5 things to know about Prince Harry’s new ‘Spare’ memoir

If you’re not on the royal family train and haven’t been following along, Prince Harry’s new memoir, Spare, was released Tuesday.

The book drop and related promotion — including Anderson Cooper’s Sunday night 60 Minutes interview with Harry — has kept public interest high.

Spare has already earned top-selling book spots with retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. On Twitter, the hashtag #Spare was listed as one of the top 10 trending topics in the U.S. and the U.K. throughout the day.

Whether you plan to read the book or not, here are five things to know about Spare to help you keep up with the conversation.

Spare is available in 16 languages, and all of the translated versions were set to drop at the same time. But in Spain, the book was accidentally placed on sale a week early, Reuters reported. News outlets — including the Guardian — began reporting major details from Spare ahead of its release. As noted by the New York Times, publishers typically work to block major leaks through strict nondisclosure agreements and locking away copies at bookstores. Still, leaks can sometimes benefit book sales by driving up interest and media coverage. Tuesday afternoon, a spokesperson for Transworld Books — the United Kingdoms division of Spare’s publisher, Penguin Random House — said the book had become Britain’s fastest selling nonfiction book of all time, reporting more than 400,000 copies sold.

In the fashion of Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, and Twilight, some bookstores treated Spare’s release like a major event, opening their doors at midnight for sales. Across the United Kingdom, shops began selling hardback copies of the memoir to a reported “swarm” of customers.

Book retailer WHSmith said it was meeting high demand for the book by extending its hours across 10 United Kingdom stores — including Heathrow and Gatwick airports and Victoria and Euston railway stations — past midnight.

For book digesters who prefer an audio version, they’ll be greeted by a personal touch: the prince himself tells his own story. On Twitter, the audio version has been well received. Some people just genuinely enjoy his voice and accent. Others say they want to hear him “spill the tea” himself instead of reading words off a page. On a funnier note, some listeners are already anticipating the gold some audio excerpts will supply as tracks for TikTok.

To outsiders, Buckingham Palace and its inner workings are somewhat of a mystery. The intense interest in Meghan and Harry’s departure from their royal titles, their interview with Oprah last year, and their Netflix docuseries have offered an inside look — or at least the appearance of an inside look — at their royal life and their departure from the United Kingdom.

In Spare, Harry discusses intimate details about his upbringing, the trauma surrounding his mother’s death, a longstanding sibling rivalry between him and his older brother Prince William, and his appreciation for In-N-Out Burger’s French fries and the TV show Friends.

Some of the most talked-about revelations from Spare so far include:

As noted by Vogue, in the olden monarch days when child death was more common because of rampant disease, it was common for families to have multiple children as a guarantee the lineage would continue. In royalty, those multiples were commonly referred to as “the heir and the spare.” Over time, the phrase became a shorthand way for the media to describe royal children.

“These ‘spares’ occupy a complex existence,” a Vogue article noted. “They’re thrust into the spotlight from birth yet, unlike their eldest sibling, have no defined role. As time goes on, and their monarch has children, their importance and influence wane along with their place in the line of succession.”

According to the New York Times, Charles is reported to have called Harry the “spare,” since William is the heir.

The Duke of Sussex’s book, Spare, should be available at most major retailers that sell new books — like Amazon and Barnes & Noble — starting Tuesday.

Digital books and the audiobook are also available for download, however, some services like Audible have reported issues disseminating the audio version because of high demand. You can also check with your favorite independent local bookstore to see if they are selling copies yet or offering a waiting list for orders.

» READ MORE: Here are the best local bookstores in the Phildelphia area

Many public libraries and their respective ebook apps also have copies of Spare available, but hold lists will be long until excitement fades.