What the Royal Family REALLY thought after hearing Prince Harry’s memoir was called ‘Spare’: Royal expert reveals what was going on inside the court of King Charles on the day the title was revealed – just 49 days after the Queen’s death…

The Royal Family was still reeling from the death of the Queen in September 2022 when they received another dose of incredibly bad news. 

Prince Harry’s apprehensively awaited memoir would be titled ‘Spare’.

His publisher Penguin Random House made the announcement on October 27, just 49 days after the Queen’s death and the British public’s heartfelt goodbye.

It revealed it would hit bookshelves in January, alongside the dramatic comment: ‘As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling – and how their lives would play out…

‘For Harry, this is his story at last.’

Perhaps due to its promise of ‘raw, unflinching honesty’, when the announcement was made, those in the royal court of King Charles III braced themselves for the worst.

After all, it wasn’t hard to see the narrative Harry had been building for some time in his media interviews, but the name of the book all but confirmed it.

He would be painting himself as a victim of the Royal Family who had been treated poorly and cast aside.

Alongside it’s English language name, the book would be called The Minor (Italy), Reserve (Germany) and The Other One (Poland), so it wasn’t hard to detect the overarching underdog theme.

The distinguished Daily Mail writer Robert Hardman’s book Charles III: New King, New Court, The Inside Story, revealed what was going on inside the Palace as they awaited the book to be released. 

On the day the announcement was released to the Press, it eclipsed all other royal news, despite the Royal Mint striking the first coins with the face of the new King. 

When asked about the King’s feeling on the incoming fire from the Sussexes and their associates, one Palace staffer referred to them ‘headwinds that we face from across the Atlantic’, according to Hardman.

The author wrote: ‘That was one way of describing an extraordinary 12-week run of non-stop disobliging headlines and combative allegations, all of them entirely beyond the control of the King and his staff. 

‘Storm-force gales might have been a better metaphor. That this should all be unfolding in the first phase of a new reign might once have been considered disastrous. However, there were two unexpected aspects to these ‘headwinds’ which would work in Charles III’s favour.

‘First, the constant diet of extraneous negativity, though awkward and at times embarrassing, made very little impact, according to polls, on public attitudes towards the monarchy. Second, it appeared to have no discernible impact on the King himself.’

Around a month later, on December 1, a trailer appeared for the Sussexes’ forthcoming six-part Netflix documentary about their new life in California.

Hardman wrote the Firm and their staff ‘steeled themselves’ for another dose of the Sussexes’ March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which Meghan made incendiary allegations of royal ‘conversations’ about the skin colour of Archie. 

The whole institution seemed to be nervous about the further damage that would be inflicted upon the monarchy by the book.

It was no secret to the rest of the royals that Harry had been unhappy with his lot for some time and had expressed repeatedly his desire for the institution to change to meet his demands.

But the family had no way of knowing just how far their estranged family member would take things when push came to shove.

There has been a storied history of discontent in the Royal Family for hundreds of years when it came to the clashes between the heir and the spare.

It can be dated all the way back to the 12th century, when the concept of the primogeniture (succession to the first son) was first established. Before this, all sons of the monarch were considered heirs.

The phrase spare itself appears to have been coined several centuries later in the 1890s, by American socialite Consuelo Vanderbilt.

More contemporary royal figures including Princess Margaret and Prince Andrew have been considered ‘spares’ in recent memory.

An unusual position to hold, the role serves as a ‘reserve’ monarch, who must be prepared to become heir to the throne at a moment’s notice if necessary – at least until the current heir produces their own children. 

Of course, in some cases, the so-called ‘spare’ is actually called to rule, as was demonstrated when King Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 and King George VI ascended the throne. 

However for the most part, the ‘spare’ is able to live a much freer life without too much scrutiny – but as Prince Harry has alluded to with the title of his memoir, holding this position can cause issues with the prince or princess’s perception of their role within the royal family. 

During his sit-down interview with Oprah in March 2021, in which he and Meghan told their side of the story surrounding their decision to step down as senior royals, Harry said: ‘My brother can’t leave that system, but I have.’

He later added: ‘My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave. And I have huge compassion for that.’

One of the biggest concerns about the upcoming Spare, according to Hardman, was the fact that as much of the Caribbean gets its news through US outlets, and the US media was generally more sympathetic to Harry and Meghan.

There was concern that Megxit played directly into this debate and Spare could be a massive blow to the Firm’s reputation abroad.

Meghan’s friend Omid Scobie revealed the controversial title for the autobiography was the Prince’s own choice and he had not changed the manuscript since the death of the Queen.

After a nervy few months of waiting, the 416-page Spare was finally released in January 2023 to a tsunami of public interest – becoming the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time.

Though no members of the Royal Family have publicly commented on Harry’s foray into novel writing, it’s understood the reaction behind the scenes was one of pain. 

But Hardman’s sources on Prince William and Catherine’s staff remain adamant that he and the Princess refused to open the book which caused them so much suffering.

One of their senior advisers told the author: ‘Neither of them read it. He is a grown-up, 40-year-old with the BBC app on his phone so he knows what it says. But he has people like me to tell him what else he needs to know. We gave him the key points.’

Despite William not reading it, the rest of the world greedily lapped up all of the royal secrets and scandals Spare was unleashing on the world.

However, although huge chunks of the allegations within it were impossible to disprove, a series of revelations could be unpicked using publicly available information, along with a slew of factual errors.

For instance, Harry’s account of himself as a forlorn figure at Eton who a lackey told of the death of his adored great-grandmother was false. 

Harry wrote: ‘I took the call. I wish I could remember whose voice was at the other end – a courtier’s, I believe. 

‘I recall that it was just before Easter, the weather bright and warm, light slanting through my window, filled with vivid colours. ‘Your Royal Highness, the Queen Mother has died’.’

But the truth was that he had actually been in Switzerland, skiing with his father and brother, when all three received the news. 

Hardman wrote that for the Palace, the most worrying aspect of the book was the omission of ‘large chunks of more recent events’. 

It did not go unnoticed that Harry and Meghan’s wedding, their married life and their eventual departure from the royal world amounted to only less than a fifth of the memoir. 

Despite the couple having a jam-packed life of book worthy moments, recent events had been mostly omitted. 

‘This suggested either a sequel or, perhaps, a memoir by Meghan in due course’, Hardman wrote. 

After all, it would later emerge the length of Spare was reportedly double its length before cuts were made in the final edit. 

Harry told the journalist Bryony Gordon his family would not ‘ever forgive’ him if the extra material was released. 

But it could have been a savvy move on Harry’s part to omit the juiciest intel in the first book, so as to keep the readers thirsty for a part two, according to Hardman.

And although Harry’s relationship with his brother is feared to be irreparably damaged by the book, the Duke has seemed less embittered of late. 

To his family’s relief, he decided against updating the memoir for its paperback edition, which came out on October 24, 2023 – nor did he give interviews to publicise it. 

This could be Harry seems to be growing restless with his new life in California, as there have been rumours he is plotting a return to royal life.

During the King’s cancer treatment last summer, Harry sought advice from trusted former aides in Britain on how to mastermind a return from exile, according to The Mail on Sunday.

However the idea floundered, as the prince remains in self-imposed exile. 

One thing is fairly certain, if Harry wants to return to royal duties, any thought of a ‘Spare 2’ must be put in the shredder.