But it seems the boy who was spare won’t be outshining the boy who lived any time soon,with Prince Harry’s much-hyped memoir failing to garner a royal rush in Australia.
Anticipating lines out the door,Sydney’s Dymocks bookstore opened half an hour early and ordered a mammoth 2000 copies ofSpare, ahead of the book’s global release date on Wednesday.
Instead,those eager to grab a copy on Wednesday morning were greeted by an abundance of neatly stacked piles of the tell-all autobiography. The store’s general manager,Jon Page,described the morning as a slow burn.
“We weren’t really sure what was going to happen. We didn’t have that big a crowd,but since we’ve opened,it’s been a steady stream of customers,” he said.
“I think the hype has been very close to Harry Potter.[For that],we did have the lines but I think maybe because it was a children’s book,there were people more unencumbered to express their emotions for a book and therefore more keen to come out early and line up.
“But we haven’t seen a book like this for years and years,so it’s very exciting to have a big book release like this.”
It was a similar story for bookworms scouring Dymocks shelves in Melbourne’s CBD on Wednesday morning. Most bypassed Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir despite
Harry’s recent promotional interviews for the book have generated widespread publicity due to his accusations towards the royal family,including and brother Prince William.
Cynthia Lopez,a 35-year-old from Sydney holidaying in Victoria,was one of the first to buy the memoir at Dymocks’ central Melbourne store.
“I’m just very curious about it. I think we want to hear his version from all this time because he was always a little bit different from the rest of the family,” she said.
Lopez said Harry’s sensational interviews – which included accusations that – had not changed her perception of the royal family,but added:“Maybe at some point,[Harry] might regret it.”
For Diana fan Anne-Marie Bridge,it was the bookstore’s displays that caught her eye on George Street,Sydney,on Wednesday morning.
“I thought it wasn’t ready yet,and I saw the sign and thought I better jump in and get it now,” she said.
“I think it’s going to be a good insight into the second child. I was a Diana fan. I’m not a fan of Meghan. I wouldn’t say I’m a nutter about[the royals] but I am interested in their lives. I mean,they are everywhere,aren’t they?”
Prince Harry’s book publisher said in a statement the book had become the UK’s fastest-selling non-fiction book. But Claire White,who was working at Dymocks on Melbourne’s Collins Street when the book was released at 10am,said about noon that the interest[was] lower than anticipated.
“It’s obviously like a historical book ... but I feel like maybe people are kind of sick of him now because he has been selling his story a lot already,” she said.
“There’s still a bit of interest and a bit of a buzz about it,but just not as much as you would anticipate.”
White said Dymocks’ central Melbourne store,which was one of the biggest bookshops in the CBD,had received only 13 pre-orders for Harry’s book.
Steven Hill,a 48-year-old holidaymaker from Tamworth in regional NSW,didn’t buy the book and said many might skip reading it because he felt it wasn’t a positive,upbeat story.
“[The] public perception is that he sold out his family story for financial gain,which is sort of seen to be not ideal,” Hill said.
Queen Elizabeth II fan Chris O’Farrell grabbed a copy of the memoir on Wednesday because of a desire to hear things from the prince’s perspective.
“I just wanted to see from his point of view,what his perspective is on a lot of things that have been going on over the last couple of decades,” he said.
Protima Daryanani,a 52-year-old UK-raised lawyer,bought the book partly to try to understand what was provoking Harry to detail his broken family relationships in public.
“My family’s Indian,I grew up in England. I just think you don’t wash your dirty laundry in public,ever,” she said.
Daryanani said she vividly remembered when Harry’s mother,Diana,died in a car crash.
“I had a lot of sympathy for him and Meghan,but I think that has been undone a little bit,” she said.
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