Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare was the best-selling non-fiction book launch ever in the UK its publisher claimed last night, though it is already available at half price in many bookstores.
Snippets from the book alongside the Harry & Meghan documentary on Netflix have dominated headlines for weeks and the high-profile media campaign seems to have paid off, in the short-term at least.
"We always knew this book would fly but it is exceeding even our most bullish expectations," Transworld Penguin Random House managing director Larry Finlay said in a statement.
"As far as we know, the only books to have sold more in their first day are those starring the other Harry (Potter)," he added, though unlike Spare the wizarding boy wonder’s exploits are a work of fiction.
According to Penguin Random House, some 400,000 copies of Prince Harry’s book have been bought across hardback, audio and e-book formats and ahead of its launch it was already a feature on Amazon’s best-seller list based on pre-orders.
A clearer indication of just how successful the book has been will come next Tuesday when market research house Nielsen releases its weekly monitor for UK book sales.
The Royal Family has yet to respond to a string of accusations made by the prince in the book, which also includes sections on Harry’s use of cocaine and controversially his time in the UK military in Afghanistan where he claims to have killed 25 Taliban fighters.