Prince Harry’s upcoming memoir would likely reveal new “explosive details” about his elder brother William, a royal historian has warned.
Dr. Edward Owens, a British historian and author of The Family Firm Monarchy: Mass Media and the British Public, 1932-53, claimed that Harry’s memoir could contain new information about his relationship with senior members of the Royal Family, including William.
The historian argued there might be new “explosive details” about the Royal Family in Harry’s memoir because he “wants to sell a book.”
“There’s got to be some sort of explosive details in there, he wants to sell a book,” Owens said, according to Express.
“There might be a bit more information about his relationship with his brother,” Owens continued. “So far, it’s been left for royal commentators and journalists to narrate the family feud between William and Harry.”
According to Owens, the Sussexes would want to use the memoir to set the record straight because they felt the Royal Family mistreated them.
He added that it gives Harry and Meghan a chance, for the first time since Megxit, to “put in writing on record, their interpretation of what happened.”
“We might get a fuller picture of how they [Harry and Meghan] felt and why they did what they did in terms of Megxit,” Owens said.
Harry’s set to publish his memoir in 2022
Owens’ comments come after Monsters & Critics reported that Harry plans to publish his memoir in 2022.
The Duke of Sussex explained in a statement published on his Archewell website that he wanted to publish his memoir to tell his own story, including “the highs and lows, the mistakes” and the lessons he’s learned.
Sources claimed that Harry received an advance payment of $20 million for the memoir, but he revealed that part of the proceeds would go to charity.
The Daily Mail reported at the time that Harry’s deal with Random House publishers covered four books and that the second book won’t be published until after Queen Elizabeth’s death.
But Harry reportedly denied the report that he was waiting for the Queen to die to publish the second book.
Meghan and Harry ‘can now tell their own stories’
After Harry announced he would publish his memoir in 2022, Omid Scobie, royal biographer and friend of the Sussexes, commented that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex now “have their own voices” and “can tell their own stories.”
Scobie, who co-authored Finding Freedom with journalist Carolyn Durand, told Royally Obsessed podcast host Robbie Frito that Harry’s upcoming memoir shows that he and Meghan can now “tell their stories as and when they want, how they want” and no longer need other people to “write the record” for them.
Harry’s memoir is ‘hanging’ over the Royal Family
Royal commentator Phil Dampier also told the Sun that senior members of the Royal Family were worried about Harry’s book but here hoping he was “running out of ammunition.”
According to Dampier, members of the Royal Family were concerned he could use his memoir to drop new bombshell family secrets.
Royal biographer Angela Levin, author of Harry: A Biography of a Prince, claimed the Royals were reluctant to invite Harry and Meghan to the family’s upcoming Christmas reunion because they were afraid he would use it for his book.
However, royal expert watcher Mikhaila Friel insisted that while Harry would likely reveal both personal and the “behind-the-Palace-walls” secrets, he would not disclose “hugely damaging secrets” out of respect for the Queen.