately driving her away?
As for Harry, the reason the BRF is in this mess in the first place is because for years and years, they “buried” dirt on William while releasing everything negative they had on Harry. For his entire life.
I’m really wondering why you seem to think they’re sitting on all sorts of negative stories about the Sussexes, keeping them quiet, when they have absolutely no incentive to do so.
Anything the BRF had to use against Meghan would have come out a long time ago. As it was, the worst we got was that she was married before, she’s from LA, she sends emails at 5 am, and once she wore earrings from MBS without being told who gifted them. They couldn’t PAY people who knew her to lie about her (i.e. Simon Rex, who I literally just called Rex Harrison and then had to delete and retype, poor Rex, lol.)
That’s all they have on her. We know bc they would have told us if they had ANYTHING else. Oh wait, she eats avocados.
Likewise Harry’s “shenanigans” have also been well documented bc Charles and William made sure of that, not realizing that now, they have nothing to hold over him.
@Blitznik — in every one of your comments you’ve consistently taken the other side without any solid information to back them up. Harry’s receipts are already out there. He’s spoken openly about them — the drinking, partying, drug use, therapy, etc. His army service was exemplary BTW. As for Meghan, again you have no proof of her alleged sketchy past and the tabloids would have unburied it by now if it existed, they are relentless about digging up dirt and have the money and contacts to get at it. Give up while you’re behind.
@Blitznik by Harry’s education, you mean the education he received while undiagnosed with dyslexia? The learning disablity missed by educators despite a supposededly superior learning environment? The one that wasn’t discovered until he began his (exemplary) military career?
By the way, people who grow up in toxic environments? When they start to deal with the issues manifested by those environments (as Harry has), they are usually very, very aware of their own skeletons and come to terms with them. They admit to them, and work on fixing things. Even better, they don’t give a s*** about them being used as weapons when toxic relatives make threats. They’re DONE with rug sweeping and are more than prepared to admit to their own faults when calling out the dysfunction and bad behaviors of others.
AKA, the firm and the rota rats have no power over Harry now (or Netflix lol), which is why we’re seeing this extinction burst from them lately.
@BayTampaBay If “Rock climbing” is what I think it is, in a just world that would be fine so long as his wife was okay with it. As in, Will is also into dudes, and had an affair with Rocksavage. Do you think that would threaten the monarchy though? Certainly the most extreme royalists are also extremely socially conservative, but it seems like such a small thing compared to everything else. Also, the rota seems convinced Harry knows something about *Charles* that could bring everything down.
The rest of the Royal family always look like they are playing dress up in their ceremonial uniforms. They look downright silly. Harry wears his uniform like he understands what it is. He looks like a true warrior who understands the dignity and sacrifice of those who wear the uniform.
Speaking of “campaigns”…. I pre-ordered the book, and I’m seriously considering getting an audio version as well. Amazon listed it as being available on CDs, and I started to wonder:
Aren’t audiobooks eligible for Grammys? As long as the RR and the BRF are going to freak out at Harry’s worldwide successes — wouldn’t it be great if they had even More to freak out about?
Book sales, audiobook sales, positive reviews, and a GRAMMY for the Montecito mansion mantelpiece!
Does anyone know know for sure about eligibility— and what enthusiastic supporters can do to push something like this along?
Yes, there are grammy’s for audiobooks. Jimmy Carter won one. The category is “best spoken word album”. I don’t know how they are nominated. How about a Pullitzer too?
That’s good to know. Thanks equality! And, yes — a Pulitzer would be great too!
OMG, a Pulitzer Prize, that would be awesome.
Yes Hillary Clinton won a grammy for her audiobook for It Takes A Village.
A Pulitzer and a Grammy…. and an Emmy or Oscar (whichever applies) for the Invictus doc when it comes out… I love this idea.
Where are the Wails? Are they on vacation and is TOB is incandescent with rage, again? I would think he is the one who is worried but has been suspiciously silent.
Maybe they’re writing a book — and negotiating a December publication date? lol
It’d be the shortest book in the world.
I just preordered the hardback copy. I usually order the kindle version, but this book deserves a space on my bookshelf, definitely.
Is this guy really that besotted with the Monarchy? How dare Harry publish his memoir a “mere” four months after his grandmother’s death. Hello, he was supposed to publish it sooner but pushed it back! He talked about how much he respected her and we know they had a good rapport, so get over it. I doubt his book will say anything about her that is less than respectful.
And the part about the coronation of Charles being “historic!” How is it historic? It’s yet another white man becoming King of England, carrying on the same arcane (and often downright silly) traditions they’ve been trotting out for centuries to appease the masses and amuse tourists. Charles might be progressive in some ways but he’s the same old same old for the most part.
Just put in my pre order. The BRF will be alright, if they can survive “I want to be your tampon”, they can survive this.
I agree SOMECHICK. Why would they want to ever return? The coronation? Not likely. Also I think the tabloids and the courtiers have as much to fear or even more than the RF. Harry may expose the contracts between the family and the tabloids and between the courtiers and the tabloids in ‘Spare’.
Roan Inish, that’s what I think, too. I keep thinking that the tabloids could well be skewered. The courtiers may be “outed” for the issues they cause the family members. Oh, yes, I think there are people who are going to be very unhappy when all is said and done.
the title is evocative and brilliant. read a lot of “well, he hasn’t been the spare since George was born”, as if that negates almost 30 years of being told that’s what you were. it can take a long, long time to shake that off, your “family” telling you what you are.
the picture is money as well. i preordered the book. i cannot wait to read it.
Like I said yesterday, Harry is doing Louis and Charlotte a big, big favor. After Harry’s book, no one is likely to call them Spares. And George is NOT a spare. george is an Heir, so the people screaming that are wrong. George is an underaged heir. William was never Charles’s spare. If William becomes king while George is still under the age of majority, a regency would have to be appointed for him. Harry would be expected to serve as regent, but I imagine that the heir would have final say as to who his regent would be. Similarly, Andrew would have been the likely regent for William in Charles predeceased his son, but it could be possible that Anne may have been named a possible regent instead. It’s highly unlikely that Harry would be named a regent for George at this point unless it’s a legal thing that the regent is the next in line. I don’t think any regent controversies have come up in the past 200 years, so I can’t think of any precedent.
i hadn’t even thought about the implications for Charlotte and Louis, but yeah. no one would dare call either of them a spare because of this. GKH is a very thoughtful uncle.
I don’t know when this day will come, but at some point, Charlotte and Louis are going to be made aware of the existence of this book, get their hands on a copy asap, and probably binge the entire thing in one sitting.
Charlotte will probably have to hide it under her mattress or something like some people do with p0rn, lol. She seems like she’ll be smart enough to know that they’ll want to keep their parents totally unaware of the fact that she and Louis are reading this book.
George and Charlotte will hear about this book on Jan 11 at school.
@Nic, I know they’ll see/hear chatter about it when it’s released, but they’re still so little. I mean the day when they’re old enough to actually read the book. (And possibly GTFO just like their uncle did.)
Of course he is. Harry and Meghan are givers, not takers, just as Princess Diana was. That’s why the taker royals and their minions are scared shitless by them and want/wanted to destroy them all. They fear what they cannot understand and what they fear they seek to destroy. Simple simpletons.
Pre-ordered the Kindle version yesterday. Btw Harry’s ghostwriter (or maybe “collaborator” is a better word since Harry is already giving that person credit) also ghostwrote/co-wrote Andre Agassi’s memoir, Open, which has this exact style of cover pic and ofc shares the title style of a single word that holds a lot of meaning in the subject’s life. Open is an AMAZING book, it is one of my faves and I don’t like memoirs in general. But it is so real and profound, I love that book. I have very high hopes for Spare based on how great Open is.
I dont think the donations are going through Archewell as Archewell wasnt mentioned. We actually already knew about the Sentabale donation; it was announced at that Sentabale polo game that raised over $3 milloion in 2021 a couple months after the memoir was announced and it was referenced in the charity’s financial statement this year so they already got the check from Harry.
Wellchild is a great charity and i appreciate that when Harry talked to the parents in that video call about wanting to make sure they were ok in this winter coming up that he put his money where his mouth is and is helping the charity support them. Unfortunately trolls regularly go after their twitter account but it’s so obvious how much Harry’s hands on support means to those kids and their amazing parents.
$20M/$30 = 666,667 books. I bet it’s already earned out its advance.