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Prince Harry's tell-all interview with British TV network ITV promoting his memoir, Spare, failed to draw even half the viewing figures achieved by King Charles' Christmas speech less than a month ago, new data shows.
Harry recorded a frank interview with ITV's news anchor Tom Bradby promoting his memoir, which was broadcast on the same evening that his sit-down with Anderson Cooper for a CBS 60 Minutes special aired in the U.S.
Titled simply Harry: The Interview, the prince didn't shy away from disclosing personal details about his strained relationships with members of his family including Prince William and Queen Camilla, in a broadcasting move rarely seen by royals.
For the British public, though, the promise of more royal bombshells launched by Harry following Spare's leaking to the press ahead of it's January 10 release date and the six-episode Netflix series detailing his and Meghan's royal lives, failed to raise interest.
According to figures compiled by the independent ratings analyzer the Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB), per Deadline, Harry: The Interview drew 4.1 million viewers on Sunday evening's prime-time 9 p.m. slot—behind the most popular show broadcast in its timeslot, Happy Valley, which had 5.2 million viewers.
This figure is less than half of BARB's reported 10.72 million viewers who tuned in to watch King Charles' Christmas day broadcast, less than a month ago.
The king's TV pulling power may have come as somewhat of a surprise given a YouGov poll published in the weeks leading up to Charles' broadcast forecasted that 49 percent of Brits didn't intend to tune in. Even more surprising is that Charles' first Christmas speech even trumped Queen Elizabeth's last.
In 2021, Queen Elizabeth's Christmas speech saw 7.4 million viewers tune in, according to BARB data.
Harry's failure to generate the same level of viewing interest among Brits as the king, may, in part, serve as a reflection of the prince's popularity within the country.
YouGov polling results released on Tuesday from surveys conducted on January 5 and 6, show that Harry's popularity has plummeted to a new low, even seeing his once strong support base among young people evenly split.
Figures show that just 26 percent of Brits have a positive view of Harry, the lowest it has ever been since the research organization began compiling data on the prince. It shows that the prince's popularity has dropped seven points in just a month.
The number of Brits who have a negative view of the royal has risen to about two-thirds (64 percent) up from 59 percent in December.
The public's views of King Charles and Kate Middleton have remained the same as last month, but Prince William saw his popularity take a hit, falling eight points from 77 percent in December to 69 percent last week. The percentage who view him negatively has risen five points from 15 percent to 20 percent.
William's blushes aren't spared by Harry in his memoir and appear to have had some effect. The prince details how his older brother physically attacked him during a 2019 altercation at Kensington Palace over Meghan Markle and her treatment of palace staff members. Harry also critiques William's physical appearance, calling his baldness "alarming" and says that he lost his famous physical resemblance to their mother, Princess Diana.
Kensington Palace and Buckingham Palace have adopted "no comment" positions in relation to Harry's book.
The prince has a live TV appearance scheduled to discuss his memoir on Tuesday with CBS' Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, the same day as its global release.
Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry for comment.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more