Prince Harry has already earned £22 million ($27 million) from his book Spare despite it only being published in hardback, fellow bestselling author Richard Osman has claimed.
The Duke of Sussex’s controversial memoirs became the best-selling non-fiction book in the United Kingdom after being published by Penguin Random House in January 2023.
Harry was understood to have secured a £16 million ($20 million) advance as part of a £32 million ($40 million) four-book deal in June 2021 following a bidding war.
The 39-year-old royal’s headline-grabbing book saw him accuse his brother Prince William of pushing him into a dog bowl in a fight over his wife Meghan Markle.
He also claimed that William mocked Harry for his panic attacks, that King Charles put his own interests before those of his second son, and saw Harry make reference to using cocaine, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms and his enjoyment of the television show Friends. .
Now Osman, author of successful crime novels such as The Thursday Murder Club, has used his knowledge of the publishing industry to estimate Harry’s earnings from the book.
Copies of Prince Harry’s memoir ‘Spare’ are displayed in a London bookstore in January 2023.
A customer holds up copies of ‘Spare’ in a London bookstore during a midnight opening in 2023.
Speaking on his podcast The rest is entertainmentOsman said: ‘The book that Harry wrote, it’s impossible to overestimate how much money it has generated.
‘I mean, it’s been one of the most successful books. The best-selling nonfiction book of all time.
‘I’ve done some calculations backwards because I like it. I know what they pay you per book. I got an advance of 20 million dollars. The thing about an advance is that they pay you upfront, $20 million, in which case you don’t make a cent until your publisher gets their $20 million back.
“And once they’ve made back their $20 million, and there are all kinds of sliding scales on how that works, what they get, what you get, once you’ve made the $20 million, then you get your royalties.”
‘I think… and your book hasn’t appeared in paperback yet. So this book is purely hardcover. I estimate that he has earned between 26 and 27 million dollars. So she got a $20 million advance just for the hardcover of his first book. Forget about rights to other things and audiobooks and whatever you have. He’s already earned it. When the paperback comes out, it will be nothing more than money coming to the Sussexes.
A Penguin Random House spokeswoman confirmed to MailOnline today that there is no release date yet for the paperback version of Spare.
Osman added that Spare had become “the biggest hit of the last ten or twenty years” and had “made everyone a huge amount of money”.
Bestselling author Richard Osman, pictured with his wife Ingrid Oliver in London in February 2024, estimated that Prince Harry has already made £22 million ($27 million) from Spare.
Osman made the claim on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment, with co-host Marina Hyde.
He also pointed out that people were wrong to suggest that the book was not a success because it was heavily discounted or on charity shop shelves.
Osman added: “Harry doesn’t make less money if it’s half price.” He earns exactly the same if he charges $28 and if he charges $14.
‘In addition, it sells a lot in the United States. In the United States the royalties are absolutely crazy because they pay a lot of money for books in the United States. So he’s made a huge amount of money from that book. So money is coming in.
Osman also noted that while the only known aspect of Meghan’s acting career has been on Suits, the show had seen a resurgence in popularity.
The show, which first aired from 2011 to 2019, set a new U.S. streaming record in 2023, according to Nielsen.
Media analysts said it was watched for a total of 57.7 billion minutes on Netflix, surpassing The Office’s previous record of 57.1 billion minutes, from 2020.
And Osman said: ‘Meghan, the only thing we really know her for acting in is Suits. And Suits in the last year has become the biggest show in the world. So as a couple, you essentially have the world’s greatest book and the world’s greatest television show.
‘Now I’m sure he’s not making much from Suits. But as a power couple, forget about Netflix and Spotify, that’s not bad.
A sign advertises the midnight opening of a WH Smith store in London to sell Spare last year.
Data obtained by The Bookseller in January found that Spare sold more than 700,000 copies in Britain last year, making it the country’s best-selling book in 2023, ahead of Osman titles.
“It’s not Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, but it’s not bad to have the biggest book in the world and be on the biggest TV show in the world.”
Spare was the best-selling non-fiction book in the UK since records began in 1998, according to Nielsen BookData, despite extracts being leaked online.
Harry used the tell-all book to make several claims about his family, including that William called Meghan “difficult,” “rude” and “abrasive,” and that Charles refused to allow Meghan to join Harry in Scotland while the late queen was dying.
Data obtained by The Bookseller in January found that Spare sold more than 700,000 copies in Britain last year, making it the country’s best-selling book in 2023.
Elsewhere in last year’s top five books were two Osman entries: The Last Devil to Die and The Bullet That Missed.
Harry has also been nominated twice at the British Book Awards for Spare.
The Ghostwritten Autobiography has received mentions in the categories of non-fiction audiobook narration, which was provided by the Duke, and non-fiction: narrative. The ceremony will take place on May 13 in London.
MailOnline has contacted Archewell for comment on Osman’s claims.
Listen to Richard Osman and Marina Hyde’s podcast The Rest Is Entertainment here