01 Mar Prince Harry rumoured to add new chapter to his memoir
Prince Harry’s memoir, ‘Spare’, sold a record 3.2 million copies in its first week of hitting the shelves, making it the fastest-selling non-fiction book of all time. The memoir shocked the nation as he candidly revealed deeply personal and salacious details of his life. Recently, it was rumoured that the Prince is to add a new chapter to his memoir, amidst all of the discourse surrounding the book’s content – Rutger Bruining, CEO and founder of the UK’s leading biography-writing service, StoryTerrace, comments on the vulnerabilities associated with sharing one’s truth, with a detailed focus on how holding a significant space in the public’s eye can alter how personal and sensitive information is received.
Being born into one of the most famous royal families in the world, Prince Harry lives a very publicised life – as tales of his private moments have constantly been played out in national headlines from ‘inside sources’. In an intensely intimate attempt to offload and address the many rumours shared about his life, the Duke of Sussex opted for the medium of a memoir as a way to make peace with his past and attempt to set the record straight. Garnering overwhelming media attention in both the lead-up and aftermath of the book’s release, there is now speculation of a new chapter being written to be published at a later date.
Putting your life into chapters can have its challenges, especially when it’s being published for the world to read. There have been rumours about the intended length of the first draft. Namely, the memoir was originally meant to be 800 pages long before being cut to just over 400 pages. Public discourse aside, ‘Spare’ highlighted to the public how to chapter your life story, which notable moments of adversity or family matters define us, and how writing about them helps you make peace with your past.
Bringing to the fore the intricacies and the confessional nature of memoir-writing, biography expert, Rutger Bruining, says there is value in being vulnerable through sharing your story, especially when maintaining control over your own narrative becomes challenging. Bruining has seen first-hand how thousands of people have positively transformed their lives by developing a deeper connection with themselves through the memoir-writing process.
The practice of writing one’s memoir is rarely linear, but instead a continual process with a series of emotional hurdles along the way. Bruining has seen how thousands of people have benefited from embarking upon this journey, but comments on the added challenges that come with being in the public eye. He says:
“Prince Harry’s memoir discusses really intricate and personal details of adversity and loss. It’s moving to hear his side after decades of headlines in the papers. As expected, the memoir faced a lot of backlash in great numbers, but one thing to take from it is how, once again, members of the public were dictating whether the memoir was appropriate or not. However, everyone has their story, and if someone else was trying to tell it, we would want to correct them.
“I find memoir writing so inspiring because of the conversation that follows, good memoirs normalise the reality that most of us live. I think the public felt at ease hearing the topics he discussed as they really were moments that most of us have lived or will experience in later years. Despite facing criticism or adversity, he is forging his own path and taking the next step in his personal journey.
“At StoryTerrace, we see a high number of people that choose to write about their struggles, often purely with the intention of providing hope for others going through a similar situation. I firmly believe that there is power in writing as a cathartic activity – and it doesn’t have to be writing a fully-fledged book. Journaling has experienced a well-documented boom over the past few years and has been evidenced to make a real difference for our wellbeing.”
