News Desk
ISLAMABAD/LONDON: Bookshops across the United Kingdom opened at midnight to meet demand for Prince Harry‘s much-anticipated memoir “Spare” after it officially went on sale.
In London, fans queuing to get a hardback copy of the book described wanting to hear the story “from the horse’s mouth”.
It follows the chaotic launch of the memoir with multiple leaks and copies becoming available in Spain last week.
Prince Harry’s book on demand
Waterstones, a British book retailer that operates 311 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and also other nearby countries, said that Prince Harry’s book had been one of its “biggest pre-order titles in a decade”.
The booksellers in the UK opened their flagship Piccadilly branch early on Tuesday in hopes of high customer demand, as the memoir was published worldwide in 16 languages.
Branches of retailer WH Smith in locations including Victoria, Euston, Heathrow and Gatwick were also among those to extend their business hours for the release.
Prince Harry’s memoir is already top of the best sellers in the UK for online retailer Amazon, after days of headline-grabbing revelations from leaks ranging from how he lost his virginity to claims that Prince Harry was attacked by his elder brother, Prince William.
The 410-page book, revealing the conflict and personal tensions inside royal palaces, sheds light on Prince Harry’s version of growing up and then falling out with the Royal Family.
So far Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace have not responded to the revelations.
The claims in the memoir include that Prince Harry begged his father King Charles not re-marry, that he killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving in Afghanistan, and he took psychedelic drugs, partly in response to panic attacks, and that Meghan and Catherine had a problematic relationship.
The book paints a gloomy picture of the brothers, “Harold” and “Willy” being in conflict
A major theme in the memoir is the sense of unresolved grief for the loss of his mother, Princess Diana, with Prince Harry saying he had a “post-traumatic stress injury”.
The press was held responsible for pursuing the late Diana and Prince Harry said in one of his several interviews promoting the memoir that it would be his “life’s work” to alter the media landscape.
There are also unexpected details in the book, such as Prince Harry and Prince William calling each other “Harold” and “Willy”, that Harry used to get his clothes at the discount outlet TK Maxx and watched a lot of friends on television.
Prince Harry recalls in the memoir that he first found out from the BBC website that Queen Elizabeth had died, rather than from the Royal family.
The revelations in the book about tensions with the Royal Family, including Camilla, the Queen Consort, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, also provoked much hullabaloo.
Despite the leaks, many queued late into the night in the UK to be the first to buy the memoir.
