Prince Harry's 'Spare' Audiobook Narration Roasted: 'Embarrassed For Him'

Prince Harry has received a roasting for the narration of the audiobook version of his hit memoir Spare which was released globally on Tuesday.

Harry narrates the 16-hour-long audiobook himself, giving listeners the unique experience of hearing his own life story in his own words and in his own voice.

Though many fans have celebrated this move, a number of clips taken from the audiobook have been uploaded to social media with listeners pointing out the bizarreness of hearing the prince describe getting frostbite on his "todger," and seriously quoting lines from the Spice Girls number one hit Wannabe.

Jimmy Kimmel became the most prominent celebrity voice to lampoon Harry's narrating debut, airing an "exclusive" spoof extract as part of his late-night show on Wednesday.

In the spoof, a voice actor mimicking the prince's voice read a made-up passage from the book relating to Prince Charles' teddy bear.

"My primary perception of Pa's teddy was one of grudging, resentment," it said. "It was widely understood that frizzy bobble was third in line for the crown. I detested that woolly little w*****."

Kimmel was not the only TV host to poke fun at Harry. In Britain, reality show veteran Sharon Osbourne reacted to an excerpt of the audiobook in which the prince sings lines from Elton John's Your Song.

"I'm so embarrassed I've got sweaty armpits," she said after hearing the clip on British panel show The Talk. "I'm embarrassed for him and I don't even like him."

In another notable musical moment, Page Six's deputy editor Nicholas Hautman took to Twitter to post his curiosity if Harry would read aloud a quotation from the Spice Girls' 90s hit Wannabe.

"I need to know if he sings the Spice Girls in the audiobook," he wrote including an extract from Spare of Harry recounting an evening spent watching Prince Charles at a pop concert.

A clip from this was swiftly uploaded to social media platform TikTok with commenters observing: "Him narrating his time with the Spice Girls is iconic. The whole chapter is gold," and "Prince Harry reciting Wannabe is one of the notable moments of 'Spare' not to have leaked out in advance."

A number of listeners also picked up on how strange it was to hear Harry speaking for such a long period of time and how his voice was strangely similar to British celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay.

Columnist Gary Spence posted to Twitter: "Did Gordon Ramsay do the audiobook for Prince Harry? Or have I just never noticed how alike they sound?"

Other users agreed with one adding: "Glad I'm not the only one thinking it 😂"

Following Spare's release on Tuesday, publishers Penguin Random House announced that it was the fastest-selling non-fiction release since records began, selling in excess of 400,000 copies in its first 24 hours.

Larry Finlay, managing director for Transworld Penguin Random House said, per Reuters: "We always knew this book would fly but it is exceeding even our most bullish expectations. As far as we know, the only books to have sold more in their first day are those starring the other Harry (Potter)."

The book's undisputed selling power comes despite the prince's popularity taking a hit in the U.K. in the lead-up to publication and the leaking of its content before release day when copies were obtained by U.S. and U.K. media outlets.

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.

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