Prince Harry had second thoughts about publishing his memoir ‘Spare’ after seeing Queen Elizabeth II before she died: report

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There was a time when Prince Harry’s hotly anticipated memoir may have never made it to print, The Times of London reports. 

Harry’s upcoming memoir “Spare” is due to be published worldwide on Tuesday. According to a press release shared by Harpers Bazaar, the book promises a deep dive into Harry’s life as a royal in the public eye and will be a “definitive account of the experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons that have helped shape him.”

Leaks of “Spare” began surfacing on Thursday after a Spanish-language version went on sale in Spain days ahead of its official release. However, The Times of London now reports that not only did the Duke of Sussex have mixed emotions about going through with the project, but that he actually considered canceling the memoir completely in the summer of 2022. 

According to an unnamed US publishing source cited by the newspaper, Harry’s doubts about “Spare” reached breaking point following one of his final visits with Queen Elizabeth II before her death. Harry was one of eight grandchildren of the late Queen, who died aged 96 on September 8, 2022. 

Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth in 1988. Getty Images

The Times reports that the publishing team behind “Spare” were told last summer that Harry had decided to cancel the book: “He’s pulled it. He doesn’t want to do it.”

Sources at Penguin Random House told the newspaper they were speculating that Harry’s desire to cancel the book came after he spent time in the UK for the Platinum Jubilee. They suspected he was being told by members of the royal family that there would be “no way back” for him if the book was published while the Queen was still alive. 

Representatives for the Duke of Sussex and Buckingham Palace did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. 

As the release date for “Spare” approaches, however, it appears that any doubts Harry may have had have been set aside. 

The Spanish language version of “Spare” went on sale in Spain on Thursday. Getty Images

Some of the jaw-dropping revelations included in the memoir according to widely reported leaks of the Spanish language version are Harry’s accusation that Prince William attacked him during a confrontation about Meghan Markle, as well as the Duke of Sussex’s claim that he killed 25 people while serving in Afghanistan. 

“It seemed to me essential not to be afraid of that number. So my number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,” he wrote in an excerpt of the memoir translated from Spanish to English that was published by The Telegraph.

Harry claimed that the army engrained in him the idea that the Taliban members he was fighting against were “chess pieces”. 

“I made it my purpose, from day one, to never go to bed with any doubt whether I had done the right thing … whether I had shot at Taliban and only Taliban, without civilians in the vicinity. I wanted to return to Great Britain with all my limbs, but more than that I wanted to get home with my conscience intact,” Harry wrote.