Book Review 2/200 2023- 3/5 - 'Spare', Prince Harry - Non-Fiction - Autobiography

As I write this, I'm chuckling as I know as soon as I hit post I'm admitting that I read this book and thus supporting two individuals that are fast becoming radioactive in the arena of public support. My wife included! Nonetheless, one can't form an opinion on a person or topic without first hand knowledge, so, here we are.

It's now almost a month since Prince Harry's memoir Spare was published and it's very hard to pick a highlight from the media storm surrounding it. My personal favourite is his Late Night Skit with Stephen Colbert and Tom Hanks and he spoke of his "frost-nipped todger", said todger being, by the way, just dozens of very unusual designations given to people and characters in his Opus Masterwork (others include villainous courtiers like The Wasp, The Fly and The Bee as well as his own mate Chippy, Skippy and Badger), but I digress.

Despite the circus surrounding this launch and book, it has to be one of the most offbeat and polarising I've read in a long time. It definitely has it's moments, and at times - very sad and harrowing. I found myself many times at odds with a title written explicitly in the cause of securing understanding and sympathy from the public however it's punctuated by moments where Harry, a grown man, complains about a bedroom he was allotted for his summer holidays at his 'Granny's' castle. So yes, the book does misfire in that respect and the reader may feel the author is out of touch, especially when him and Ms. Markle complain about the size of their 'small' cottage on the royal grounds, which I dare say is the size of most middle class homes in both the UK and Australia.

To his credit, Prince Harry, doesn't spare the curly parts of his history, warts and all. He talks of times in his naive youth, similar to our NSW Premier, where he simply "wasn't thinking" when he decided to where Nazi symbology to a party. And his experimenting with drugs both as a teenager and as an adult, not that one condones such conduct, but the chapter where he talks to The Bin in the bathroom is quite humorous *goes to TikTok for meme videos.

He also touches on the tragic loss of his mother and some readers of this book, especially Harry's meaner critics will point out that plenty of people lose someone close as a child, and his exceptionalism annoys them. This, I find, a very trite, disingenuous and harsh assertion. No other boy in the history of the world, has had to walk behind his mother's coffin in full sight of millions, with billions tuning in on TV. Nor has anyone been hounded by the same people that were the very cause of their parents death. I certainly didn't realise that Paparazzi continued to take photos instead of calling for an ambulance on that fateful night; a revelation that Harry finds out through photos he receives of strange orbs on the wreckage of the car, moments after impact...camera flashes.

As much as the book reflects on the past, and the epilogue has a Faulkner quote "The past is not dead, it is not even past" it's very much about his life now, his life with Meghan, and serves as a love letter of sorts as well. On love, he touches on that of his family and failure of his father to hug him when he told him his mother had passed away - this is piercing. But Charles redeems himself somewhat after, tickling his face until he falls asleep, leaving encouraging notes and calling him, his "Darling Boy".

Sibling rivalry plays an important part of this book, framed in part by the very title 'Spare' which is famously coined at Harry's birth by his father "Now I have an Heir and a Spare". One particular scuffle that takes place between William and Harry, in the kitchen, which gets physical fast and Harry, God Bless Him, falls on the dog bowl and has shards poke him in his backside.

Towards the end of the book, he talks to his having to "flee" the country with his wife, after the royal family cancelled his security details (something which I recently found out costs Millions+ per year). The real reason they 'fled' is left somewhat vague and veiled in vignettes like that of him and his brother talking at Frogmore "You know why I left". I must say, watching the documentary on Netflix, the answer does become a bit clearer and certainly points the accusatorial finger towards the media; more particularly, being harassed by The Paps.

The irony then, is not lost on me, that he's funding his future through the media. Case in point, Penguin Random House has certainly obliged through publishing this very book and we can only hope that when all is said and done, he's happy with this deal, a Faustian bargain that certainly exceeds anything his brother, father or any royal family has ever signed.

Happy Reading

CPH