A Book A Week

I've gone and done it. I gave in and listened to the buzziest book of the year, Spare by Prince Harry. My familiarity with the British Royal Family is perhaps a bit more than the average American. My partner is a self-proclaimed Anglophile, so I've been subject to hours of facts and tidbits that I'd be otherwise ignorant of. The drama surrounding Prince Harry's decision to leave the professional side of his very public family created great waves in the press and in my living room. Still, I was on the fence about reading his memoir. I wasn't sure that I really cared all that much to hear from him. Against my better judgment, I gave into the hype machine around his book and decided to listen to it. 

I won't attempt to summarize the details of Harry's story here. As someone who has spent the entirety of his life in the public eye, the basic details of his life are already well documented. Weeks before the memoir was officially published, some of the more salacious revelations in the book were leaked to the press. As is usually the case, the carefully culled quotes were blown mostly out of proportion. Nestled here amongst the proper context, there's nothing as obscene as it was made to appear. What we are left with is one man's attempt to set the record straight. Harry seems compelled to tell his side of the story, in his own words. Listening to him narrate the audio version of the book only amplified the connection I felt to his life. 

Harry's life is one shrouded in grief. Greif at his mother's tragic death, an event that the young prince was never allowed to fully deal with. In fact, that was probably the biggest takeaway I got from his book. Harry is still navigating the trauma that he faced at a young age. For years, he couldn't even bring himself to accept the fact that his mother was dead. He dreamed of her returning from hiding, ready to whisk him away from his life in the public eye to a place where they could be a family again. Alas, it wasn't until adulthood that Harry began to come to terms with the loss of Diana. Along with his brother, Harry used the royal family's resources to look at unpublished photos from the horrific crash that killed their mother, once and for all confirming that she was truly gone. 

As I come away from Spare, I'm struck by two competing frames of mind. On the one hand, Harry has been tormented by a ruthless press and a system of monarchy that has left his family complicit in this harassment. On the other, I can't shake his claims of wanting to tell his side of the story as a way to bridge the rift with his family with the way he airs the dirty laundry of that family for the entire world to read about. I'm happy he's able to speak his truth, but I question his motivations. I have no doubt that the accusations he lobbies against the royal family and especially the British media are true. On the same token, I do believe that his family, especially his father the king, and brother the future king, are beholden to a system that they may have less control over than we think. That still doesn't excuse their behavior. Both things can be true. Ultimately, Spare achieves what Prince Harry intends it to. It is a fascinating, often frustrating look into a world that the general public is rarely given access to. You can make your own judgment as to the value of that access. 

For more information visit Amazon and Goodreads. 

(2023, 9)