Curiosity among book shop customers as Harry's book hits shelves
There was a feeling of curiosity among people working and shopping at a Wyre Forest book shop as the new and controversial memoir by the Duke of Sussex hit the shelves.
The autobiography by Prince Harry carries a number of claims, ranging from accusing his brother William of physically assaulting him to his father King Charles III putting his own interest above Harry's and describing Camilla as the "villain" and "dangerous".
The book, which is entitled "Spare", went officially on sale on Tuesday morning, with many bookshops opening early to receive people keen to get a copy, including Bewdley-based Wyre Forest Books.
However, as with many shops around the country, there was not the expected queue of people outside, partly due to the heavy rainfall around the town, but also after leaks ahead of publication and early sales in Spain.
Across the morning, only one copy was sold at the shop, although owner Nick Farress did say that around five copies had been pre-bought by people ahead of the release date and there was an intrigue among customers about what was in the book.
He said: "Like everybody else, I know it was leaked in Spain, so we know a bit more about it than we might have done, but I think the book is meant to be very enlightening.
"There's also been stories about his time in the army where he's sort of leaked some information about the battlefield which hasn't gone down very well.
"I think it's going to be a bit of a Marmite book, with some people completely staying clear of it and some people more interested in reading his story and finding out more about him."
Mr Farress said there had been some interest in the book from people coming into the shop and said he might consider getting a copy himself.
He said: "We've had about four orders of the book before it came out and there's been a few customers coming in to take a look, so the interest in Bewdley has been pretty reasonable.
"I suppose I might get a copy myself, more through curiosity about what's in there than anything else."
The one customer who bought a copy during the morning was Paul Symonds from Bewdley Hill, with the 79-year-old saying he was in town to attend the dentist and saw the advert in the window.
He said: "I walked past here and saw the advert and remembered my family talking a lot about it and reading about it in the newspaper, so I decided to buy it and read some of the bits I didn't see in the paper.
"I can't understand why he's gone and done this as it's a bit sad when the Queen and the family have gone through so much, but he's been very open about his mental health and spoken about it.
"For me, it'll be worth reading the whole piece to see whether it's all good or bad and then share it with the rest of the family as they might read it as well and we can maybe have a debate about it."