Prince Harry's Biographer Slams Royal For Giving Memoir 'Derogatory' Title: 'It's Nonsense'

A biographer of Prince Harry's feels it's a "tragedy" that the Duke of Sussex decided to call his highly anticipated memoir "Spare."

Last week, publisher Penguin Random House unveiled the title of Prince Harry's tell-all and announced that it will hit shelves in January 2023.

However, the memoir's title has since raised eyebrows, especially among royal experts and commentators, including journalist and "Harry: A Biography of a Prince" author Angela Levin.

In an interview on Sky News Australia, Levin, who accompanied Prince Harry on his royal duties for a year to write his 2018 biography, said she thinks the book title suggests Prince Harry is stuck in the past despite having found "freedom" from royal life.

"I think it's a tragedy that he's used that title," Levin said of Prince Harry. "I mean, does he still feel like that, having left the royal family, found a woman he's absolutely besotted by, got two children, an enormous house and all the freedom he wants? What he's doing is looking back and hanging on to it."

The title is seemingly a reference to the phrase "the heir and the spare" and appears to comment on Prince Harry's position in the royal line of succession. Before the birth of Prince William's three children, Prince Harry was right behind his older brother in the succession order. The former military pilot is currently fifth in line for the British throne after the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September and the accession of King Charles III.

Levin noted that the word "spare" also means leftover, which the "Camilla: From Outcast to Queen Consort" author described as "the most hideous title."

"It's nonsense," the royal expert added of Prince Harry's title choice. "Harry was the next most popular to the Queen. He liked to muck about, liked to be a bit naughty. He was full of energy. When I wrote his biography [from] 2017 to 2018, he just was a live wire, fantastic with people of all ages, all sorts, so it sounds so derogatory to call yourself spare as if nobody wanted you."

Levin also claimed that when she asked Prince Harry if he wanted to be king, he said he didn't want it. She claimed that the Duke of Sussex instead wanted "his freedom."

"After all the therapy that he's had, he should start moving on. And to try and attack his parents when King Charles is grieving for his mother...it's so unkind to do that," she added.

Duncan Larcombe, another biographer of Prince Harry's, echoed Levin's sentiments, telling Fox News Digital that "the spare" is "a derogatory term in royal circles."

The "Prince Harry: The Inside Story" author suggested that Prince Harry's decision to highlight this role in the title of his memoir could mean that his book will focus on his struggles living in Prince William's shadow — something the older royal could take issue with.

"The spare to the heir is someone who is not as important and as worthy as their older sibling," Larcombe explained. "And that's certainly something that hasn't been a very easy role historically for Prince Harry but also Prince Andrew, Charles's brother, and of course, Princess Margaret, the queen's sister."

He continued, "So it kind of looks very clearly that Harry's intent on taking a kind of victim position, because he's giving the [title] a derogatory term, and presumably what will follow is a book about how hard it was being born in his brother's shadow."

Prince Harry's memoir "Spare" will hit shelves on Jan. 10, 2023.