If anybody cares, Prince Harry’s book Spare will be published worldwide next Tuesday, 10 January. Unless, of course, you speak Spanish, in which case you can pick it up now in most book stores in Madrid or Barcelona.

In the years after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, I had a lot of respect for the princes William and Harry, because – and this is despite the vast amount of privilege that they both enjoyed and continue to enjoy – they must have suffered an extraordinary amount.

The Guardian‘s procurement of an advance copy of the book has led to an absolute torrent of stories all across the many news outlets on the internet, and indeed hard-copy newspapers, for those that still buy them, all blaring out the most salacious, gossip-y bits that they know most people will be interested in.

Harry’s crumbling relationship with his brother, his father, his entire family, are laid bare for all to see. His book now makes public his boast about the number of Afghans he killed, and this has led to allegations of war crimes from the Taliban – and the book isn’t even out yet!

All of this leads to the most shocking allegation of all about Harry, and the rest of the royal family – that he, and they, are, well, quite normal, really. No-one seems to have committed any crimes, except maybe Harry, who’s also quite open about his drug use over the years.

What’s also quite ordinary is the fact that Harry has written this book for money – a lot of money. He has, to all intents and purposes, prostituted his and his family’s lives for money, and even as I type I can imagine that they will be absolutely fuming – and with some justification, I feel. Any respect I had for Prince Harry has now vanished, and while I can’t say I respect the royal family as an institution, as people they certainly would have the right to tell him to pick up his stuff and clear off.

The book has now ruined, I would say, any chance of a reconciliation with William and King Charles. I wonder if Harry would have gone ahead with its publication had Queen Elizabeth II still been alive? In my humble opinion, Harry ought to forfeit any small claims he has to the British throne, his father is already on dangerous ground given the fact that he is the first divorcee to ascent the throne and become head of the Church of England (not that I agree with the C of E’s stance on that, by the way).

I’m really not going to repeat any of the book’s allegations, just go to almost any news site on the internet if you really want to know, but I’m just going to leave it at that, really. For Harry, there is no turning back now. Probably until the death of the Queen in September, there was still a chance to pull the plug, but after that, once hundreds of thousands of copies were being rolled off the printing presses of the world, it was and is too late.

Harry’s motives (other than money) for spilling the muck on everyone in his family are being picked apart across the internet, so I’m not going to bother doing that here. But it is clear that this book is some sort of a cry for help; he can be sure, however, that that help is not going to come from his family.

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