SPARE - Harry’s book release announced

[Rinoachicken]

So he’s called it ‘Spare’ and it’s being released on 23rd Jan.

And what does this have to do with Harry? Other than another stick to beat him with?

Nothing at all - I was just picking up on a strand of the thread and adding something to it. People do that. 😉

Anyway, Mohammed Al Fayed talked to Diana when they both attended the premiere of ENB’s Swan Lake. That was when he invited her to come to his St Tropez villa with her sons for some of their summer holiday. Diana’s friends (certainly Derek Deane the ENB choreographer and Rosa Monckton) told her it was a terrible idea, given his reputation. But not listening to good advice was something Diana did a lot…

Al Fayed was looking to enhance a reputation and get establishment allies. He ensured there would be maximum publicity for the visit. And demanded his son Dodi change his plans and join them. As luck would have it, Diana had just broken up with Haznat Khan and was definitely in the market for a rebound fling (Haznat told her not to accept the Al Fayed invitation too but she obviously wasn’t going to listen to him). As the PP said, she was presented with a golden opportunity to stick two fingers up at him.

The holiday was a media sensation, and definitely very controversial. It also coincided with Camilla’s 50th birthday celebrations, which may also have factored into Diana’s decision-making too. She went out in a leopard print swimsuit and did a lot of acrobat dives into the ocean in front of the press pack on the actual day of the birthday! Another golden opportunity to use the press coverage to make her points/stick fingers up. Always an interesting and complex person… 😀

I don’t agree with this. I think people were hiding their mental ill health in the past because they’d be judged (as being weak) and shamed for it. Not long before that, they would be locked up for it. Especially women.

Anyone with robust good mental health should just count their lucky stars , imo.

i remember all that . Am I right in saying that Al Fayed was still trying to obtain British citizenship? Also , was Dodi not engaged and the fiancée was on another ship ?

I agree Al Fayed and maybe Dodi were playing Diana just as much as everyone else was including the press and she was also complicit in a lot of it. Children don’t really know much about their parents lives especially when they are young children. My own daughter thinks it strange ( in a jokey way) that I had a life before she was born and friends she has never met. That is because people have different roles in life and behave in different ways with different people.
i think there are a lot of people that knew Diana better than Harry did / does.

Yes, Mohammed Al Fayed was very much still trying to obtain British citizenship. Hence his strong desire to be able to show the world he had friends in the highest of British establishment places.

And yes, Dodi was still engaged to Kelly Fisher at the time. She came down to St Tropez with him when he obeyed his father’s commands, but never met Diana and spent her time on Dodi’s yacht while the holiday party was at Mohammed’s villa. She learned of Diana and Dodi’s relationship from the papers, and was swiftly dumped and ghosted when she tried to contact Dodi.

If I remember correctly, Diana actually went on holiday with Mohammed Al Fayed twice. The first time was with the boys (as they were then), and then after the family returned to the UK, for handover to Prince Charles, she then went back on holiday with Dodi.
There may have been a holiday with Rosa Monkton in between, as Rosa was definitely with her somewhere in Europe, shortly before her death.
I am not sure if Dodi was there on both occassions.

So this thread has turned into 'Harry's mum was a slag' has it? Nice. Harry can do the fuck he wants in my book (which I've not titled Spare)

Wow, nice misogyny there, Posey! You’re the only person I can see judging Diana for her live life.

That’s a bit of a leap ! Some of us are recalling the tragic events of 1997 and how Diana was manipulated by Al- Fayed and she failed to listen to advice . Not for the first time.

Then re-read this thread! And again... this is relevant to Harry's book how? Which you're all outraged about? I'm against the RF but all this picking and choosing sides and hate is totally bizarre.

So you didn't say...

She went out in a leopard print swimsuit and did a lot of acrobat dives into the ocean in front of the press pack on the actual day of the birthday!

Of course you are judging her!!

William was reported as saying it was the worst holiday of his life. He must have hated it. Harry was probably too young to understand what was going on.

I don't think that Diana can be judged. She had mental health issues which had been exacerbated by the extremely cruel treatment of her by the royals. I don't think that a Princess (who had been due to become queen) would usually find herself on the yacht of some sleazy millionaire businessmen planning a future with the playboy son. She wasn't thinking straight, it's obvious. It was not a fairytale, nor heading that way.

William is absolutely right in describing it as an awful holiday. Diana's dramas would have run and run and occasionally become quite dark. She wasn't heading for stability even though she professed to have wanted it. In an way, by dying when she did, she managed to stop the damage to the reputation of Diana:The Icon.

Her greatest achievement was that many people understood that she was suffering but still loved her and passionately supported her and clearly saw her as being a great human being.

She went out in a leopard print swimsuit and did a lot of acrobat dives into the ocean in front of the press pack on the actual day of the birthday!

That’s a fact, PoseyFlump - something Diana did that ensured she received a load of coverage in the newspapers on Camilla’s 50th birthday.

I was simply saying it appears to be a deliberate choice she made to do this. Please do show me where I said or even insinuated that she should not have done? To be honest I think Diana, as ever demonstrated she was very well aware of the power of images of her and adroitly employed this to her advantage. Nowhere have I said r suggested that that is a bad thing.

I think she showed a lot of poor judgement in her life. I agree that if she had lived she would have lurched from one horrendous disaster to another.

Like Harry she was easily influenced and made decisions from an emotional basis and often as a result of her own wounds and hurt feelings. The Panorama interview and the cavorting with a playboy were so damaging for her sons.
She didn’t put their needs first when she did those things.

She was a very charismatic woman , and she learned to use the media to her advantage in the end. However I don’t think she was on track for a happy or fulfilled life.

She’s a fantastic diver!!

William , disgracefully, has reiterated the 'unstable ' trope in order to attempt to shore up his father and his own future position.

William was her confidante. This was confirmed by others. Far too much on his shoulders at far too young an age. Totally inappropriate. Are you suggesting that you know more about William's relationship with and motives as an adult towards his own mother than he and those close to her did? Laughable assertion.

I think Harry is very like his mother, led by his emotions, prepared to blow everything up without the maturity to understand consequences, hitting out at everyone who doesn't back his feelings and opinions (in fact perceiving anyone not 100% in agreement with him as being 'against' him.), not being willing to listen to other perspectives. He appears to have rewritten his history.

To date things have gone marvellously for the couple, especially Meghan. She now has the high profile of a royal without the drudge of opening factories on a rainy Thursday in Macclesfield, she has a vocal (and tbh professional) army of supporters. She has opportunities Meghan Markle, actress, could only have dreamt of, purely down to her association with the royal family. She can say what she wants , when she wants, to whom she wants, and people will listen. Even if people don't like her, the attention, good or bad means $$$$$$$$$ (remember, there's no such thing as bad publicity). Meghan likes the limelight.

They've positioned themselves in roles of altruistic, charitable patronage, and I think it's a bit of an odd place to be for them. OK, so both Harry and Meghan have been involved in charity work before but to make it their job now seems a bit weird.

They've been caught out in silly little fibs and thumping great lies. I expect Harry's book will contain 'inaccuracies'. But of course it's his truth. And it will sell, and those who wish the royal family ill will be happy if it contains salacious titbits.

I think this is a shrewd observation.
I do wonder what will happen when the Spotify podcasts end ( how many more?) the Netflix series airs and Spare is published as there are only so many times you can claim to be a victim . Meghan was a working royal for such a short period of time, she must be running out of anecdotes.

Agree, in a way, the starting point for 'forgiving' Harry for his decisions is to realize that as he said himself, he is continuing the work of his mother on an emotional-relational level at least and this is pretty much how she did (and would have continued handling it). It does remove some of the blame from him.

The way in which they are different is that she was aristocratic and had no grabby, hustling or money-spinning ambitions of her own whereas his wife (higher working class socially elevated via father's Lotto win enabling wise investment in a good education) is all about that and more.

Her charity was always motivated by genuine concern and interest in the welfare of others. There would never have been any of this impenetrable Delaware arrangement and lining your pockets handsomely with the occasional over publicized nod towards the plebs. The different components of her PR image melded beautifully. She used private jets so therefore, she would never have paraded herself as an eco warrior by saying "Oh, but I planted some trees". I think he can turn it around in time as a lone individual but never within this model with this spouse acting alongside him.

All very true

I too wonder what their future business plan is - they’ve had two years to build their brand as authors, podcasters, tv producers and philanthropists, and will need to build on the output of that to keep making money, as their production costs are now committed (Jamie Oliver has talked about the pressure of this - once he had a production company and team set up he realised he needed to then keep regularly coming up with new projects to keep his staff gainfully employed and to earn the money to pay their salaries). Their living expenses are only going to increase also, as their children grow older.

Given the podcasts are out, Harry’s book is coming and the Netflix series is, apparently, coming soon they must be looking to announce what’s next.

She will continue to latch on to whatever current trend will get her noticed. The feminist agenda is wearing a bit thin now. She’s not most peoples idea of a feminist. I think already Harry is fading into the background.
Im guessing the children will be the way to garner media attention when all else is failing.
She’s so totally hollow as a person. Just blows with the wind. Her only agenda is money and fame whatever she may say.

yes, you get the same NLP buzzwords, sjw air punchers and barely rephrased meme bytes every single time whatever the topic. I know somebody extremely similar to her. They want to be feted as leaders and pioneers without having gained any expertise or put in any meaningful groundwork. It is quite a juvenile attitude for an older celebrity which is why it is important to associate her brand with youthfulness and the young. Sadly, it can run and run on forever in this way.

Seriously, you need to read your own posts back mate if you think none of your posts are 'judgy'. Do you really feel so strongly about these people you've never met? I didn't actually believe all these haters were a real thing until stumbling across this section of the forum!