Page 14 | Inconsistencies in Spare over hearing about Queen Mother's death

Ridemeginger · 2023-01-10T14:52:49+00:00

Harry writes that he found out about the Queen Mother's passing away (in March 2002): ^"At Eton, while studying, I took the call. I wish I could remember whose voice was on the other end. A courtiers I believe. I recall that is was just before Easter, the weather bright and warm, light slanting through my window, filled with vivid colours. "Your Royal Highness. The Queen Mother has died." "^ News reports at the time reported he was skiing in Switzerland with Charles and William. The Queen Mother died on 30 March 2002. Easter Saturday. He wouldn't have been at school. [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/622457.stm]] Recollections may vary, indeed! I doubt very much Harry would have taken the call if he's been with his father. Didn't the editors do any fact checking?

Perfectpeace · 10/01/2023 19:03

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 10/01/2023 18:29

I wasn't going to dignify your ignorant drivel with a response but I will. I can recall pretty much every detail of being told - aged 13 - that my father had died, even to what my mother was wearing, and being comforted by a nurse at the hospital while she and my GM did the paperwork, despite the fact that it's over 50years ago. Ditto the day my much loved grandfather died.

But no, I don't understand death.

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I know it was so long ago but that sounds painful and I’m sorry you went through that 💐

HufflepuffRavenclaw · 10/01/2023 19:03

I'm sure he got over the disappointment with the pen, as at Christmas 1997 he wrote that he was given an Xbox. Amazing, given that the console wasn't sold until 2001.

MandyMotherOfBrian · 10/01/2023 19:05

Sagharbor · 10/01/2023 18:57

According to psychological research:

"It is a feature of human memory that we do not store information exactly as it is presented to us. Rather, people extract from information the gist, or underlying meaning."

Any inconsistencies in Harry's memoir should not be indication of lying. As humans, we change our memories so that they can become more sensible to us (McLeod, 2018).

And meant to add, even if you are correct and it’s not lies it’s just not deliberate misrepresentation you surely must agree that it still undermines the book that he is saying is the unvarnished truth

Perfectpeace · 10/01/2023 19:05

BradfordGirl · 10/01/2023 18:31

@Patineur Harry's mother died when he was 12 years old, five years before. A second bereavement often brings up earlier grief from a significant bereavement. Very common.

He wasn’t at school when his mum died either. Stop embarrassing yourself. I know it must be galling to realise you have supported a proven liar but such is life.

Merrymouse · 10/01/2023 19:08

I don’t really care if he got a PlayStation instead of an Xbox.

SirChenjins · 10/01/2023 19:09

JemimaTiggywinkles · 10/01/2023 19:00

And presumably current scientific thinking is that consequently it’s a good idea to fact check the book you’re writing

Scientists wouldn’t comment on such matters. It’s beneath their dignity to write books. They only write in proper peer-reviewed journals.

I’m fairly sure there are a few books out there that have written by scientists

Either way, it’s a really good idea to employ the services of a critical friend to fact check your truths - if you’re presenting them as such, as opposed to made-up imaginings of course.

Skodacool · 10/01/2023 19:09

smileladiesplease · 10/01/2023 14:59

Big pinch of salt everything he says really

Absolutely!

HufflepuffRavenclaw · 10/01/2023 19:11

Merrymouse · 10/01/2023 19:08

I don’t really care if he got a PlayStation instead of an Xbox.

You might not care, but to teenage boys these things are v important. And again, it points out the lack of fact checking. A decent editor or proofreader would have gone back to him saying - hang on, are you sure it was a Xbox and not a Wii or a PlayStation or whatever? Which they clearly didn't do.

Sloppy and second-rate.

Ludo19 · 10/01/2023 19:12

MrsPeachBottom · 10/01/2023 18:20

I mean I think that the fact you’re so upset about this says how upset you are about the rest of the book.

If I supported the monarchy then I would be upset too.

The royal family won’t survive this & it will be a long time before they ever manage to turn their PR around.

Utter Pish. The Royals have had a lot if crap to deal with in the past and weathered the storm. They'll cope being ripped apart by a spoiled junkie and a narc.

4thtimeunlucky · 10/01/2023 19:12

Things like feelings and emotions will be unique to the person experiencing them and as far as he felt at different points in his life, that is his truth . Facts like where you were at a certain time, what order things happened, could be mis-remembered....but he has the luxury of Google and a load of documented newspaper articles and photos to assist.

Sagharbor · 10/01/2023 19:12

@H2bow

Why would he lie about the year he got an X-box? It is such a benign mix-up highlighting the very basis of the research I quoted.

And why should we automatically regard a mix-up that is so innocuous and verifiable as a gotcha lie?

Again, "our memories are anything but reliable, ‘photographic’ records of events." (McLeod, 2018)

JemimaTiggywinkles · 10/01/2023 19:15

Of course, SirChenjins. Some disreputable scientists do write books, often found under the rather contradictory heading “popular science” in high street bookshops. They too often fail in the basic duty of being accurate in what is written.

In all seriousness, I do find it strange that it wasn’t checked for things like this. Or maybe it was and this one slipped through the net.

Bakeacaketoday73 · 10/01/2023 19:15

I'm wondering how long before he's discreetly popped into rehab...

This is all very very ...... odd .... the obviously incorrect recollections. The weird issues, "recollections may vary" ...very very much from what Harry's brain has in it.

Hollaatme3022 · 10/01/2023 19:16

Shouldn’t be getting stuff like this wrong. Very poor form.

Oh shhhh! Fgs, I think he can be 'forgiven' given the hectic life he has had!!

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JemimaTiggywinkles · 10/01/2023 19:18

Things like feelings and emotions will be unique to the person experiencing them and as far as he felt at different points in his life, that is his truth .

Unfortunately that is incorrect. Feelings and emotions at the time of recall can affect the way you remember things, including the memory of how you felt at the time. So it isn’t his truth about how he felt at the time. It is, at best, his current memory of childhood events. Which is fine, that’s what a memoir is.

Merrymouse · 10/01/2023 19:18

HufflepuffRavenclaw · 10/01/2023 19:11

You might not care, but to teenage boys these things are v important. And again, it points out the lack of fact checking. A decent editor or proofreader would have gone back to him saying - hang on, are you sure it was a Xbox and not a Wii or a PlayStation or whatever? Which they clearly didn't do.

Sloppy and second-rate.

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I think some details matter more than others though - the point of the Xbox story is his mother bought him a present/wanted to buy him a present and his birthday was shortly after her death. It should have been fact checked, but the brand doesn’t really matter.

I also don’t really care if he remembers what his wife wore on their first date, although it might upset her, given that it is part of the story of her wedding dress.

The telephone call does matter because he is using it to illustrate something about his father’s character.

Original poster

Ridemeginger · 10/01/2023 19:19

It's not just him, is it? It's the ghostwriter, editors, publishers. It's their job to fact check. And a 30 second google can find the inaccuracies in this account, so they clearly were not doing their job; and have done Harry a disservice in the process, because it's reflecting badly on him and giving doubt to the veracity of his accounts.

OP posts:

SirChenjins · 10/01/2023 19:20

@Sagharbor Because the book is awash with mistruths and misrememberings - if he cba to check his facts then what are we supposed to believe and what are we supposed to discount?

It might have been easier if he’d classified each paragraph into different headings - ‘defo happened’, ‘pretty sure it happened but I was off my tits so can’t be sure’, ‘sorta happened but I’ve conveniently left out big chunks’, ‘totally didn’t happen but it’s my book and I can write what I like’. Then we’d all know which bits to read for the lols and which bit to feel sadness/sympathy/etc for him.

JillyPooper123 · 10/01/2023 19:21

IcedPurple · 10/01/2023 16:14

Yes, horrible little brat. What is to be gained from writing shit like this?

Also getting a dig in with his inaccurate "Great loves thwarted by the Palace." I'm not sure a crush on a much older man who ended up marrying a teenager is a 'great love', and i any case, the queen actually tried very hard to find a solution for Margaret to marry Townsend. In the end it was agreed that she could marry him and keep all her privileges other than her place in the LoS, but given that the queen already had 2 healthy children, that was no great sacrifice. But Margaret had already fallen out of love with Townsend. So no 'great love' was 'thwarted'.

Harry's nonsense about 'the palace' as this great impersonal force ruining everyone's lives is so childish and stupid. Rather like the 'man' himself.

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I’d be interested to know if he’s watched the Crown or at least been briefed on it. Its possible he (and his PR team) are trying to play up to established ideas about the RF through popular fictionalised versions. They probably think the little people are too thick to see through this.

Skodacool · 10/01/2023 19:22

Yesthatismychildsigh · 10/01/2023 15:22

It’s entirely possible he was at school, Easter Saturday or not - he was a boarder.

Eton is 100% boarding. They go home during the holidays.

JADS · 10/01/2023 19:22

JemimaTiggywinkles · 10/01/2023 18:57

There is even a parking issue in front of the bedroom.

But did he include a diagram in the book?!

Beat me to it!

Memory is a really funny thing. Harry keeps saying this is a historical record. It really isn't. I do wonder if in 1000 years someone is pouring as we pour over Alfred the Great biography these days, what they will think of the todger obsessed Harry.

JonahCL9 · 10/01/2023 19:23

On the radio just now it said that in the 'acknowledgements' bit PH thanks 71 employees at PRH involved in the production of the book (and another batch on the audio book) - surely someone must have been charged with accuracy check. I mean the publishing industry isn't showering itself in glory in terms of accuracy this week if there are factual errors in this book preceded by home hacks that run the risk of losing a finger in Jack Monroe's latest opus...

Merrymouse · 10/01/2023 19:23

JemimaTiggywinkles · 10/01/2023 19:18

Things like feelings and emotions will be unique to the person experiencing them and as far as he felt at different points in his life, that is his truth .

Unfortunately that is incorrect. Feelings and emotions at the time of recall can affect the way you remember things, including the memory of how you felt at the time. So it isn’t his truth about how he felt at the time. It is, at best, his current memory of childhood events. Which is fine, that’s what a memoir is.

Yes - it’s true that that is what he feels now, but a third party can’t judge Charles on these particular facts presented in the book, although that is what Harry seems to be asking readers to do.

I wonder if also this situation places extra pressure on the subject to manoeuvre their memories into a story that the ghostwriter can tell?

boatgirl81 · 10/01/2023 19:24

Sorry if already mentioned, not read the full thread but could he have got the news muddled up with Princess Margaret? I believe they died within a few months of each other?

HufflepuffRavenclaw · 10/01/2023 19:26

I do agree that the Xbox error is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things but should have been checked.

The "woe is me" about his Dad not bothering to tell him about the death of teh Queen Mother is clearly designed to tell his "story" of being the neglected second son.