Harry’s First Draft of ‘Spare’ Was 800 Pages—but He Decided to Cut a *Lot* of Stories About Will

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So, fun fact: If you thought Prince Harry’s Spare was a tell-all memoir, you’re wrong. Turns out, it’s *at most* a tell-half memoir.

As you’re probably aware, Harry has been busy this week promoting Spare/generally setting the royal establishment on fire, and during his interview about the book with The Telegraph, he revealed that the first draft was a whopping 800 pages (for context, the published version clocks in at about half that with 416 pages).

“It could have been two books, put it that way,” Harry explained.

And just what were those additional 400 pages filled with, you very reasonably ask? Apparently, a lot of them were filled with stories about Prince William and King Charles that were so intense/unflattering that Harry was pretty sure his family would literally never forgive him if he shared them with the world. Ooooof.

While Harry stressed that telling his own story without sharing some private moments between him and his relatives would have been “impossible,” he also made it clear that there’s plenty he left unsaid too.

“There are some things that have happened, especially between me and my brother, and to some extent between me and my father, that I just don’t want the world to know,” Harry told The Telegraph. “Because I don’t think they would ever forgive me.”

And (*infomercial voice*) that’s not all. There were apparently additional family stories that were so off-limits, they didn’t even make it into the epic tome that was the first draft of Spare.

“And there were other bits that I shared with [ghostwriter] J. R. [Moehringer] that I said, ‘Look, I’m telling you this for context but there’s absolutely no way I’m putting it in there,’” Harry revealed.

If you’re not reeling due to the fact that there are at least 400 pages’ worth of too-personal-for-Harry-to-share stories out there, please review some of the absolutely bombshell revelations that did make it into Spare (and then commence reeling).

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