Prince Harry Was in Talks for ‘SNL’ Hosting Gig

Prince Harry was reportedly close to becoming the first member of a royal family to host Saturday Night Live. Multiple sources told Page Six last week that Harry was in talks with NBC to host an episode before the release of his memoir, Spare. The talks between the two sides reportedly fell apart at the “11th hour.”

“I know that Harry was all in, he was really serious about doing it – and it would have been great fun as promo for the book,” a TV source told Page Six on Feb. 7. Saturday Night Live producers were reportedly pursuing the Duke of Sussex “for a while,” according to the source. “Everyone on the show was really into the idea, and people would definitely have tuned in,” they said.

Another industry insider said Harry was being considered to host. “There’s always lots of names in the mix, but Harry was definitely a name being discussed,” the second insider said. Although the hosting gig did not work out for unclear reasons, SNL executive producer Lorne Michaels is still interested. “I could also see Harry coming on as a surprise in a sketch,” one insider told Page Six. SNL representatives did not comment on the report.

Although Harry is not part of SNL Season 48’s hosting lineup, Michaels has brought in many big stars to Studio 8H at Rockefeller Plaza. Miles Teller hosted the season premiere in October 2022, while Steve Martin and Martin Short co-hosted the Dec. 10 episode. Aubrey Plaza, Michael B. Jordan, and Pedro Pascal hosted the first three episodes of 2023. Woody Harrelson will host the next episode on Feb. 25, with Jack White as the musical guest.

Harry probably did not need SNL to boost the sales of Spare. In January, Penguin Random House announced that the book sold over 3.2 million copies worldwide in its first week, putting it on a pace to become one of the best-selling memoirs of all time. The book sold 1.6 million copies in its first week in the U.S. alone. That is similar to recent big hits like former first lady Michelle Obama’s Becoming, which has sold over 17 million copies since it was published in 2018. In Harry’s native U.K., the book sold 400,000 copies in hardcover, e-book, and audio formats on its first day of release alone.

Spare made headlines around the world, as Harry pulled down the curtain on his life growing up in the royal family and how they responded to his romance with former actress Meghan Markle, whom he married in 2018. In one part, he wrote about his first date with Markle, which did not start as well as he hoped. He was 30 minutes late! The first date was rescued though when they started talking.

“The initial awkwardness was gone, the warmth from our texting returned,” Harry wrote, via PEOPLE. “We’d each had first dates on which there was nothing to talk about, and now we both felt that special thrill when there’s too much to talk about when there isn’t enough time to say all that needs to be said.” They hugged and Markle said goodbye quickly because she had dinner plans. They had their second date the next night and shared their first kiss. Later that summer, they met again in Botswana and the rest was history for the couple.