Cast your mind back, if you will, to last September. The death of Queen Elizabeth II had sent Prince Harry reeling. He was weeks away from unloading a double-barreled assault on the royal family, first with a six-part, tell-all Netflix series and then with Spare, his equally grievance-filled memoir. But the national mood had become so sensitive and febrile that Harry was having second thoughts. He had seen how quickly the public could turn—not least with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, two TV hosts who became national pariahs for looking at the Queen’s coffin without queuing up first—and so he reportedly revised both projects, removing the most sensational material.
Cut to this Thursday. Despite a colossal security operation, copies of Spare began leaking to the press five days ahead of publication. Within hours, the world would collectively learn that Harry has killed 25 people (while on helicopter missions during the War in Afghanistan); had a conversation with a talking garbage can whilst high on mushrooms; and attended his brother’s wedding with a frostbite-riddled penis. Which really has to make you wonder what was in the original version.
