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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To be annoyed at Prince Harry's memoir title SPARE

595 replies

benisright · 27/10/2022 13:25

I have zero interest in this couple who seem to enjoy making a living on moaning about how they are poorly treated in Britain. Just saw the headline news and the cover of Harry's memoir with his face and one single word SPARE.

Get a life for goodness sake. I'm about his age and never once thought of him as a spare. He kinda invented his own tale.

OP posts:
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Naunet · 27/10/2022 13:49

Why do you care? I honestly couldn’t summon the energy.

He’s entitled to his views on HIS life, I’m not sure why you think your opinions are more relevant or insightful somehow?

Tafter · 27/10/2022 13:50

I'm about his age and never once thought of him as a spare. He kinda invented his own tale.

What's your age got to do with it, and more specifically, what do you have to do with it? Why on earth would he care what you thought of him as, rather than how he felt?

Also, It's a book he's written, so this is more of him 'inventing his own tale'!

Dacadactyl · 27/10/2022 13:50

candykittensareoverrated · 27/10/2022 13:29

It’s awful. Demonstrates how much of a victim he thinks he is. I am fed up of the victim narrative

I agree.

PeaceX · 27/10/2022 13:51

Wow, it's actually a great title
but so self-pitying

itsgettingweird · 27/10/2022 13:51

OriginalUsername3 · 27/10/2022 13:46

But that's what he was and even what his family called him. An heir and a spare. I reckon he had a pretty shit upbringing tbh, I think people would feel differently about him if his family weren't weren't rich. Travelling and having expensive things doesn't make up for being the back sheep and losing your mum, who your dads family hated.

Excellent post.

Absolutely agree.

pantsville · 27/10/2022 13:52

I can’t imagine how it must feel to not be heir to the throne. Truly harrowing.

LuckyLil · 27/10/2022 13:52

He is in danger of becoming incredibly tedious if he wasn't already. A pair of litigious self important twats who make a living from suing everyone for the most tenuous reasons just to delude themselves that they are actually relevant. I imagine the upcoming book deals when Harry and Meghan-Wallace Simpson get divorced will be equally droll too.

MilkshakesBringAllTheCoosToTheYard · 27/10/2022 13:52

I would rather eat a bag of spanners than read any royal biography, but that's a great title.

LuckyLil · 27/10/2022 13:54

OriginalUsername3 · 27/10/2022 13:46

But that's what he was and even what his family called him. An heir and a spare. I reckon he had a pretty shit upbringing tbh, I think people would feel differently about him if his family weren't weren't rich. Travelling and having expensive things doesn't make up for being the back sheep and losing your mum, who your dads family hated.

The most privileged lifestyle on the planet shitty? Give me a break. He doesn't know what a shitty upbringing is!

80sMum · 27/10/2022 13:55

lannistunut · 27/10/2022 13:34

  1. It is well-known term for the second child, especially in a wealthy family
  2. It was his nickname in his family
  3. Not sure what you thought about him is relevant
  4. Everyone invents their own tale, that is normal for humans

I am extremely unlikely to read it, but the title makes sense and is fine.

I agree with lannistunut

MzHz · 27/10/2022 13:55

OriginalUsername3 · 27/10/2022 13:46

But that's what he was and even what his family called him. An heir and a spare. I reckon he had a pretty shit upbringing tbh, I think people would feel differently about him if his family weren't weren't rich. Travelling and having expensive things doesn't make up for being the back sheep and losing your mum, who your dads family hated.

Exactly. Apparently you’re only allowed to complain about your upbringing, have depression or mh issues if you’re poor.

i imagine his upbringing is a great source of pain and unhappiness. Is he acting out as a result, very probably, but the only reason he can’t do this in private like everyone else is that (a) he can’t have a particularly private life And (b) he’s had a lot of the support network and structure removed.
as did his mother. She was treated appallingly by the RF. the fallout after her death for those poor little boys must have been immense.

He’s been cut off pretty much so what choices does he have?

YellowAndGreenToBeSeen · 27/10/2022 13:55

It’s a well known phrase as others have noted.

I think it’s clever, plus I think he is a victim and I can’t imagine how I’d have felt growing up under such a spotlight, losing my mum, being called ‘Spare’ by my family (and the wider world) and having my family unable to hide their distain for my wife.

I too would be in a lot of therapy.

Capri3 · 27/10/2022 13:56

I thought that it was always said that Diana had insisted that both William and Harry were treated the same? So not as the heir and spare?

Naunet · 27/10/2022 13:56

Cherry35 · 27/10/2022 13:45

That's a good indicator of how sour and bitter his book really is. It's only about trashing his own family. Victim mentality all the way.

His poor mother was a victim of that family, and was killed because of it. He was a small boy at the time, don’t you think that would have had a massive impact on him? I honestly can’t understand why people need to be so nasty, he’s just a human, flawed like the rest of us with an exceptionally unusual background.

WeegieGranny · 27/10/2022 13:56

Any chance it's also a take on the phrase "going spare", ie being very angry?

SeemsSoUnfair · 27/10/2022 13:57

Jeez, my family should write a few books

3rd brother could call his - Disappointment (mum had wanted a girl after 2 boys)
My younger sister could call hers - Accident (they didn't want 5 kids!)

It would be a story of how they both got over it without wealth, privilege and therapy and just got on with it!

adilemna123 · 27/10/2022 13:57

I'll wait for the reviews - if it sounds like it's going to be juicy I'll read it! Spare is a great title in my opinion.

Naunet · 27/10/2022 13:57

LuckyLil · 27/10/2022 13:54

The most privileged lifestyle on the planet shitty? Give me a break. He doesn't know what a shitty upbringing is!

Because all you need is love money.

YellowAndGreenToBeSeen · 27/10/2022 13:57

Capri3 · 27/10/2022 13:56

I thought that it was always said that Diana had insisted that both William and Harry were treated the same? So not as the heir and spare?

Just because she insisted, doesn’t make it so.

Plus, he has spent the vast majority of his life without her.

housemaus · 27/10/2022 13:57

I think it's great. Punchy, memorable, referencing both his 'role' (the heir and the spare, as the saying goes) and presumably how he's been made to feel superfluous in the family. A good title choice.

I'm sure the Cambridge superfans will be along shortly to roll out their usual talking points though - a full house to anyone who manages to get 'ungrateful' 'MEghan' and 'what would Her Maj have thought' into one comment...

lannistunut · 27/10/2022 13:57

Capri3 · 27/10/2022 13:56

I thought that it was always said that Diana had insisted that both William and Harry were treated the same? So not as the heir and spare?

Diana died.

minipie · 27/10/2022 13:58

World’s tiniest violin for Harry.

toastofthetown · 27/10/2022 13:58

He is the spare though. His brother was born for the big important job and he wasn’t. Unless some tragedy befell his brother: hence spare.

I imagine this was more of a daily issue for a young Harry than you, as the monarchy is less likely to be passing thought when you’re living it.

Cait73 · 27/10/2022 14:00

You have "zero interest" but you've taken the time to open a discussion about it?

If you're genuinely not interested, move on, ignore it, get on with your own life

greenhousegal · 27/10/2022 14:00

Great marketing. There is no such thing as Bad Publicity is there?

Buy or don't buy, no one is forced to do either. Most of it will be on SM and media soon anyway.