I don't consider him to be 'a sad, rather pathetic but very selfish boy who needs help'.
Despite receiving immense amounts of help and support from many quarters, he is revealing himself as an unpleasant and vindictive man, because for the first time in his privileged life his demands (limited royal duties but full-time privileges) have not been met.
Gransnet forums
News & politics
A certain book
(586 Posts)Message withdrawn at poster's request.
The ghost writer if the book has now said 'The lines between fact and memory are blurry'.
It's now, officially, the fastest selling non-fiction book in history:
www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/prince-harry-spare-autobiography-memoir-b2259565.html
Talking of his anger for everyone with one exception
What are all these therapy sessions for then?
I doubt he has ever faced the anger he felt for his mother following her death.
He's not telling us anything we didn't know regarding Charles and William not travelling together. I would have thought 'no one caring' how Harry travelled was the freedom he wanted. If there had been rules for him he would be complaining about that.
So basically he’s claiming that his parents didn’t actually want a second child and only had him to ensure the future of the monarchy. And he expects apologies and reconciliation?
Harry seems to be constantly focusing on the negatives in his life and both magnifying them and intimating that they only apply to him. I'm sure there have been many but so many of them are not directed at him but are, and have been for many years, accepted procedure for the RF. For example the monarch and heir did/have not travelled together for years.
^Lee Brown – New York Post
Prince Harry says he was bred to offer spare organs to heir William
Prince Harry bitterly believes he was only bred to offer literal spare parts for his brother in case the heir apparent ever needed new organs.
“Two years older than me, Willy was the Heir, whereas I was the Spare,” the exiled prince wrote in explaining the title of his memoir, Spare, which was officially released Wednesday.
“I was the shadow, the support, the Plan B. I was brought into the world in case something happened to Willy,” he wrote of his 40-year-old brother and current heir to the throne, William.
He said he understood his role was to be a “diversion” and “distraction” from his brother — or to provide, “if necessary, a spare part” to him.
“Kidney, perhaps. Blood transfusion. Speck of bone marrow,” he added in morose detail.
He also noted how his dad, now King Charles III, could never be on a plane with his elder son, William, “because there must be no chance of the first and second in line to the throne being wiped out”.
“But no one gave a damn whom I travelled with; the Spare could always be spared,” Harry claimed.
“This was all made explicitly clear to me from the start of life’s journey and regularly reinforced thereafter,” he claimed of his apparent throwaway standing in the family.
Harry complained that the heir and spare clarification “wasn’t merely how the press referred to us”, but was also “the shorthand used by” his royal family, including “Mummy,” the late Princess Diana, “and even Granny,” the since-deceased Queen Elizabeth II.
He says he was 20 when he was first told that his dad had greeted his birth by quipping: “Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an Heir and a Spare — my work is done.”
“A joke. Presumably,” Harry wrote, continuing the ruthless dig at the king by claiming that “minutes after delivering this bit of high comedy, Pa was said to have gone off to meet with his girlfriend”.
Despite naming his memoir Spare — and using his clear distaste for his role in life to justify his ultimate split from his family — Harry maintains that he was initially accepting of it.
“I took no offence, I felt nothing about it, any of it,” he wrote — initially acknowledging his incredibly privileged life.
“Every boy and girl, at least once, imagines themselves as a prince or a princess. Therefore, Spare or no Spare, it wasn’t half bad to actually be one,” he conceded.
That soon changed, however, with Harry feeling there was a “public sacrifice of the Spare” to help elevate other royals, starting with 2002 headlines damning his druggie lifestyle — which he now admits had been mostly true anyway.
It grew worse when William and his wife, Kate Middleton, had two kids, according to Harry — who reckons he was told that as fifth in line for the throne, he was “no longer even the Spare of the Spare”.
Still, his supposed role in life was largely blamed for one of the most dramatic moments in the book, when Harry claims his brother knocked him to the floor during a fight.
That, Harry wrote, came because William “was in full Heir mode, and couldn’t fathom why I wasn’t dutifully playing the role of the Spare”.
The royal family has yet to comment on Harry’s book or his seemingly endless tour of TV and magazine interviews.^
To Smileless2.
In my opinion, the 'truth' in question is impossible to know.
On one side there is Prince Harry's version, per his book and on the other....? Um, nothing. There is always two sides to a story.
The fact that Prince Harry felt compelled to 'write' a book is a sad reflection on his unhappy life.
Hang on a minute... don't most siblings argue? Fight from time to time? My sister wanted nothing to do with me when I joined her in school! I'll bet that most younger siblings feel hard-done by. All the rather pathetic quotes from Prince Harry on life growing up are completely par for normal family life.
I feel that Prince Hary is a damaged individual, (very probably being egged on by a wife who realises which buttons she needs to press) to manipulate him. Losing his mother was very traumatic (as of course it would be) and perhaps he needs further help to deal with his emotions.
I will admit to feeling that the British press have treated Harry shabbily but much public ire has come from his asinine statements and he seems to dig ever bigger holes for himself. He is to me a sad, rather pathetic but very selfish boy who needs help.
Surely the public will never know the truth of what has been written in the 'Spare' book.
But Paddington is so sensible!
Germanshepherdsmum
Siope
I understand that a fixed sum is going to charity, so whether it’s a small percentage of overall profit depends on how many are sold, and at what price.
It has been reported that H received a $20m advance for his book and has paid £1.5m to two charities (in total).
Right - firstly what is the exchange rate?
Joseanne
My DD is currently reading it. She is inquisitive -- nosy-- like her mother! Not that we are particularly bothered, you understand. DD thinks the book is a mixture; that Harry has rather "enjoyed" telling the juicy bits (as if he is the only person alive to have experienced x, y, z), that he might have gained some satisfaction
closurefrom opening himself up, and that he is having a good laugh at his readership.
The book will be coming my way shortly, though I may have to disinfect it first. DD has covid you understand!
PS she rather likes Meghan and thinks a lot of the book is "written" by her.
that Harry has rather "enjoyed" telling the juicy bits (as if he is the only person alive to have experienced x, y, z)
😂
I did say at the weekend that teenage DGC think they invented the wheel 😂😂😂
Oops, yes, I know, Harry is not a teenager.
But his children will be one day.
There is no doubt that he and Megan ( perceive themselves to ) have had an extremely raw deal from the press.
Silvergirl
I am really enjoying this book on audio. I recommend audio as you can hear the emotion and sincerity in Harry’s voice. It is very easy to misinterpret the written word if you have preconceived ideas about a person. There is no doubt that he and Megan have had an extremely raw deal from the press.
Why is there "no doubt" ?
Speaking "with emotion" has no bearing on whether something is factual or not. It only confirms how they feel about it.
I am really enjoying this book on audio. I recommend audio as you can hear the emotion and sincerity in Harry’s voice. It is very easy to misinterpret the written word if you have preconceived ideas about a person. There is no doubt that he and Megan have had an extremely raw deal from the press.
volver
There, not their!
Don’t worry. It’s not a biggie. A typo / autocorrect doesn’t mean that you are an imbecile
There, not their!
No I didn't. I asked whether their was any concern or guilt in the family in question, about breaking the law.
I'm developing a real worry about people being able to understand simple sentences, without just adding a bit that nobody ever said but that they have invented. Lot of it about at the moment.
Well volver, as you talked about someone in the family breaking the law I thought you would know who ’in the family’ had done that. Don’t be coy!
I would have thought that former legal folks would know about copyright laws. Maybe not.
I trust all of those who say they’ll never read it also did not read any of the sensationalised extracts in the papers.
Who in the family is breaking the law volver?
Unfortunately poor Harry does not have the qualifications and experience to do the day-job John Wright does.
Selling his "true story" appears to be the only way he can earn a living and he obviously needs the money as his Dad has stopped the handouts and his wife has given up acting - or has she?
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