Prince Harry has finally shared the title of his eagerly-awaited tell-all memoir - and it's certainly confrontational.
The book will be called Spare, it has been revealed - a direct link to Harry's status as a second-born son and his place in the line of succession. Spare references the phrase “the heir and the spare”, which has often been used to describe Harry and his older brother Prince William and their differing destinies. The phrase refers to ensuring a family's bloodline and how, hundreds of years ago, parents would have an heir (a first-born) as well as spares (second-born children) as essentially insurance in case anything befell the firstborn.
In the case of the royals, William is the heir as he is the older brother and will one day be King, while second-born Harry is the spare - although he has recently been bumped down the line of succession in recent years due to the births of William's children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
Speaking on True Royalty TV's The Royal Beat, royal expert and author Ingrid Seward shed light on why the word Spare may have been important to Harry - and it is down to his late mother Princess Diana.
She told the programme: "That was what Diana used to say, William was the heir, and Harry was the spare, so maybe that’s why?"
Harry has alluded to his status as the 'spare' in the past, not least in 2016 when he talked about how the ambiguity surrounding his royal role as his future is not as certain as William's.
In an interview with the Sunday Times, he said: "I'm in this privileged position, and I will use it for as long as I can, or until I become boring, or until George ends up becoming more interesting.
"There's nothing worse than going through a period in your life where you're making a massive difference and then suddenly, for whatever reason it is — whether it's media or the public perception of you — you drop off. You want to make a difference, but no one's listening to you."
And given the provocative title of the book, sources say it has ruffled feathers in royal circles and led to worry about what it might contain.
One well-placed source said: “The very title demonstrates yet another confrontational attack on the family after claiming a desire for privacy.
“Palace lawyers will undoubtedly be on standby in the New Year waiting to see what is in it.
“If Harry’s previous allegations across numerous TV interviews are anything to go by, this will be nuclear.
"Regardless of the content, which will no doubt be explosive, there will be little chance of this acting as a vehicle to reconciliation for Harry and Meghan."
Insiders told The Mirror it's unclear whether Harry picked the book's name or the publishing company.
A description of the book, due for release on January 10, from publisher Penguin Random House claims it will take "readers immediately back to one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow—and horror".
It adds: "As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling—and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is his story at last.
"With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief."
The 416-page book, which has a striking cover image of Harry, will cost £28 for a hardback, with the audio book, voiced by Harry himself, priced at £20.
Penguin Random House said the memoir will be available in English in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa and Canada, while the book will also be published in translation in 15 additional languages, including Spanish, Italian, German and Chinese. The Spanish language version will carry the even more telling title Spare: In the Shadow.
