Spare a thought for expected prepublication outrage over Harry’s tell-all

Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, will be published January 10 – and critics are preparing for bookageddon.

It’s confirmed – Prince Harry’s memoir is called Spare and will be published January 10.

Let the hysteria begin: forget the Christmas countdown, critics are preparing for bookageddon.

Amid all the furore, may I humbly point out, it’s just a memoir – people do write them.

The title is a nod to the phrase, “heir and a spare” – William being the heir, Harry the spare. It has more connotations, of course – will Harry spare nothing; has he been sent spare by his life behind palace walls? Unkind headline writers will also plump for the more obvious, “spare us”.

Prince Harry's upcoming memoir, Spare. Picture: Penguin Random House

Still, spare a thought for the Penguin editorial team tasked with working on what is one of the most-hyped biographies of recent years, it can’t have left them with much spare time.

You will need a spare $59.99 to buy the tell-all when it hits the shelves in the New Year, although several UK stores are already offering it for half-price and it isn’t even printed yet.

Puns aside, the publishers promise it will take readers back to “one of the most searing images of the 20th century – two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow – and horror.” Not that far back, to be fair, as we’ll have just watched the whole thing rehashed on The Crown.

“As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling – and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is his story at last,” the blurb says. “With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.”

Prince William (left) and Prince Harry, the sons of Diana, Princess of Wales, bow their heads as their mother's coffin is taken out of Westminster Abbey. Picture: Adam Butler/Pool/AFP

Proceeds from the reported $US20 million advance will be given to charity and Harry has already donated $1,500,000 to his organisation Sentebale, which helps young people in southern Africa affected by HIV/AIDS.

Of course, none of this will spare us from the prepublication outrage over what the book does and doesn’t contain, and whether Harry should or shouldn’t have written it, from now until its release.

Piers Morgan got straight in, tweeting, “Prince Privacy will hurl his latest torrent of malevolent money-making muck at the Royal Family just in time to ruin his father’s coronation as King”, labelling him a “petulant, selfish, greedy, hypocritical brat”. He’s definitely pre-ordered it.

Book Twitter, however, is loving the title, with many posters already searching for book clubs to join, stating “this needs wine”.

Interestingly, it’s not being published in time for Christmas, which commentators are putting down to last-minute revisions post the Queen’s funeral.

That may be a good or bad thing for the Royal Family. On the one hand, none of the Windsors is likely to get a copy in their stocking and have their Chrimbo ruined by the gift-wrapped revelations. However, its timing is rather like when your boss schedules a meeting for the minute you get back to work and leaves you in a Noel-hell throughout the festive season, worrying the kind of sack you’re going to get isn’t from Santa. Merry Christmas!

I can’t wait: it’s a gift that keeps giving.