Sales exceeded 1.4 million copies on the first day for the English edition.
Prince Harry’s memoir, with very harsh revelations for the British monarchy, got off to a flying start with sales that exceeded 1.4 million copies on the first day for the English edition, the publisher announced on Thursday. According to Penguin Random House, “Spare» («The Alternatein French), these sales in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, in all formats and in all forms (digital, audio, etc.), are unprecedented for an essay published by this publishing giant. . The latter did not give figures for the other 15 languages in which the book was published.
In this book published on Tuesday, four months after the death of Elizabeth II and four months before the coronation of Charles III, the prince, exiled since 2020 in California, paints a critical portrait of his relatives, settling accounts sometimes more than twenty years old. years. No one comes out unscathed from theSubstitute“: neither himself, in adolescence marked by drugs and alcohol, and who tells his story with shamelessness, nor his father King Charles III, nor his brother William, the most attacked, nor his stepmother and now queen consort Camilla, or her sister-in-law Kate.
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His “beloved brother and best enemyis the most criticized of all. Presented as angry, William would never have loved his wife Meghan whom he judged “rude and aggressive“, and would have during an argument in 2019 thrown Harry to the ground in the dog bowl. Harry describes a long rivalry between William “the heir” and him “the substitute“. “I was the shadow, the understudy, plan B“. Buckingham Palace has so far remained silent on the accusations even though the press has reported, citing unnamed sources, the Windsors’ displeasure. King Charles III as well as William and Kate are due to make their first public appearances since the book was published on Thursday.
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Despite the book’s strong sales, the prince’s popularity has waned in the UK, where he is often portrayed as a spoiled brat who wants the perks of royalty without the inconveniences. Only 26% of Britons have a favorable opinion of the Duke of Sussex, according to a YouGov survey carried out in early January, seven points lower than in December. Even young people, long more favorable, are now divided with 41% of favorable opinions and the same proportion of unfavorable opinions.
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