Prince Harry's memoir Spare is due to be released in paperback form this week(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Prince Harry’s memoir gets paperback release - with poignant dedication

After becoming the fastest selling nonfiction book of all time, Prince Harry's memoir will finally hit shelves in paperback form this week - with a poignant dedication to the people closest to him

22 Oct 2024, 23:04 by Phoebe Tonks · The Mirror

Almost two years on since Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir hit our bookshelves and sent shockwaves ricocheting around the world with a series of bombshell claims about the royal family - the bestselling book has finally been released in paperback form.

On October 22, the Duke of Sussex ’s memoir was officially released as a paperback in the United States, where the Prince now resides, with the UK editor set to follow later this week on October 24. Despite the second printing however, Penguin Random House has confirmed that “the content of the boom are unchanged” which includes the heartfelt dedication to the people closest to him - that prefaces the book itself.

"For Meg and Archie and Lili…and of course, my mother," Prince Harry wrote in the dedication of Spare, which was originally published in January 2023.

Spare was packed with jaw-dropping anecdotes and entitled musings( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

The tribute specifically honours his wife Meghan Markle, their two children Prince Archie, 5 and Princess Lilibet 3, as well as a poignant mention of the Duke’s late mother Princess Diana who tragically passed away in a Paris car accident back in 1997. The book’s epigraph - the quote that opens the book - is also especially poignant and carries a huge meaning to the Prince, as it opens with a poignant line from Requiem for a Nun by William Faulkner which reads: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

In the past, when many books have been released in paperback form, they have commonly been updated to include additional chapters of further information, but the decision to not add any further additions to Harry’s memoir could be seen as a crucial step towards reconciling with his estranged family - many of whom had taken issue with the contents of the book during it’s initial release.

Among some of the more damning claims made by the book, were allegations that Prince William had knocked him to the floor, that William and Kate were responsible for his questionable Nazi Halloween costume choice, Queen Camilla ’s description as a “wicked stepmother” and Harry’s claims that his stepmother had leaked stories about him to the press.

The decision not to add further material to the book could be considered an olive branch to the royals( Image: Shutterstock)

Understandably the revelations proved to sour already strained tensions within the royal family, but the decision not to add any further fuel to the fire could be seen as an olive branch to help ease tensions in the wake of the numerous health woes to have befallen the royals this year, with King Charles, Princess Kate and Sarah Ferguson all having suffered from cancer.

Following the book’s initial release on January 10, 2023, the bombshell memoir sold over six million copies worldwide and cemented itself in the history books as the fastest selling nonfiction book of all time, according to the Guinness World Records. Offering a candid and at times raw insight into Harry’s experience growing up in the royal spotlight, the book didn’t hold back as it addressed several key moments in his life - with the title itself, nodding towards the old adage “the heir and the spare” that came from living in his brother’s shadow.