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Home/Lifestyle/Is Prince Harry's Book Coming Out? A Royal Expert Weighs In
Is Prince Harry's Book Coming Out? A Royal Expert Weighs In
Russell FalconOctober 12, 2022
Many supplies seem to hope that he won't.
Photo-Illustration: by The Cut; Photo: Getty Images
In anticipation of a series of incidents based on style, the reign of King Charles III was off to an impressive start. A month later, Charles faced the release Crown of the fifth season – which is set to talk about the breakup of his marriage to Princess Diana and at the same time his celebrity – plus two projects by his son Prince Harry threatened to draw he follows a less flattering light. Harry has a trove of Netflix documentaries and a supposedly "explosive" memoir on the horizon; while the former's fate seemed to be rising, the latter spread anxiety throughout the palace. Originally slated for a fall release, Harry's narration is said to have been pushed into the spring: Depending on who you ask, he's racing to make last-minute revisions for the document appears to be "insensitive" to the queen's death or about to closely grasp the implications of her actions. Some royal experts have recently speculated that Harry might drop the book, but there is currently no official indication that he plans to kill it. According to Katie Nicholl, Vanity Fair royal reporter and author of The New Royal Family: Queen Elizabeth's Legacy and the Future of the CrownHowever, he may be reconsidering some of the things he said.
"I think he wanted to tell his story for a long time," Nicholl said, explaining that she didn't necessarily see Harry reneging on the deal. "The reality is that the Sussexes have left the royal family to become financially independent. If they go to bed with the likes of Netflix, Spotify, the big publishers and get these great deals, "those companies" will want a pound of their meat.
And it was the understanding that it seemed all sides – the palace, King Charles and Prince Harry – were panicking as we inched closer to a possible date in the pub.
Harry's publisher, Penguin Random House, did not return Cut's request for comment on the fate of the memoir, nor did Archewell. But initially, Random House timed the memoir's release around the holiday season, slated for late November 2022 as the target publication date. Since the company only announced the project in July 2021, turnaround will always be tight. Now, however, royal experts say the date for the pub celebration has again been pushed to around Easter 2023, due to the necessity of revising certain chapters and adding new material later. Queen's funeral.
In its announcement, Random House promised an "honest and captivating personal portrait" of "Harry's life in the public eye, from his childhood to the present day." Harry himself said he hopes that in telling "his story – the highs and the lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned" in his own words, something like, he can "Helps show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think. "For now, only the people who made the book know exactly what that means.
Since August, Sun and Telegraph reported that neither King Charles, Prince William, nor the family's attorneys had seen prior copies of the book. (It could be a sign that the book won't be ready for release in the fall, or it could be a sign that Random House will release the book in a "discount shock," according to the report. Sun.) Given the tone of Harry's own statements to the press, the Windsors may have reason to worry. Since stepping back, Harry has described royal life as "a mix of Truman's show and live in a zoo". He confirmed his wife Meghan's statement to Oprah Winfrey that someone in his family – and certain royal reporters pointed the finger at Charles – had raised "concerns… about going black how [Archie's] skin could be when he was born. "
The Daily Mail's informants were worried that Harry might "name the so-called 'racist royal'," and that the prince could also paint a damaging picture of a "tense" relationship. straight" with his queen consort, Camilla. "Page Six" publishing staff, who spoke on condition of anonymity, asserted that the manuscript was "sweet" and included "new stories in it about a past that Harry never told about his childhood" making " His family is worried." Talk to Guardians, royal historian Robert Lacey notes that Harry's ghost story author – Pulitzer Prize-winning JR Moehringer – "is a powerful and psychological exploration writer, so we can expect a book that explores psychologically destructive and powerful." Lacey points to Moehringer's work on Andre Agassi's biography, "a profound, serious, legal destruction of his parenting process that goes beyond the usual ghostwriting books. "
"It makes me think that there is no point in speculating which skeletons he will discover," Lacey said of Moehringer, "because he is a skeleton excavator. He will do the business."
Ominously, at the same time I think we can make some educated guesses about what's in there. I think we can assume that Harry will talk about his mother, Princess Diana; that he will deal with the ever-present cameras and the aftermath of her death; that he will speak to his time as a soldier in Afghanistan and his personal mental health troubles; and that he will take some time off from his marriage and decide to leave the royal family. But although Meghan will certainly appear in the memoir, its only point is probably not to litigate their decision.
"The book is about growing up as a prince, and it's a story he could never really tell for himself," Nicholl said. "I think he is tired of people conveying his life through their own words: through sources, through friends, through assistants. Now he has the opportunity to tell his story."
Only, it turns out, that opportunity coincided with the death of Harry's paternal grandmother, with whom he reportedly maintains a close relationship. After the queen's death, multiple royal sources said Harry pushed back the publication out of respect for her, and in relation to the cleanup of the manuscript. Even so, those alleged modifications did not quell calls for Harry to abandon the project. "I hope behind the scenes there is pressure on Harry, if not to cancel the book, then at least bring it down," Nicholl said.
There are several variables to consider here. Harry is said to have accepted a $20 million advance for the book: If his contract has a termination clause and if he activates it, he will have to repay it. Some royal experts believe that Harry may be in exactly that predicament. Tina Brown – former Vanity Fair Princess Diana's editor, biographer, and author of Palace Papers – has asserted that if Harry continues with the memoir, he will blow up every possible path back to his family.
"Now they are in this bind where they have taken all this money and Harry has made this book trade where he is supposed to reveal everything about his terrible life to status as a royal, but now he's really tortured about it because he understands that there isn't. come back if he does it," Brown said during the Henley Literary Festival. "The window is starting to close, but I always think at some point a deal will be made and Charles will have to pay back the advance to prevent Harry from writing this book." Others agreed, with royal biographer Phil Dampier warning that Charles and Prince William would find any "controversial content" "hard to forgive".
If Harry was in a position to have to repay his advance, that's why Charles – who had more money than his son – would have to step in. "One thing that we do know is that they need money, they want to make money, and leaving the royal family is mostly about doing that," Nicholl said of the Sussexes. The memoir was a route to income, and according to Nicholl, "It would be a big deal for him to have to pay that advance back and have to get the book off the table."
Some of Nicholl's sources have also suggested that Charles may postpone the question of HRH titles for the Sussex children until after the memoir and document are scrapped. Although Meghan and Harry gave them up when they left the working royal ranks, Archie and Lilibet are still technically HRH-eligible – but whether Charles will grant them that status remains to be seen. see. It was not a "bargain" situation, Nicholl said, but that the king took titles very seriously. "They come with a price, and that price is loyalty and determination," says Nicholl. As Meghan and Harry negotiated their big setback, she added, "they promised to uphold the values ​​of the organization. Many people will say whether they can actually do it or not. "
But in the end, Harry signed a contract, the terms of which were not made public. This is a huge title for Penguin Random House, and a great investment, one that will not be eagerly overlooked. Walking away doesn't make the Sussexes look very good, Nicholl notes. "Gathering and capitalizing on who they are and their royal ties, whether they like it or not, a huge reason behind these deals being done," she said, adding, "we have seen very little output from these multi-million dollar deals. That's why the delayed Netflix book and series is so important. If he screwed those up, what does that say about his business model? "
Supposedly, It's not just the image of Harry that suffers if he pulls out of the project. Assuming Charles will repay the advance and kill the memoir: Provided that's even a contractual possibility, it could be seen as confirmation of those rumors of a "truth bomb." accursed of the book. What story is so bad that one person paid $20 million to bury it?
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https://www.thecut.com/2022/10/is-prince-harrys-book-coming-out-a-royal-expert-weighs-in.html Is Prince Harry's Book Coming Out? A Royal Expert Weighs In
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