The Duke of Sussex has just released his autobiography titled ‘Spare’ in an attempt to tell his side of the story. His book reveals private moments with his family, drug abuse, and stories from his time spent in Afghanistan. However, it seems that in trying to get his truth across, he has lost public support.
The new memoir which was released this week comes after the documentary Harry and Meghan made on Netflix. In an interview with ITV, Harry described these as projects the couple had been working on for the sake of ‘historical facts’. After they walked away from the monarchy in 2021 but refused to give up their royal titles, there has been a lot of discussion about whether these ‘projects’ are really just about making money.
Moments From The Memoir
Harry does not hold back in this book. He exposes private moments between other family members and himself which some would argue should have stayed private. The most shocking are the accounts of his brother, Prince William, the future King. He reveals that William was angry at him for having a beard at his own wedding because it was something William was not allowed to do when he married Kate Middleton.
There are more serious moments too. Harry speaks of a time when William got physical with him over Meghan. He claims that the future king grabbed him by his collar and knocked him to the kitchen floor, causing him to land on a dog bowl that broke.
Harry clears up the infamous story that circulated through the British press. The tabloids claimed that Meghan made Kate cry over a bridesmaid dress. The memoir tells a very different story, one where Meghan was left in tears after Kate got upset about Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress not fitting properly.
Then there is his brutal honesty about his time in Afghanistan. The prince openly writes about the number of people he killed. He says ‘It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,’ and that he thought of ‘Taliban fighters not as people but as chess pieces.’ Reporter Sophie Corcoran said his comments on the Taliban have put ‘the British public in danger’. An article in The Spectator gave a different view saying ‘It is refreshing to hear someone talking about what it was like in Afghanistan and being listened to for once.’
Contradicting Interviews
There is so much more than his memoir covers, from the story of how he lost his virginity to the Queen consort Camilla’s close relationship with the press. In his interview with ITV, he states that ‘it never needed to be this way. It never needed to get to this point’. I think he knows that he has probably taken it a bit too far this time. No one can blame him for wanting to escape the press after how rough Meghan had it from them. But there were moments in the interview where he contradicted himself.
In the interview with ITV, he said that he would very much like to reconcile with his family but it is a private moment that should be between them, away from the public eye. Yet he had no problem writing an entire book exposing private moments with his family.
There was another moment in the interview where he claimed that they had never called the royal family racist. He insisted on using the term ‘unconscious bias’ instead. The royal family faced a lot of backlash after the couple’s interview with Oprah in 2021 when they revealed that there had been many conversations about the color of their son’s skin.
‘Chaotic but stylish‘, ‘scandal-ridden’, ‘the weirdest book was ever written by a royal‘. The memoir has been described in so many different ways. I can understand why it was written and I think the most important thing to remember before judging too harshly is that these are all real people dealing with a lot of pain. Harry’s main problem lies with the British press and not with his family. That being said, there are far bigger problems than petty sibling rivalries and arguments over bridesmaid dresses. The royals have always been and always will be incredibly privileged. I only hope that they heal so they can focus their energy on those who really need help in their country.
