Londoners have given their two cents on Prince Harry’s much-anticipated memoir, Spare, as excerpts bring about bombshell revelations.

Newspapers shared details from the book after it was released in Spain on Thursday, January 5, leaving the British public stunned.

The prince wrote about how he lost his virginity in a field behind a pub, his drug use, and how many Taliban fighters he killed.

This video gives a glimpse of how the book has gone down with the public, with some saying Harry has caused “irreversible” damage.

Mary-Kate Findon reports:

To be clear, this is not because I worry about the quality of his life now that he has firmly established himself across the pond in sunny Montecito. Nor is it because I’m concerned that he and Meghan might struggle to get any work done at their vast two-seater desk.

Or because they’re too busy texting Beyoncé again. No. It’s because I fear that after all of this media face time, Harry is going to wind up without the one thing he wants most in the world: his family.

Olivia Petter weighs in:

In his forthcoming memoir Spare, Prince Harry claims Prince William attacked him during an argument at the younger brother’s Nottingham Cottage home in 2019. The first person the Duke of Sussex called after the physical fight was not his wife – who was the main subject of the brothers’ alleged squabble – but his therapist.

In an extract from the royal’s book, which is due for release on 10 January, Harry writes that his older brother grabbed him by the collar, ripped his necklace off and “knocked” him to the ground. The argument began when William allegedly called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, and escalated when Harry fell onto the dog’s bowl with the broken pieces cutting into his back.

After William left his brother’s home, looking “regretful” as Harry recalls, the duke writes that he didn’t immediately tell Meghan, but called his therapist after the altercation. It wasn’t until his wife noticed “scrapes and bruises” on his back that he told her of the attack.

Meredith Clark reports:

Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare is already being offered at half price days before it is released.

The Duke of Sussex’s tell-all memoir, which has been ghostwritten by Pulitzer Prize winner JR Moehringer, hits the shelves on Tuesday (10 January).

However, large parts of the book have leaked ahead of release after a Spanish-language version accidentally went on sale five days before it was meant to.

Isobel Lewis reports:

It’s the biggest book release of the year, so why is ‘Spare’ making this royal watcher want to run and hide? Jessie Thompson writes:

Wait. Say that again. They call each other Willy and Harold? Harry’s necklace was ripped?! He was injured by a dog bowl!?!?! The explosive account of a fight between Prince Harry and Prince William, from Harry’s forthcoming memoir Spare, contains the kind of intimate, incidental details that usually make me giddily incredulous.

I’m the type of casual royal watcher who has vague political opinions about inherited privilege but will neck a new Tina Brown book like it’s a tasty mojito. I watch new seasons of The Crown in a single sitting. I have even googled “Princess Margaret wearing sunglasses young”. Basically, I’m here for the drama.

In his much-anticipated upcoming memoir, Spare, the prince says the now-King pulled financial support from the couple for personal reasons.

“Pa might have dreaded the rising cost of maintaining us, but what he really couldn’t stomach was someone new dominating the monarchy, grabbing the limelight, someone shiny and new coming in and overshadowing him,” he wrote.

Mary-Kate Findon has more:

Prince Harry’s highly anticipated interview with ITV News is hitting our screens this weekend.

However, the book leaked on Thursday (5 January) after it was accidentally released in Spain five days early.

Isobel Lewis has more:

“There are obvious security implications in saying things like this”, a colonel tells Kim Sengupta.

Prince Harry served bravely and well with the military in Afghanistan. One questions why he chose to announce that he had killed 25 Taliban fighters; it was not just distasteful but also raises the security risk for him and his family.

The Duke of Sussex does not glory in the deaths in his leaked memoir, Spare. But talking about those he killed from an Apache helicopter-gunship not as “people” but as “chess pieces” that “had to be taken off the board” sounds crass. It may be a mindset he needed to get into for combat, but saying this publicly about a fallen enemy, however much one may be against what they stand for, was the wrong thing to do.

Warring royals should take a long walk with their father, writes Will Gore.

Poor Princes William and Harry. Two brothers, once so close, now torn apart by... well, that depends on whose narrative you choose to believe.

It sometimes feels as if everyone has to pick a side in affairs such as these. It’s rather like the breakdown of a celebrity marriage: are you with Jennifer or Brad; Angelina or Brad? And even in the most clear-cut of cases, you can always find contrary voices who will merrily place the blame on an innocent party.

I’d like to think there is actually a sizeable, silent majority who aren’t spending their hours getting frothy at the mouth about “Harry’s outrageous behaviour!” or about “William’s despicable conduct!”. There may even be a few people out there who couldn’t give two hoots about the whole saga. Perish the thought!

Read more:

Meredith Clark writes:

In his forthcoming memoir Spare, Prince Harry claims Prince William attacked him during an argument at the younger brother’s Nottingham Cottage home in 2019. The first person the Duke of Sussex called after the physical fight was not his wife – who was the main subject of the brothers’ alleged squabble – but his therapist.

In an extract from the royal’s book, which is due for release on 10 January, Harry writes that his older brother grabbed him by the collar, ripped his necklace off and “knocked” him to the ground. The argument began when William allegedly called Meghan “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”, and escalated when Harry fell onto the dog’s bowl with the broken pieces cutting into his back.

After William left his brother’s home, looking “regretful” as Harry recalls, the duke writes that he didn’t immediately tell Meghan, but called his therapist after the altercation. It wasn’t until his wife noticed “scrapes and bruises” on his back that he told her of the attack.