Prince Harry’s local bookstore has revealed that it has only sold around 30 copies of the royal’s controversial autobiography Spare.
The bombshell tome, which pocketed Harry, 38, a rumoured £16 million ($20 million) advance, has been selling well – becoming the fastest selling non-fiction book since records began, according to its publisher.
But the book has reportedly not been performing as well in Harry and Meghan’s, 41, upmarket California enclave of Montecito.
Owner of local book store the Tecolote Book Shop, Mary Sheldon, told the Guardian that she has only shifted some 30 copies of Spare since its release.
While Prince Harry (pictured in London in 2020) has shifted many copies of his controversial biography Spare, a local bookseller says they have only sold some 30 books
Describing Spare by saying ‘it’s a book’, Mary added that some further copies have been reserved by locals, who are planning to collect their copy in person.
She said of Prince Harry: ‘He took time to gather his thoughts and wanted to publish it, so I am here to sell it.’
The autobiography has sold 750,000 copies across all formats – print, audio and e-book – in the UK since its publication on January 10.
This makes it the biggest selling memoir ever for its first week of publication, according to publishers Transworld, the UK division of Penguin Random House.
Prince Harry’s scathing memoir Spare (pictured) has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book since records began
Official figures from Nielsen BookData showed the book, which was written by celebrity ghostwriter JR Moehringer, sold 467,183 print copies in its first week alone.
The data released by Nielsen shows the book has broken the previous record of 210,506 set by the first Pinch Of Nom cookbook – written by Kay Allinson – in 2019.
Despite the memoir being leaked in Spain ahead of the official publication date, Nielsen’s data suggest sales were not negatively affected.
Prince Harry made several claims about the royal family and revealed painfully personal anecdotes in his explosive memoir Spare, which was released on January 10.
Despite its massive global sales, the book has not been selling well locally, according to the owner of Tecolote Book Shop (pictured) in Montecito
The book covers every aspect of his life, charting the disconnect with his elder sibling – whom he calls ‘Willy’ – that started from the moment he was born, when Charles allegedly declared that his duty was done.
He accuses William, 40, of being immersed in his position as future heir to the throne, claims he ignored him when they were pupils at Eton College, and says he repeatedly put him in his place.
In one paragraph Harry, who is affectionately called ‘Harold’ by his family, describes himself as feeling like he was born to be the ‘spare kidney’ for his elder brother.
Harry also accuses his elder brother of being the aggressor during ‘Megxit’, claiming their relationship had become so strained and damaged that William would only ‘scowl’ at him.
In the book, Harry (pictured, right) details the fallout with his brother William (pictured, right), as well as describing rifts with other family members
He describes several particularly awkward meetings between himself, Meghan, William and Kate, saying his brother and sister-in-law appeared uncomfortable at being hugged by his future wife.
He also appears to accuse the Princess of Wales of over-reacting by demanding an apology from Meghan after she fell out with Kate over wedding plans.
Kate was apparently offended that Meghan attributed forgetfulness to ‘baby brain’ after the birth of Prince Louis.
Harry also reveals that the two couples even rowed over seating plans and whether William and Kate should be put together.
He says when William confronted Meghan and defended his wife, Meghan snapped back at the prince, ‘take your finger out of my face’. While Charles is spared more pain than many had expected, Harry paints him as an ineffectual father who wasn’t even able to hug him when telling him of his mother’s death in a car crash.
He says that when he confided in Charles about suffering panic attacks as a grown man, the prince looked at his plate sadly and said he had failed him.
However, in what are sure to be distressing passages for the King, Harry describes how when he returned to the UK to attend Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021, a clearly distressed Charles wailed at his warring sons not to make his ‘final years a misery’.