The Duke of Sussex has expressed a desire to see his children have relationships with members of the Royal Family despite the tensions generated by the publication of his tell-all memoir.
In his sole print interview to coincide with the release of Spare, Harry said he “would like nothing more” than for his son, Archie, three, and 19-month-old daughter, Lili, to get to know his family, notwithstanding the withering criticism unleashed on his brother, father and stepmother in the book and during pre-publication publicity.
Publisher Penguin Random House, which is understood to have paid a £17m advance for the book, last night said the title was the fastest-selling non-fiction title ever, selling 400,000 copies in its first day. It is thought only the Harry Potter titles have racked up more sales in a single day.
The Duke told US magazine People, which has frequently featured Harry and his wife Meghan, that their children already have a connection with unnamed Windsors – thought likely to be a reference to his cousin Eugenie, to whom he is close and who has visited him at his California home.
Harry said: “I would love nothing more than for our children to have relationships with members of my family, and they do with some, which brings me great joy.”
The extent to which the Duke, who has also spoken of his desire to ensure that junior royals and their future partners do not suffer the same ostracisation he feels was inflicted on him, was seeking to hold out an olive branch to Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace after days of transatlantic barbs is unclear.
Both the households of the King and Queen Consort, and the Prince and Princess of Wales, have maintained a studied silence on the contents of Harry’s ghost-written biography. The duke has acknowledged that he is not currently in texting contact with his brother and has not spoken to his father for “quite a while”.
Any fears that a chaotic few days of leaks and an unplanned early release of Spare in Spain would have dented sales appeared to be dispelled as consumers indicated a desire to read the Duke’s account of his life in his own words.
Retailers backed Penguin Random House’s assertion of extraordinary demand for Spare, claiming “exceptional” advance sales, despite little or no evidence of an early morning stampede in bookshops.
A midnight opening at WH Smith in London’s Victoria Station overnight drew only a handful of customers, while the sole customer waiting for the doors to open at the flagship store of Waterstones in Piccadilly Circus was comfortably outnumbered by reporters and photographers. Caroline Lennon, 59, who had walked two miles from Bethnal Green in the East End to arrive at 6am, said: “People will criticise me and say ‘What an idiot for liking Harry. What an idiot for queuing up’ but I don’t care what anyone says.”
Waterstones said it had nonetheless recorded “exceptional” sales across its branches, with one of the largest pre-orders for a title in the last decade. Spare already tops best-seller lists compiled by Amazon and Waterstones. Philip Jones, editor of The Bookseller, said it was likely that the biography will be one of the biggest books of the year.
Larry Finlay, managing director of Transworld Penguin Random House, said the figure of 400,000 first day sales was across hardback, ebook and audio formats. He said: “We always knew this book would fly but it is exceeding even our most bullish expectations. As far as we know, the only books to have sold more in their first day are those starring the other Harry (Potter).”
Among the myriad revelations available for readers on Tuesday was a claim from Harry that his father had expressed a reluctance to support him and Meghan Markle financially on the same day that the Prince had sought permission to marry his American sweetheart.
The Duke alleged that the then Prince of Wales had warned him “there’s not enough money to go around” and pointed out that he was already supporting William and Catherine from the funds made available to him from the Duchy of Cornwall, the portfolio of land holdings and investments the profits from which are put at the disposal of the heir to the throne.
Writing in the book, Harry said he had been brought up to believe that it was the “job” of his father to support his children in return for a life of royal service. He said: “We agreed to serve the monarch, go wherever we were sent, do whatever we were told, surrender our autonomy, keep our hands and feet inside the gilded cage at all times, and in exchange, the keepers of the cage agreed to feed and clothe us.”
Harry has described the 407-page memoir as the latest step on his “mental health journey”, laying bare his unresolved trauma over his mother’s death, his lonely and often troubled life before meeting Meghan and his loathing for Britain’s tabloid press.
He has in turn been criticised for his willingness to offer up for scrutiny the Royal Family’s internal stresses and strains, as well as disclosures including his assertion that he had killed 25 members of the Taliban during his two tours of service in Afghanistan.
The Duke told People magazine he was revealing the information about his military service in the belief that it would help other veterans to come to terms with the “painful elements” of their tours of duty. Senior military figures have argued that Harry’s revelation of his “kill count” breaks an unwritten rule and risks exposing him and others to possible reprisal attacks.
The Duke said: “I know from my own healing journey that silence has been the least effective remedy. Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others.”
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