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Harry Wanted to Cancel ‘Spare’ After Platinum Jubilee

The publishing team was told, ‘He’s pulled it. He doesn’t want to do it.’

Prince Harry briefly canceled publication of his memoir Spare after his visit to Britain last summer for the queen’s platinum jubilee. The allegation is made in the London Times by respected royal reporter Valentine Low, citing a U.S. publishing source. Staffers at publishers Penguin Random House were told: “He’s pulled it. He doesn’t want to do it.” Low cited a source as saying: “That was such a dark day. Everyone had been working so hard on this project in utmost secrecy—and with the expectation this would turn out to be one of the biggest and most historic books we would ever get to publish. And then, just after Harry’s last trip to London, the boss walked in and said: ‘He’s pulled it. He doesn’t want to do it.’ Everyone involved was devastated…The rumour was that during the visit it was made clear to him that if he published while the queen was still alive there would be no way back. Obviously that all changed with the monarch’s death in September.”