Prince Harry book leak: Claims so far from his upcoming memoir Spare

Members of the British royal family rarely give interviews. You’ve never seen Queen Elizabeth II sit down with Oprah, and when Prince Andrew spoke to the BBC in 2019, it was called “a PR nightmare and a national joke.” But the late Queen’s grandson, Prince Harry, a famous conversation with the Queen of Conversation Winfreyand he’s definitely not done talking yet.

On Sunday, Anderson Cooper will interview the prince on the CBS news magazine show 60 Minutes. Harry, who left the UK for Canada and then the US in 2020, is expected to spill at least some of the tea that is about to be spilled in his upcoming memoir Spare.

Gossip leaks out of the book

As of January 5th, European media have already been reporting tidbits, so it looks like at least one copy got out early. Here are four of the latest revelations.

A fight between brothers

Harry wrote about being physically assaulted by his brother William after William called Meghan Markle, now Harry’s wife, “difficult,” “rude” and “abrasive,” according to Britain’s The Guardian. He also quoted his father, now King Charles, telling his warring sons “don’t make my last years miserable”.

Harry says he used cocaine

The Daily Mail reports that Harry says in the book that he used cocaine “a few times” when he was 17. He writes that using the drug “wasn’t much fun” but made him feel “different” , which is what he was looking for at the time.

“Wicked Stepmother”

The Daily Mail also reports that Harry shared the first time he met Camilla Parker-Bowles, now Queen Camilla, who was his father’s friend at the time. He says that Camilla seemed “bored” and that he wondered if one day she would be his “evil stepmother”.

The fight between Kate and Meghan

Harry’s wife, Meghan, said in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that Prince William’s wife, Kate, made her cry on the eve of Harry and Meghan’s wedding because the two disagreed about the bridesmaids’ outfits. According to The Daily Mail, Meghan said that Kate, who just gave birth to her third child, must have “baby brain” because of her hormones and that the palace scolded her for saying that.

What else will Prince Harry say?

Interview Teaser: “Silence Is Betrayal”

In a short teaser for the interview released on January 2, Harry told Cooper that the royal family’s famous motto of ‘Never complain, never explain’ was ‘just a motto’ and that when he tried to keep quiet about his life, people working in the palace have told stories about him.

“There’s a lot of complaining and a lot of explaining…it’s through leaks,” Cooper says and Harry confirms.

The prince went on to say that news stories attributed only to a source would often claim that the writer had approached Buckingham Palace for comment and received no response. In truth, says the prince, the whole story comes from palace insiders. However, he says he and Markle have been told the palace cannot release statements supporting them.

“But you do it for other family members,” Harry says. “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”

I walk behind Diana’s casket

Harry has long been one of the most outspoken members of the royal family, so expect more of that famous directness when he talks to Cooper. It seems unlikely that he will drop any huge bombshells, such as the identity the royal family is said to have asked about the skin color of your first child. But it’s all meant to promote the new memoir, which will be published on January 10, so look for the prince to outline some of what he’ll reveal there.

He will certainly talk about the sudden death of his mother, Princess Diana, and how he and William walked in stunned grief behind her coffin as the world watched on television. Publisher Random House specifically mentioned this event and Harry spoke briefly before about how difficult it was. Random House touts the book’s “raw, unflinching honesty” and Harry is the only royal who could possibly convey that emotion, especially when it comes to the loss of his beloved mother.

How to watch Prince Harry’s interview

Time and date

Cooper’s interview with Prince Harry will air Sunday, Jan. 8, on CBS’ 60 Minutes. The show airs from 7-8pm PT/ET.

There is an NFL game scheduled just before 60 minutes, so if that game runs long, the interview may not start on time.

And it’s possible the NFL schedule could change before Sunday. During Monday Night Football on January 2, Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed after a play, horrifying millions of viewers who saw it live. Hamlin is still in hospital. The shocking event meant Monday’s game was postponed and it’s not yet known what the NFL will do with its regular Sunday schedule.

How to get CBS

You’ll need to be able to get CBS, whether direct, through basic cable, or through a streaming service that offers CBS (such as DirectTV Stream, Hulu, fuboTV, Sling TV, or YouTube TV). Or get a free trial for Paramount Plus, CBS’s streaming partner. This will allow you to stream it live or watch it on demand the next day.

Prince Harry’s book

As of January 4, Spare is the #2 best-selling book on Amazon, even though it’s not out yet. You can pre-order it in paperback, e-book or audiobook. The book is 416 pages and the audiobook is 15 hours and 39 minutes long.

There is no doubt that this audiobook will be more popular and hyped than those created for most memoirs, since Harry himself is reading the audio version. This is not completely unheard of. Harry’s father, King Charles, read one of his books as an audiobook in 2010, although it was about the environment and not his personal life.

The book’s title comes from a famous phrase about how Diana’s job was to create “the heir and the spare.” Prince William, born in 1982, was heir to the throne after his father Charles. Harry, born in 1984, was considered a “back-up”, meaning he would take the throne if something happened to his older brother. Now that William has three children, however, Harry has been pushed behind them in the line of succession and is unlikely to ever sit on the British throne.