The ghost writer of Prince Harry’s tell-all memoir Spare has shared a rather interesting tidbit.
J.R. Moehringer penned an article for The New Yorker’s May 15 2023 issue and in it, he divulged that he had a heated argument with Harry while working on one specific part of the book.
While editing a chapter that details Harry’s time in the British Army, Moehringer recalled that during a Zoom call he had with Harry one night at 2am in the summer of 2022, he felt “exasperated” and ended up “shouting” at the Duke of Sussex.
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“I was exasperated with Prince Harry. My head was pounding, my jaw was clenched, and I was starting to raise my voice. And yet some part of me was still able to step outside the situation and think, This is so weird. I’m shouting at Prince Harry,” Moehringer wrote.
Moehringer then revealed that Harry shouted back at him and he instantly wondered whether he’d be fired over the argument.
“Then, as Harry started going back at me, as his cheeks flushed and his eyes narrowed, a more pressing thought occurred: Whoa, it could all end right here.”
The reason for the argument was because Harry wanted to end the chapter one way and Moehringer wanted it to end another way.
Essentially, the chapter in question details that Harry was kidnapped by “pretend terrorists” and then endured a realistic simulation as part of his military training.
And during the exercise, one of the pretend captors made a cruel dig about Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana. Harry made a quick comeback to this remark and wanted the chapter to end with Harry’s retort.
But Moehringer was adamant that the comeback did not need to be included in Spare at all.
“Harry always wanted to end this scene with a thing he said to his captors, a comeback that struck me as unnecessary, and somewhat inane. Good for Harry that he had the nerve, but ending with what he said would dilute the scene’s meaning: that even at the most bizarre and peripheral moments of his life, his central tragedy intrudes,” Moeringer explained.
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“For months, I’d been crossing out the comeback, and for months Harry had been pleading for it to go back in. Now he wasn’t pleading, he was insisting, and it was 2am, and I was starting to lose it. I said, ‘Dude, we’ve been over this.’”
Prince Harry told Moehringer that he desperately wanted the comeback in the book because “all his life, people had belittled his intellectual capabilities, and this flash of cleverness proved that, even after being kicked and punched and deprived of sleep and food, he had his wits about him.”
Ultimately though, Harry gave in and the comeback was left out of the book; oh, and obviously, Moehringer wasn’t fired…
Read all about Moehringer, the ghost writer of Spare, below:
Did Harry write Spare?
Harry did contribute to writing Spare but he didn’t solely write it; Harry hired a ghostwriter as is standard practice with celebrity memoirs.
Who is Prince Harry’s ghost writer?
Harry hired John Joseph Moehringer, acclaimed ghostwriter and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who goes by the pen name J.R. Moehringer, to ghost write Spare.
It’s been reported that the two ‘collaborated’ on the book and while the book is written in first person from Harry’s perspective, it’s likely that Moehringer wrote most of the book after discussing the details of Harry’s life with Harry himself.
Moehringer also ghost wrote memoirs for tennis star Andre Agassi (Open: An Autobiography) and American billionaire Phil Knight (Shoe Dog).
Not only this, but Moehringer wrote a memoir, The Tender Bar, about his own life. The Tender Bar was eventually adapted into a film of the same name, and was directed by George Clooney and starred Ben Affleck.
Why is Prince Harry’s book called Spare?
The title of Harry’s memoir refers to the saying, ‘The heir and the spare,’ which essentially refers to aristocratic families and how the first-born child is heir to the title/estate and the second-born child is the back-up, in case anything happens to the first-born.
Prince Harry has regularly been referred to as a ‘spare’, as his older brother Prince William is the heir to the British throne. It’s even been reported that King Charles himself has called his youngest son a ‘spare’, hence the title of Prince Harry’s book.
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How much did Harry get for Spare?
Page Six reported in 2021 that Prince Harry was paid at least US$20 million (roughly £16.5 million and AU$29 million) for his memoir.
But a spokesperson from Penguin Random House has said that Prince Harry will “support British charities with donations from his proceeds from Spare”.
Prince Harry will give US$1.5 million to UK charity Sentebale, which he co-founded as a nod to Princess Diana’s legacy. Sentebale supports vulnerable children in Lesotho and Botswana affected by HIV/AIDS.
Prince Harry will also give £300,000 to UK non-profit, WellChild. Harry has supported WellChild, which endeavours to provide the best care and support to sick children and young people with serious illnesses, for 15 years.
Prince Harry Spare release date
Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, was released on January 10, 2023.
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