Prince Harry's Controversial Memoir 'Spare' Is Now Fastest-Selling Nonfiction Book, Breaks Guinness World Record

A week after Prince Harry's controversial memoir "Spare" was officially released, its sales reportedly broke official records for the fastest-selling nonfiction book in the United Kingdom.

According to The Guardian, "Spare" became the fastest-selling nonfiction book since records began after it sold nearly half a million copies in the U.K. after its release on January 10.

In its first week on sale, Nielsen reported that U.K. retailers sold a total of 467,183 print copies of the book, making it No. 1 on the book charts.

The publisher of the most sought book, Penguin Random House (PRH), said Spare had sold 750,000 copies in the U.K. in all formats, such as hardbacks, ebooks, and audiobooks, during its first week.

Out of the total number, 400,000 copies were sold on its first day of sale. Second place in this week's U.K. chart is reportedly Nathan Anthony's "Bored of Lunch: The Healthy Slow Cooker Book," which sold 31,928 copies.

Larry Finlay, managing director of Transworld, noted that aside from being the fastest-selling, Spare is also the "biggest-selling memoir ever in its first week of publication."

Finlay said that even the Guinness World Records had confirmed that the book was the fastest-selling nonfiction book ever on its first day of publication. Transworld is the PRH division that published the book in the U.K.

Since Nielsen BookData's official printed book sales records started in 1998, Spare has reportedly been the fastest-selling nonfiction book in the U.K.

The previous record was held by the first Kay Allinson's "Pinch of Nom" cookbook, which sold 210,506 copies in its first three days of release in 2019.

John Cotterill, nonfiction category manager of bookstore chain Waterstones, said the sales of Spare "have been exceptional."

He noted that seven days after publication, the book is still one of the fastest-selling books in Waterstones in a decade.

Spare also reportedly remains No. 1 on the Amazon bestsellers chart and is the bestselling nonfiction title on the site.

PRH said the book sold a combined 1,430,000 copies in the U.K., United States, and Canada during its first day of sale.

It overtook former President Barack Obama's "A Promised Land," which previously recorded the publishing company's biggest first-day sales.

Prince Harry's "Spare' Memoir

Part of the memoir's popularity was the controversial issues it covered, including the Duke of Sussex's relationship with the other royal family members.

Prince Harry also talked about the death of his mother, Princess Diana, and the morning after, when his father woke him up and told him what had happened.

He said he remembered with "startling clarity" that his father did not cry and he did not embrace him.

He also revealed in the memoir that he asked to see the secret police files related to Princess Diana's car crash years after her death.

Harry wrote in the memoir that he saw many paparazzi photos of his dying mother and nobody offered help and that they were "just, shooting, shooting, shooting."

The duke also claimed in his memoir that King Charles III and his wife, now Queen Consort Camilla, wanted the spotlight.

Harry wrote: "Pa and Camilla didn't like Willy and Kate drawing attention away from them or their causes. They'd openly scolded Willy about it many times.

He noted that his father and sometimes Camilla approved damaging press leaks about him and his brother, Prince William.

In 2019, William was "seething" because Charles and Camilla's people planted stories about him, Kate, and the children, the duke said in the book.

Harry further noted that a news report detailing "that we'd offered to relinquish our Sussex titles" can only be found on one document: his private and confidential letter to his father.

He said they did not mention it to their closest friends, but that detail was still part of a news report about them.

Royal Family on Prince Harry's 'Spare' Nonfiction Book

Royal expert Christopher Anderson told Us Weekly that the late Queen Elizabeth II would likely not have ignored Prince Harry's memoir.

Anderson said the late Queen would probably be calmed and carry on. However, he noted that she would have probably taken some action.

A palace insider told Bazaar that there was a feeling that whatever the duke said in his memoir "would just be news today, gone tomorrow."

However, the source admitted that Harry's revelations have left Prince William "devastated," but he will not ignore the things his brother has shared.

A former longtime palace aide believed that despite the silence of the royal family, there are several conversations about what to do about Prince Harry's Spare and what the next step could be.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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