Prince Harry’s local bookshop has revealed it has sold just 30 copies of the King’s controversial autobiography, Spare.
The bombastic tome, which earned Harry, 38, an alleged £16million ($20million) advance, sold well – becoming the fastest-selling non-fiction book on record, according to its publisher.
But the book reportedly didn’t fare so well in Harry and Meghan’s, 41, upscale California enclave of Montecito.
Mary Sheldon, owner of local bookshop Tecolote Book Shop, told the Guardian that she’s only moved about 30 copies of Spare since it was released.
While Prince Harry (pictured in London in 2020) has been moving many copies of his controversial biography Spare, a local bookseller says they’ve only sold around 30 books
Mary described Spare as “it’s a book,” adding that a few more copies have been reserved by locals who plan to pick up their copy in person.
She said of Prince Harry: “He took time to gather his thoughts and wanted to publish it, so I’m here to sell it.”
The autobiography has sold 750,000 copies in all formats – print, audio and e-book – since its release on January 10 in the UK.
This makes it the best-selling memoir of all time in its first week of publication, according to Transworld, the UK division of Penguin Random House.
Prince Harry’s scathing memoir Spare (pictured) has become the fastest-selling non-fiction book on record
Official figures from Nielsen BookData showed that the book, written by famed ghostwriter JR Moehringer, sold 467,183 copies in print in its first week alone.
Data released by Nielsen shows that the book broke the previous record of 210,506, set by the first Pinch Of Nom cookbook – written by Kay Allinson – in 2019.
Although the memoir was leaked ahead of the official release date in Spain, data from Nielsen suggests sales have not been negatively impacted.
Prince Harry made several claims about the royal family and revealed painful personal anecdotes in his explosive memoir Spare, released on January 10.
Despite its massive worldwide sales, the book hasn’t sold well locally, according to the owner of the Tecolote Book Shop (pictured) in Montecito
The book covers every aspect of his life, tracing the breakup with his older sibling – whom he calls “Willy” – that began from the moment Charles was born, when Charles reportedly declared his duty done.
He accuses William, 40, of dodging his position as heir-apparent to the throne, claims he ignored him when they were pupils at Eton College and says he has repeatedly put him in his place.
In one paragraph, Harry, affectionately called “Harold” by his family, describes how he feels like he was born to be the “spare kidney” for his older brother.
Harry also accuses his older brother of being the aggressor during the “Megxit” and claims their relationship became so strained and damaged that William would only “scowl” at him.
In the book, Harry (pictured right) describes falling outs with his brother William (pictured right) and describes rifts with other family members
Describing several particularly awkward meetings between himself, Meghan, William and Kate, he says his brother and sister-in-law found it awkward to be hugged by his wife-to-be.
He also seems to accuse the Princess of Wales of overreacting 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 brains’ after the birth of Prince Louis.
Harry also reveals the two couples even rowed over seating charts and whether to bring William and Kate together.
He says when William confronted Meghan and defended his wife, Meghan snapped at the prince, “Get your finger off my face.” While Charles is spared more pain than many expected, Harry paints him as an ineffective father who couldn’t even hug him when he told him about his mother’s death in a car accident.
He says that when he confided in Charles that he suffered from panic attacks as a grown man, the prince looked down at his plate sadly and said he had let him down.
In passages surely disturbing to the king, however, Harry describes how, when a visibly distraught Charles returned to the UK to attend Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021, he accused his bickering sons of not letting his “final years lead to any misery”. do. .