Prince Harry’s ‘Spare’ Will ‘Always Be More Interesting’ Than a Possible Meghan Markle Memoir Because of 1 Major Difference Between the Couple, Author Says
Were Meghan Markle to someday pen a memoir, apparently, it wouldn’t stack up against Prince Harry’s. According to an author and royal correspondent, the reason isn’t Spare’s status as the fastest-selling non-fiction book. Nor its sheer number of bombshell claims. Rather, the author puts it down to a major difference between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as people and their respective approaches to speaking publicly.
Reports of possible Meghan Markle memoir
Since Harry’s memoir hit shelves on Jan. 10, 2023, or, more like the moment of Spare’s announcement, there’s been speculation surrounding a possible Meghan memoir.
Will she or won’t she? It’s a question that’s been asked many times by commentators and watchers alike. Topics Meghan could include range from marrying into the royal family to Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral. And, of course, her and Harry’s relocation to California.
“We all believed, I have, anyway, and lots of others, that it’ll be moans and groans about how badly she was treated as a royal,” Angela Levin, a commentator and vocal critic of the Sussexes, told Sky News about a possible Meghan memoir.
“It’ll be another record like Harry’s but only more powerful,” she continued. “It’ll be full of untruths, won’t it? Because we’re used to her not actually quite hitting the nail on the head when it comes to truths.”
Since the dissolution of Harry and Meghan’s Spotify deal, questions surrounding what’s next have increased. Will Meghan revive The Tig, her once successful lifestyle blog? Or will she position herself as the next Oprah? What about a potential return to acting?
Memoir, blog, media mogul, acting, whatever Meghan’s next step, she hasn’t taken any of the aforementioned paths. At least not as 2023 comes to a close. However, she has teased “many exciting things” to come.
A Meghan memoir would likely reflect her ‘more curated’ approach to Harry’s frankness in ‘Spare’
“To gain the respect of the reader, you have to be completely human in your portrayal, transparent in your portrayal of yourself,” Omid Scobie, royal correspondent and author of Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival, told Newsweek.
“It has to be candid, it has to be embarrassing in places,” he continued. “It has to be all of these things to be the true portrait of a human being rather than the varnished image of a public figure that wants to be seen in a certain way.”
“And it’s why I think his [Harry’s] book would always be more interesting than, say, if Megan wrote a memoir,” Scobie explained. “Because I think Megan has a much more curated take on what her image is and how it should be.” Whereas “Harry has always been a very candid, candid man.”
After all, Meghan received criticism for rarely showing her “real” self on Archetypes. Meanwhile, Spare’s release saw Harry be criticized for oversharing by some.
Perspectives on personal ‘experiences’ in memoirs and documentaries are ‘always going to be different,’ including Harry and Meghan’s
Scobie, whose November 2023 book has the royal family reportedly considering legal action after those who allegedly made racist comments about Prince Archie were named, continued.
Addressing the suggestion from some experts Spare and Netflix’s Harry & Meghan didn’t do much in the way of recognizing mistakes made by the couple; the author noted how a different “perspective” comes with telling one’s own story.
“Let me ask you this. How would you write about your wife and your experiences together in the public domain? His perspective is always going to be different, you know?”
“He’s writing about someone that he wanted to kind of defend and protect to the death. And so his descriptions of those experiences are always going to come from that very place.
“I think anyone picking up Spare and expecting it to be the kind of balanced, unbiased take on this should find a good piece of journalism because that’s not what you get in a memoir,” he added.
“It just wasn’t a surprise to me. It’s like when they sat down for Oprah [in 2021]. We were never gonna hear anyone else’s side of the story other than their own. And it’s the same with Spare,” Scobie concluded.
