Prince Harry: Today reporter will need a ‘stiff drink’ to get through Spare
A Today reporter couldn’t resist criticizing Prince Harry on the day his long-awaited memoir, Spare, was published in Australia.
Gabrielle Boyle was filming a live crossover of Dymocks bookstore in Sydney’s CBD on Wednesday morning when she joked that she would need a “strong drink” to read the Duke of Sussex’s book.
He made the comment after noting the lack of crowds outside the George Street store, which was surprising given the 24-hour hype blitz surrounding Spare’s launch.
Today reporter Gabrielle Boyle (pictured) couldn’t resist criticizing Prince Harry on the day his long-awaited memoir, Spare, was released in Australia.
The segment began with Today host Lara Vella asking Boyle: ‘Gabby, the bookstores here expect long lines. Is there anyone out there yet?
Boyle laughed awkwardly as he looked down the deserted street and replied, ‘Well, not yet, Lara. it’s a few hours [to go] yet.’
He later said that Dymocks was offering customers a free hot drink with every purchase, before pointedly adding, “I think if I were to read the whole book, I’d need a free strong drink.”
This quip made Lara and co-host Alex Cullen break into laughter in the studio.
Boyle (right, with Lara Vella, left, and Brett McLeod, centre) was filming a live crossover from Dymocks bookstore in Sydney’s CBD on Wednesday morning when he joked that he would need a “strong drink” ” to read the Duke of Sussex’s book.
Harry recently said that he and his wife Meghan Markle (right) will never return to the UK.
“Gabby, I think you speak for a lot of people there,” Lara said, to which Alex added, “Whiskey on the rocks.”
He crossed back into Boyle’s today inside the Dymocks flagship store an hour later.
Despite a lack of customers queuing outside, he said Dymocks had already sold 600 pre-order copies and stocked up on “thousands of copies”.
However, he balked at the price of the book: $45.
“If you’re wondering how much it costs to get a copy of this, well here at Dymocks it retails for $45, but at some retailers it’s $60,” Boyle said.
‘Sixty bucks for the privilege of reading this,’ he added, as Cullen laughed at the Today show headquarters.
“I really don’t want to pay $45 for the privilege…I’ll just download the audiobook and listen to it while I do the dishes.”
Harry’s headline-grabbing autobiography Spare, which hit shelves Tuesday, has been propelled into the record books with 400,000 copies in hardcover, e-book and audio format, its publisher said.
This makes it the best-selling nonfiction book in history.
He made the comment after noting the lack of crowds outside the George Street store, which was surprising given the 24-hour hype blitz surrounding Spare’s launch. (Pictured: a stock photo of Spare for sale in Spain)
Despite a lack of customers queuing outside, Boyle said Dymocks had already sold 600 pre-order copies and stocked up on “thousands of copies”.
The book includes claims that the Prince of Wales physically attacked Harry and taunted him for his panic attacks, and that the King put his own interests above Harry’s and was jealous of the Duchess of Sussex and Princess of Wales.
In an American broadcast promoting the book, Harry called the Duchess of Cornwall a “villain” and “dangerous”, accusing her of rehabilitating her image at the expense of his.
Larry Finlay, managing director of Transworld Penguin Random House, said, “We always knew this book would fly, but it exceeds even our most optimistic expectations.”
Harry’s headline-grabbing autobiography Spare, which hit shelves Tuesday, has been propelled into the record books with 400,000 copies in hardcover, e-book and audio format, its publisher said. This makes it the best-selling nonfiction book in history. (The Duke of Sussex is pictured with Good Morning America host Michael Strahan on January 3)
‘As far as we know, the only books that have sold more on their first day are those starring the other Harry [Potter].’
As the duke continued a series of high-profile promotional interviews, he said he would “like nothing more” for his sons to have relationships with the royal family.
His comments about his son and daughter came despite criticism he has leveled at his brother William, father Charles and stepmother Camilla.
In her first print interview about her autobiography, she told US magazine People that Archie, three, and 19-month-old Lili had a connection to some of the Windsors, whom she did not name, saying this brought her “great joy”. . .
He also described his late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, as his “guardian angel” and said that she is with him “all the time”.
Bookstores in the UK opened early on Tuesday to offer Harry’s book, but queues were thin after leaks ahead of publication, and industry insiders predicted Spare would be one of the best-selling pre-order titles. of the last decade.
Scenes outside Australian bookstores were similarly muted.
Bookstores in the UK opened early on Tuesday to offer Harry’s book, but queues were thin after leaks ahead of publication. Scenes outside Australian bookstores were similarly muted. (Pictured: A Waterstones bookstore in London’s Piccadilly on Tuesday)