A former ghostwriter for Prince Harry has made interesting claims about him. In 2011, author Mark McCrum was given the responsibility of writing Harry’s foreword for the best-selling book Walking with the Wounded. The book tells the story of 4 wounded soldiers and their attempts to reach the North Pole while treading over 300 miles of frozen Arctic Ocean and was supposed to feature a foreword written by Prince Harry.
It was then that the British author was contacted to take upon the task of writing Harry’s foreword, which was supposed to give this book a good start. Once this was written, he was to send it to Clarence House for approval.
To write this for Harry, McCrum wanted to meet the Duke of Sussex and thus requested for a sit-down to be arranged as he wanted to understand the Prince’s point of view and get his opinions. When Duke was meeting with the soldiers mentioned in the book at Tromsø, Norway, a meeting was scheduled between them for an hour.
Prince Harry’s ghostwriter admits he has ‘no idea’ if Duke of Sussex ever read his messagehttps://t.co/uhIqazj7eu
— GB News (@GBNEWS) January 15, 2025
However, a few days before the decided date, Mark was informed that he wouldn’t be having a one-on-one with Harry and received a 15-minute video for reference instead. The video was of the then-working royal gallivanting in a “full polar kit” across the mountain where the story was set up.
He told the Daily Mail that the video was specially recorded for him where the Prince was describing the scenic beauty and bravery of those soldiers and was “hardly illuminating”. Mark also took a jibe at the recurring use of the word “amazing” by the Prince.
I was Prince Harry’s ghostwriter. Here’s the truth about what I wrote, why his contribution was ‘hardly illuminating’ and exactly how much he had to do with it… https://t.co/nXGgw7mUHJ pic.twitter.com/5oxDBEFvyH
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) January 14, 2025
Mark added that he never met the Prince and when asked if he got any feedback from Harry, the author told Daily Mail that he is not sure if he even read the book. He also confirmed that he has never met Prince Harry. The book went on to become a best seller with the shimmering name of Prince Harry on its cover, though.
After decade later, Prince Harry sat down with another ghostwriter, this time an American author, J.R. Moehringer, to write his memoir Spare. Moehringer had told the media that writing for the Prince was exasperating.
Showing his sympathy towards Moehringer, McCrum said that writing for someone else is very difficult, and he imagines that his American counterpart “clearly had a tougher challenge and a longer struggle.”
Prince Harry’s “Spare” was ghostwritten by J.R. Moehringer, who is the world’s best-paid ghostwriter.
He reportedly got paid $1m for “Spare” and also ghost-wrote two other bangers: Andre Agassi’s “Open” and Phil Knight’s “Show Dog”. pic.twitter.com/DeFwFgKsF1
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) January 12, 2023
Spare was released in 2023 and was an instant hit. The book also broke all sales records for the non-fiction genre and became a best seller.
Describing the difficulty of writing for celebrities, McCrum said that while talking with writers, our subjects (celebrities) can be very pleasant and engaging, especially when they are talking about themselves. But once the recorder is off, the mood can change drastically. Writers are usually completely ignored, and subjects go back to writing emails, getting on phone calls, or even collecting phone numbers of people who stop by for autographs. Writers must prepare themselves for all kinds of bad behavior.