I am genuinely worried for Harry's mental health now after this

[Squabbledee]

Give it another week of worldwide chewing over his words and all the drama it's creating, I'm genuinely worried for Harry. How can you go anywhere and hold your head up after you've opened yourself to such ridicule? He might want an un-royal life but he is a prince non-the-less. Where's the dignity? He really, really needs help. I sincerely hope it gets it. The fallout from this won't be forgotten in a hurry. And to top it off, how can he make his family truly secure now?

Some really interesting points raised by pp about Harry’s character and temperament, I do think that we need to step away from this attitude of “it’s all Meghan’s fault” - we cannot possibly know unless we know them personally. I veer between feeling sorry for Harry as the clearly extremely damaged individual that he is to thinking that this is a man with unimaginable wealth, privilege, connections, everything, who has been the architect of his own misfortune in these past few years. Yes, I am concerned for his mental health and how this will all end (in so far as I can be for someone I don’t know) but he appears to have no regard for the mental health of his own family. He had no idea at the time of writing this that the Queen would have passed away by the time this was published, how very cruel it would have been if this had all kicked off had she still been alive.

We know that this book has not gone down in the way it was intended in the UK, but the real test is the US reaction. I’ve already asked the question on another, less busy, thread on this topic, but it’s the US perception of all this that will surely count the most for H&M and they seem to have had considerably more sympathy with that audience, at least at the beginning (and that is of course where they have chosen to live their lives). I wonder if that’s still the case or if the tide is turning?

I’d be messed up if I was more vilified by my family than my uncle who’s a predator 🤷‍♀️
weird family, the lot of them

Could this "leak" of the Spanish version be the most elaborate joke ever!!! Harry and his PR behind the whole "leak" and it's not actually the real book, the real one comes out Tueday. I could see him pulling such a stunt to make fools out of the international press who he hates with a passion. Getting one over on them would be a goal of his I would think. Although how you turn the truly awful Taliban comment as a staged joke I guess would make it even worse if possible!! The contents are just so ridiculous a hoax bizarrely makes more sense!!!

Harry didn’t just lose his mother at a young age, he lost a mother who he hadn’t seen for a month because she’d been on various holidays while he’d been at Balmoral. The last phone call he had with her, apparently, was her telling him she would see him a day later than expected. Reconciling his picture of her as the perfect mother whilst she chose not to spend the summer holidays with him must have added an extra layer of distress. He has created an image of Diana as the perfect mother and now seems to see Meghan as almost the same person, very troubling.

I’ll wait to read the book and make my own judgement from it then. I saw Omid Scobie post two pages where Harry talks about his kill number and I found it to be written in a completely different way than it was reported. What a shame that it got released early before people could read it for themselves.

The thing with the Taliban comments and Harry now being a target is truly scary. But I don’t think they will actively target him. I’m more concerned that something awful will happen and they will say it is retribution for Harry’s actions.

This whole thing is so ill advised and wrong. And if it’s true that the ghost writer liked a Twitter comment that said the book is all me me me then I imagine he’s not too happy to have his previously very good reputation attached to this.

And I also agree with PP. I think this is also who Harry always was. The palace walls just kept him safe.

And he might be speaking “his truth” but I don’t think he’s very good about speaking the actual truth.

And so what if William had a drink before his wedding? I drank a bottle of Prosecco the night before mine!! It didn’t mean anything other than celebrating my last night as a single lady! You wouldn’t have been able to tell that William had been drinking. Harry on the other hand looked like he had only landed home in time to get a shower and head on again.

And I also remember stories about Harry’s speech at Williams wedding so I don’t know where he’s going with that. Did he forget other people were there too?

Wow.

He wrote the book. Maybe blame him.

I initially thought it could be a Banksy stunt. Like when he put fake Paris Hilton CDs in HMV with tracks like 'why am I famous?' I'm still hoping it is as the reality is so horrible to contemplate.

Also lots of stupid comments about his time in the army. They do train them to think like that. Did you all think he was out there tickling people? Yes they treat the bodies with respect but yes they are taught to zone out. He was in a fucking Apache helicopter 🤣

Of course they train them like @Friendlyplover , you’re stating the obvious. The issue is that he, a Prince in the British Royal Family and ‘ambassador’ for the British military (formerly formally and now more informally), has publicly stated this and said how many Taliban he killed.

Can you not understand how provocative, unprofessional and crass that was? How it puts the safety of other people at risk? Because of course the Taliban were going to respond; verbally, physically or both.

This. I seem to remember that they had a vision of being the Obamas #2. Michelle Obama has been reading from her latest book on Radio 4 this week. It is a world away from all the grubbiness of Opra, Netflix and this absolute car crash. I don't imagine Meghan had this reception in mind when the book was released.

I cannot understand why he thought adding the anecdote where he pissed himself is a good idea.

I'm beginning to think something isn't quite right with him.

He’s been saying for years something isn’t quite right with him, to be fair.

I think he unconsciously confused his ghost writer with his therapist as the sessions went on, and in the cosy intimacy of their chats, revealed more than he meant to. Then it was too late.

His situation isn't that unusual anyway: if you're born in a farming family, there's always a question of 'who's taking over the farm' hanging over the next generation. If you're a second or third child, you find something else to do, or you support your older sibling, or you feel relieved it's not going to be your problem.

Everyone has a family. Some people have mental health problems. It doesn't mean that because you have mental health problems, it's the fault of the family.

I am a case in point.

Omg - has anyone seen Pen Farthing on Twitter? Saying he and other people in Afghanistan have had to be evacuated and it’s all down to Harry’s ill judged book.

scobie has also tweeted “the context” of the taliban comments by posting the two pages (clearly come from H&M) which tbh I don’t think really makes much difference other than shows that he’s playing to the US audience by describing the 911 attacks in such detail. He’s trying to cover his arse in so many ways through the text that it’s hard to work out what he actually thinks… personally I think it’s terribly written. It just smacks of desperately trying to appeal to a certain audience whilst also desperately trying to avoid being sued.

Friendlyplover - and according to The Rest is History podcast the Kaiser being teased by his English relatives about wearing the wrong shoes to Cowes Week was a major cause of ww1. Definite family history of grudge holding!

@Ilovelabradorcuddles
well sky news are reporting that the US news channels have not received it well and even those who have previously supported the couple are saying it is beyond the pale

She would have known what's in the book. How can she misjudge it this badly?

All the trivial pettiness, the downright tawdry feel to some of the shared anecdotes, the grubbiness of it. She likes to see herself as a broadminded, open, feminist person. And this book? It's the exact opposite. How can she be associated with it?

the fact that scobie seems to have been fed the two pages from the book suggests there is REAL upset in the Sussex household.

It would be nice if that turned out to be true, but surely he is aware that untrue stories stick around for ever? People still wrongly believe Charles has someone to put toothpaste on his toothbrush, after all.

Which bits do they not like? Is it same as here?

NotAnOtter

Think you have nailed it there completely agree

This.

His actions are outrageous. No sympathy whatsoever.

Of course a soldier in battle can't be thinking of the families of those he's fighting against, but you still respect them afterwards and certainly don't brag about it.

But even if you think that's OK, doing what he's done put him and others at risk when he's apparently been so concerned for his family's safety.

He could spend the rest of his life in some sort of holding pen of royal accommodation, maybe Prince Andrew could live with him.
It's an own goal for Meghan as she can discard him and say he was destroyed by the media and royal family.