Even the Possibility of Meghan Markle Writing a Memoir Similar to ‘Spare’ Apparently “Fills King Charles with Horror”

There has been no official confirmation that Meghan Markle is writing a memoir, but the buzz is certainly there. After all, Prince Harry’s Spare—released in January 2023—was a bestseller, and the public is arguably as interested (if not more so) in Meghan’s story.

According to royal author Tom Quinn, the thought of a tell-all from Meghan certainly—how shall we say it?—doesn’t fill King Charles with great excitement and joyous anticipation, let’s put it that way. The King is said to be worried about the prospect of a Meghan memoir, especially since he knows that his son, Prince Harry, is bound to be involved in it somehow. (Just in case you haven’t heard, relations are a bit frosty right now between father and son.)

The Mirror reports that Meghan’s potential book is believed to be in preparation for the forthcoming launch of her new lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard. According to Quinn, Charles particularly fears that private conversations could end up being made public: “When King Charles heard his son was planning to return for the Invictus Games, he joked that if he saw Harry, he would have to have him searched first to see if he was taping their conversation,” Quinn said. “And, of course, at many levels this is no joking matter.”

Harry was in the U.K. this week for the 10-year anniversary celebrations of the Invictus Games, but the King didn’t make time to see him. Though Harry’s brother Prince William fares arguably worst of all, Charles also has moments in Spare of not being painted in the best light—and there have “been reports he [Harry] was working on a follow up book,” The Mirror reports. “However, these plans were said to be scrapped following the damage Spare did to Harry’s relationship with Charles.” 

Harry did say he had enough material for a second volume of Spare, but that what he could say (and what was left on the cutting room floor from the first iteration, which ran over 400 pages long) would likely end his relationship with his father and brother for good, forever. “There was a sigh of relief at Kensington Palace and Clarence House that Harry appears to have scrapped the idea of a second book after his bestseller Spare, but the focus has now switched to Meghan,” Quinn said. “King Charles now fears that anything he says to his son may end up in a book written by Meghan.”

Quinn added that writing a tell-all would be a shrewd business move on Meghan’s part as she continues to expand her empire, not just with her new lifestyle brand but also with her ongoing Netflix deal (which she shares with Harry) and her forthcoming podcast with Lemonada Media.

“For all her efforts to make a success of her new online business, American Riviera Orchard, Meghan knows that a personal memoir of her time in the U.K. as a working royal would sell millions of copies and make her the sort of money she craves,” Quinn said. “She is also acutely aware that such a book would only boost traffic to her new online business. All this fills King Charles with horror, because Harry is bound to be a major contributor to the book.”