Royal watchers around the globe were surprised to find leaked extracts of Prince Harry's extraordinary memoir, Spare, surfaced days before its publish date.
After the accidental sale in Spain, this resulted in a flurry of explosive revelations from the Duke of Sussex's autobiography, which is due to be officially released on 10 January.
WATCH: The key revelations from Prince Harry's book Spare so far
Among them, Harry alleged it was his older brother Prince William and the Princess of Wales who encouraged him to wear a Nazi uniform to a fancy dress party 2005 and they "howled" with laughter when they saw it.
Others include Harry's wife Meghan Markle upsetting Princess Kate by saying she must have "baby brain" in the run-up to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2018 wedding, and how Prince William pointed a finger at Meghan and called her "rude".
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Book shops were under a strict embargo to ensure the autobiography was not released early. There was tight pre-launch security in place to ensure details were not published before then.
En La Sombra is already on sale in Spain
Deliveries to bookshops are said to have been scheduled for the day before release to avoid copies being leaked. But why did Spain release them five days early?
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According to The Telegraph, booksellers in Valencia were willing to break the strict publication embargo as long as the book sale was not traced back to them.
Customers in Spain were reportedly told they would not be sent a receipt until 10 January and were told not to share its contents on social media before that date.
© Photo: Getty ImagesHarry details Meghan Markle's alleged tensions with Princes Kate in the book
A spokesman for Plaza y Janes Editores, a Spanish subsidiary of Penguin Random House, told the publication: "A very clear launch protocol was established and communicated to all customers so that the book would not be marketed before that date."
Friday also marks the Spanish celebration of Epiphany, when presents are exchanged. Some bookstores claimed they were not "officially" selling En La Sombra or In The Shade as known in Spain, but used the pretext of the festival to sell them.
SPARE by Prince Harry, £14 / $36, Amazon
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It had also emerged that the Guardian newspaper had obtained a copy of the English-language version while US publication Page Six go also claimed to have an extract from the book.
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