Security hasn’t been this tight since the last “Harry” book. As publication looms for the Duke of Sussex‘s memoir, the ultra-secure arrangements echo those of the final episode of the Harry Potter series 16 years ago, insiders said yesterday.
At the time, publishers spent millions of pounds to prevent the storyline from being leaked before it was put on sale in bookshops.
This week there is a huge logistical operation going on around Prince Harry’s biography Spare.
The Duke and his publisher Penguin Random House are doing everything they can to ensure that it is published simultaneously around the world next Tuesday.
The Duke and its publisher Penguin Random House are doing everything they can to ensure that ‘Spare’ is published simultaneously around the world next Tuesday
Security hasn’t been this tight since the last “Harry” book. As publication looms for the Duke of Sussex’s memoir, the ultra-secure arrangements mirror those of the final installment of the Harry Potter series 16 years ago, insiders said yesterday.
Publishers spent millions of pounds to prevent the storyline of the final installment of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series from being leaked before it went on sale in bookshops. The author is pictured above at the launch of The Deathly Hallows in 2007
The hardback will be in UK bookshops when they open Tuesday morning, and the e-book edition will be available for download on the Kindle shortly after midnight on the same day.
Spare will be published in 16 languages, including Chinese, Finnish, Hungarian, Spanish and Portuguese, but – in theory – no one in any country will be able to get their hands on an early copy.
While the official release date is January 10, readers in Australia – which is 11 hours ahead of the UK – are in no doubt that copies won’t be available for them until January 11.
In the United States, five to eight hours behind Britain, it’s the evening of Monday, January 9, when e-book copies of the tome become available on Kindle, at the same time as the clock strikes midnight on Tuesday morning in the United States. UK.
Harry’s tell-all book is expected to double down on his attacks on the royal family. While King Charles may be spared the duke’s worst wrath, the book is believed to contain damaging details about his bitter feud with his brother, with both William and his wife Kate coming under fire in its 416 pages.
Spare tells Harry’s story with “raw, unwavering honesty,” according to Penguin Random House.
The Sussexes are said to have signed a $20 million (£16.6 million) four-book deal with the publishing giant.
Harry’s tell-all book is expected to double down on his attacks on the royal family. While King Charles may be spared the duke’s worst wrath, the book is believed to contain damaging details about his bitter feud with his brother, with both William and his wife Kate coming under fire in its 416 pages.
Publishing sources said arrangements for the release of Harry’s “explosive” memoir were extremely closely guarded and managed down to the minutest detail, with only a handful of senior executives privy to the exact details.
Publishing sources said arrangements for the release of Harry’s “explosive” memoir were extremely closely guarded and managed down to the minutest detail, with only a handful of senior executives privy to the exact details.
Deliveries to bookstores are scheduled at the last minute to prevent unauthorized copies from being leaked. Secure sites around the world are secured to host copies of the book before distribution.
The sophisticated security operation has been compared to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in 2007, when JK Rowling was determined that her young fans wouldn’t ruin the experience by learning the young wizard’s fate before she wrote the seventh and final novel. read in the series.
An army of guards, satellite tracking systems and legal contracts were all deployed to protect the first 10 million copies of the new Harry Potter book.
When the finished manuscript was brought from London to New York by hand, a lawyer from the American publisher sat on it during the flight.
When copies were sent to retailers, trucks were fitted with satellite tracking systems that would reveal if any of the vehicles deviated from their planned routes.
With Prince Harry’s book, Buckingham Palace did not preview the manuscript. Informed sources expect a ‘moe re-hash of gripes’ from King Charles’ youngest son
The books were on sealed pallets fitted with alarms to prevent tampering. Print workers were threatened with firing if they leaked details, while German publishers banned mobile phones and even packed lunches from the print shop.
Some employees reportedly had to work in near darkness to avoid reading the book. Amazon cordoned off special areas of its warehouse to ensure limited access.
With the Harry Potter series, security was tightened with every installment. With book five, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Suffolk forklift driver Donald Parfitt was ordered to do 180 hours of community service after admitting to stealing pages from the print shop where he worked.
Then with book six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Aaron Lambert was jailed for four and a half years for stealing copies and trying to sell them.
With Prince Harry’s book, Buckingham Palace did not preview the manuscript.
Courtiers expect to maintain a dignified silence even after it is published, unless the book contains allegations that cannot go unchallenged.
Informed sources expect a ‘moe re-hash of gripes’ from King Charles’ youngest son.
One of them said: ‘Right now it seems the same worn out and rather tired pile of complaints about the institute and the way it works. I’m not sure he’s doing himself a favour.
“The everyday truth is that the palace really bent over backwards to help Harry and Meghan. Unfortunately, it was never enough for them. They wanted it their way or not at all. That’s why many believe they planned to leave or try to develop this impossibly hybrid, half-in-half-out role from the start.”
In a publicity blitz to promote his book, Harry has given interviews to ITV News presenter Tom Bradby, which will be shown on Sunday night, and US presenter Anderson Cooper for CBS News’s 60 Minutes show on the same night.
Trailers for both programs suggest the 38-year-old prince will complain that the royal family refuses to “reconcile” with him and Meghan.