Prince Harry’s “Spare” became the UK’s fastest selling non-fiction book ever, its publisher said on Tuesday, after days of TV interviews, leaks, and a mistaken early release of the memoir containing intimate revelations about the British royal family.
Harry’s book has garnered attention around the world with its disclosures about his personal struggles and its accusations about other royals, including his father King Charles, stepmother Camilla and elder brother Prince William.
“We always knew this book would fly but it is exceeding even our most bullish expectations,” Transworld Penguin Random House Managing Director Larry Finlay said in a statement.
“As far as we know, the only books to have sold more in their first day are those starring the other Harry (Potter).”
Citing British sales figures, the publisher said it had sold 400,000 copies so far across hardback, e-book and audio formats.
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Earlier in the day, Caroline Lennon, a retail worker and one of the eager readers who had headed to bookshops to get their copy on the first day of its release, said she would read the book immediately as she posed for photographers.
“I like him, I like the royal family,” said Lennon, 59, the first and only person waiting to buy a copy from a Waterstone’s bookshop in central London when it opened.
Despite the lack of queues, Waterstone’s said there had been strong pre-orders for the memoir which currently ranks as the best-seller on Amazon’s UK, U.S., Australian, German and Canadian websites.