Prince Harry’s memoir, which included very harsh revelations for the British monarchy, got off to a flying start, selling more than 1.4 million copies on the first day for the English edition, the publisher said on Thursday.
According to Penguin Random House, “Spare” (“Le Suppléant” in French), these sales in the UK, United States and Canada in all formats and in all forms (digital, audio, etc.) are unprecedented an essay published by this publishing giant has been published. The latter did not provide figures for the other 15 languages in which the book was published.
In this book, published on Tuesday, four months after the death of Elizabeth II and four months before the coronation of Charles III, the prince, who has been in exile in California since 2020, draws a critical portrait of his relatives, some of whom are more than twenty years old. Years.
Nobody comes out of the “Substitute” unscathed: neither himself, in his drug and alcohol-ridden youth, who tells his story shamelessly, nor his father King Charles III, nor his brother Wilhelm, who was most attacked, nor her mother. In-laws and now Queen Consort Camilla or her sister-in-law Kate.
His “beloved brother and best enemy” is the most criticized. Portrayed as angry, William would never have loved his wife Meghan, whom he considered “ill-mannered and aggressive”, and knocked Harry to the ground in the dog bowl during a 2019 argument.
Harry describes a longstanding rivalry between William “the heir” and himself “the proxy”. “I was the shadow, the fodder, the plan B”.
Buckingham Palace has so far remained silent on the allegations, although the press reports on the Windsors’ displeasure, citing unnamed sources.
King Charles III and William and Kate will make their first public appearances since the book’s release on Thursday.
Despite the book’s strong sales, the prince’s popularity has waned in Britain, where he is often portrayed as a spoiled brat who wants the perks of royalty without the inconveniences. Just 26 per cent of Brits have a positive opinion of the Duke of Sussex, according to a YouGov survey conducted in early January, down seven points from December.
Even young people who have long been more positive are now divided, with 41% positive opinions and the same proportion of negative opinions.