California has many charms, but the year-round sun of the Golden State may be starting to lose its shine for the Duke of Sussex as he sees photographs of the Prince and Princess of Wales enjoying their holiday with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Balmoral.
In more harmonious times for the Royal Family, Prince Harry would have been with his brother and sister-in-law at the Highlands retreat at this time of year.
‘To me, Balmoral was always simply Paradise,’ Harry wrote in his memoir, Spare. ‘A cross between Disney World and some sacred Druid grove.’
King Charles arrives to take up summer residence at Balmoral earlier this month
Instead of shooting grouse with King Charles or stalking deer with Prince William in Scotland, Harry is, however, stuck in Montecito, plotting his next moves with his wife, the Duchess of Sussex.
When the royals are on holiday in August, it seems that Harry and Meghan get to work: Last week, on a ‘quasi-royal tour’ of Colombia at the invitation of a vice-president who’d seen them on Netflix. This week, announcing plans to attend Climate Week events in New York next month, and informing the world of the publication date for the paperback edition of Spare.
It will come out in October, says the press release from publisher Penguin Random House, which includes a detail that will come as a relief to the Royal Family.
This is that the new, cheaper edition will not feature any fresh material.
Which is a surprise because most publishers of a record-breaking book like Spare would want an updated chapter with new revelations in order to get a second bite of the cherry and boost sales.
In another piece of good news for the King, I revealed today in my social diary, Eden Confidential, that Harry was not planning to give any interviews to publicise the launch.
This is significant. It wasn’t just the contents of Spare that caused such anguish when the book was published in January last year. It was the succession of interviews that Harry gave to publicise the memoir.
With one interviewer, Stephen Colbert, he talked about his frostbitten penis. With another, Tom Bradby, he lamented the King’s failings as a father and how the monarchy had ‘gone to bed with the Devil’ by collaborating with the dreaded Press.
Harry and Meghan have announced plans to attend Climate Week events in New York next month, and told the world of the publication date for the paperback edition of Spare
The fact that Harry is not giving interviews this time round is further evidence of what royal sources have been telling me for some time: that he is increasingly desperate for a reconciliation with his father, as well as with the wider Royal Family.
‘There is no doubt that Harry wants to patch things up with the King,’ one source said. ‘His father’s cancer treatment has given things an added sense of urgency.’
It’s safe to assume this is the main reason Harry won’t be updating his tawdry memoir with new comments about his relations. It’s also why he won’t be trying to sell more copies of Spare with appearances on chat show sofas.
But will it work? It may encourage the King to start taking Harry’s calls again, but there needs to be an awful lot more water under the bridge before William would even be prepared to consider a reconciliation.
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