Prince Harry Said He Cut Out Details From Memoir ‘Spare’ That He Wouldn’t Be Forgiven For

There are a lot of details in Prince Harry’s memoir Spare that have shocked fans, but he claims that they’re just the tip of the iceberg. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the Duke of Sussex claims he had to edit out some stories that would have made it impossible to ever reconnect with his family and the book could easily have been twice as long.

“The first draft was different,” he said. “It was 800 pages, and now it’s down to 400 pages. It could have been two books, put it that way. And the hard bit was taking things out.”

In particular, there are stories about himself, his older brother Prince William, and his father King Charles that he doesn’t “want the world to know.”

“I don’t think they would ever forgive me,” he added. The book already includes stories about altercations in the family that don’t cast anyone in a good light, but the Duke insists that he is not interested in “taking down” the monarchy or royal family.

“This is not about trying to collapse the monarchy, this is about trying to save them from themselves,” he said.

The book includes an intimate look at Harry’s life after the loss of his mother, Princess Diana, his relationship with wife Meghan Markle and the challenges they faced within the family, the loss of his virginity to an older woman, and his estrangement from his brother following his marriage.

If he did want to write a second book, he probably could right away. After the book’s release on Tuesday, the Guinness World Records declared Spare the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time. On the very first day, it sold 1.43 million copies in the U.K., U.S., and Canada.

Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.