Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
The royal family
Original poster

Harry just protecting the other "spares"

729 replies

Magnoliasunrise · 14/01/2023 06:52

Shocked to see in this mornings Telegraph that Harry is concerned for the other "spares" He just wants to break the bad parenting pattern and stop it happening to Charlotte or George. If I was W&K I would be absolutely LIVID by now. What does anyone else think?

www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/prince-harry-interview-bryony-gordon-spare-book/

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
LolaSmiles · 14/01/2023 11:12

MalagaNights
Agree with you.
Anyone who spoke of my children or my parenting and suggested that they had concerns about my children's welfare like that would have no place in my life.

I think most people look at this drama thinking there's probably wrongs ok both sides, but bringing someone's children into it is awful.

LlynTegid · 14/01/2023 11:13

@newtb I would say they add to the list- the death of young black men in the UK, deaths in Mexico and Columbia, and the Albanian control of the UK drug trade leading to more small boat crossings are the main ones for me.

SockGoddess · 14/01/2023 11:13

I obviously can’t understand the POV of a royal but I really don’t get what’s so bad about being the “spare” at all. George VI is not a good example of an unhappy spare, he was a happy spare but an unhappy king. Margaret was unhappy because of things she wasn’t allowed to do as a royal but the queen had a much harder task being queen when she wasn’t originally destined for that. Being the monarch is way more stress. If you don’t like being a royal and are not the monarch or heir, you can opt out and/or just live a quiet life away from the spotlight. Surely the only people who would mind being the spare are people who think they “should” be the monarch, I.e. arrogant and clueless. Yes the whole system is bonkers anyway but get over yourself.

Shelefttheweb · 14/01/2023 11:13

Styling himself after the Duke of Gloucester/Richard III perhaps? He ‘looked after’ his brother’s kids too.

Inkpotlover · 14/01/2023 11:14

Swissmountains · 14/01/2023 11:06

I think the children are going to be the new battleground and source of competition between Harry and William, Harry is for sure really goading William, unless the RF are resolute with an absolute refusal to engage, this is where it will play out.

I agree. In the interview Harry made it clear he won't stop pushing on trying to reform the monarchy and he sees protecting the spares as part of that. He actually has the gall to say, "“This is not about trying to collapse the monarchy, this is about trying to save them from themselves."

Coucous · 14/01/2023 11:14

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

purpledalmation · 14/01/2023 11:15

Stop projecting Harry. Those kids will hopefully never have the trauma he had and are clearly happy, well adjusted kids with loving parents who seem very close. William and Catherine have every right to be angry at this slight on their parenting, but will just move on because they know it's rubbish.

Placcyboel · 14/01/2023 11:15

I feel slightly concerned for Charlotte. This is the second time that Harry has talked about her negatively and it looks like Meghan does not like her either link here.

oakleaffy · 14/01/2023 11:15

There is an interview with one of Harry’s old flames on Good Morning Britain-Catherine Ommanney -She says she doesn’t even recognise Harry , and that he looks very unhappy.

anexcellentwoman · 14/01/2023 11:17

Sorry if it has already been posted. You can read Bryony's interview with Harry here

bryonygordon.substack.com/

DaughterOfPsychiatrist · 14/01/2023 11:19

It occurred to me earlier this week that perhaps Kate and William decided to have a third baby so they didn’t create another Harry situation? That way Charlotte and Louis will be able to have a sort of solidarity due to both being in more or less the same position.

Especially as there was some criticism at the time as the pregnancy was around the time of the rule changes to tax credits/child benefit (to children only).

Inkpotlover · 14/01/2023 11:21

Placcyboel · 14/01/2023 11:15

I feel slightly concerned for Charlotte. This is the second time that Harry has talked about her negatively and it looks like Meghan does not like her either link here.

Oh do me a favour! That video is clutching at straws and then some. You can see Meghan was smiling at Charlotte as she went past, it's just a closed mouth smile.

BlackFriday · 14/01/2023 11:22

Yes, Kate is the key to how well-adjusted the Cambridge (Wales?) children turn out. William and Harry had similar trauma but are (thank God) different personalities. Neither Charles or Diana had "normal" upbringings to inform their parenting and I sometimes wonder if Diana over-compensated by being overly emotional with her boys.
Anyway, the difference between them now is their wives. Kate comes from a seemingly functional, warm and supportive background and it is well-documented that William loved being welcomed into it. They are living with good examples of healthy relationships all around them. Meghan on the other hand, is not - sorry MN, but her low-contact/no-contact status with her own family apart from her mother is a big red flag to me, so she and Harry aren't much better off than Charles and Diana, in reality. Their parenting tenets are basically going to come from books!
That might turn out fine for them, time will tell, but it certainly does NOT qualify Harry )of all people, ffs) to lecture ANYONE, let alone William, on parenting pitfalls.

StatisticallyChallenged · 14/01/2023 11:25

LlynTegid · 14/01/2023 10:53

Not in the order of succession until it was changed in 2013(?) Prince Andrew was second in line until William was born.

Show quote history

She was a spare for 10 years until Andrew was born

MalagaNights · 14/01/2023 11:32

I think being the spare is a test of character.

If you have a strong sense of self and can identify intrinsic purpose for your life you'll be ok.

If you have a weak sense of self, rely on the validation of others, cannot identify a purpose for your life separate from the role your sibling has, you will spend your life identifying with this lack of role and feeling lost.

Harry is a very weak man.

Maireas · 14/01/2023 11:33

I agree with you, @LolaSmiles
The children should be off limits. Harry is obviously just trying to goad William and Kate.

BlackFriday · 14/01/2023 11:34

Well, luckily we'll never know Anne's thoughts on being the 2nd child as she's got too much class, character and dignity to plaster it all over the media.

MarshaMelrose · 14/01/2023 11:37

Ridemeginger · 14/01/2023 10:58

I wonder if some childish discussion took place between W & H, when they were very little, that they would reign together? Or whether Diana promised Harry that William would never let him end up the equivalent of Andrew (whom she must have seen was gearing up to live a pointless existence post his military service)? Harry doesn't want to revolutionise, he wants to be top dog. He's Napoleon the Pig. I wonder if he thought William would fulfil that ambition through a joint reign or something, and feels betrayed that this is never going happen.

I think this could very well be true, actually. I remember an interview that Harry did in his early 20s in which he said that he and William didn't like the model of monarchy that the Queen and the then Prince Charles were locked in to. That he and William were going to do it a different way. But then over the years, as William grew up, he probably realised that the options of performing kingship are very limited so he too started to follow the same or similar path.

So maybe Harry felt his nose put out of joint and their previous plans ignored. Maybe he felt, as second in line, his opinion wasn't respected but, really, it's just the paths of the two of them were different.

Shelefttheweb · 14/01/2023 11:39

As well as being a different character, Anne found herself a focus and one that she was very good at - horse riding. She earned her own stripes with that (granted the money and connections behind her helped her get there but would not be unique in that field). Harry seems to never have had a focus to pursue. Did he even have a job after leaving the army? William was an air ambulance pilot for a good few years. Kate’s family made money in business so I am sure will provide a good role model of working for a living.

MysteryBelle · 14/01/2023 11:39

Both Meghan and Harry have a hostility toward George and Charlotte. Harry is no longer the spare and he complained about that in regards to George, how he is no longer important and William and Catherine’s children will get more attention than him. It is one of his earlier interviews, a few years back. Meghan’s malice was dripping in the texts Harry gives of how she responds about Charlotte’s dress, what a witch Markle is. She is jealous that her children didn’t get Prince and Princess titles. What a mistake it was to give her millions of dollars in televised lavish wedding and then give her titles from which she tries to milk money and adulation constantly.

Remember the vile tv series done on Prince George, sexualizing him and making him gay. Harry and Meghan’s friend Orlando Bloom played Harry, they didn’t say a word about how George was treated. It was despicable.

HooverIsAlwaysBroken · 14/01/2023 11:41

I can’t believe I am getting into these threads 😂.

  1. That video it completely crazy, it seems to be a way to pick on Meghan.

  2. Harry should leave the children out of it. Talking publicly about parenting, concerns for them etc is completely crossing all boundaries. And releasing details about anything they do in his book (!!!) obtained from texts from their mother is beyond low. I would be furious.

MalagaNights · 14/01/2023 11:42

BlackFriday · 14/01/2023 11:34

Well, luckily we'll never know Anne's thoughts on being the 2nd child as she's got too much class, character and dignity to plaster it all over the media.

Anne has a very strong character.

She is internally driven, does not seek external validation and has deep satisfying personal interests.

This has allowed her to approach royalty as a job separate from her identity, but one she does with commitment as that is her nature.

MalagaNights · 14/01/2023 11:45

Interestingly I think those that have or would have been happy spares have made the best monarchs.

HMQ would have been happy to be a spare and be a wife mother and horse women.

The duke of Windsor would have been a petulant spare and was a terrible monarch.

I wonder how William would have coped with being the younger sibling?
I think he'd have been relieved.

Inkpotlover · 14/01/2023 11:46

MysteryBelle · 14/01/2023 11:39

Both Meghan and Harry have a hostility toward George and Charlotte. Harry is no longer the spare and he complained about that in regards to George, how he is no longer important and William and Catherine’s children will get more attention than him. It is one of his earlier interviews, a few years back. Meghan’s malice was dripping in the texts Harry gives of how she responds about Charlotte’s dress, what a witch Markle is. She is jealous that her children didn’t get Prince and Princess titles. What a mistake it was to give her millions of dollars in televised lavish wedding and then give her titles from which she tries to milk money and adulation constantly.

Remember the vile tv series done on Prince George, sexualizing him and making him gay. Harry and Meghan’s friend Orlando Bloom played Harry, they didn’t say a word about how George was treated. It was despicable.

Both Meghan and Harry have a hostility toward George and Charlotte.

You know that for fact?

MysteryBelle · 14/01/2023 11:46

Harry keeps mentioning the Commonwealth. Meghan wants to be in charge of the CW, to have a high position over it. The Queen gave them CW positions like they wanted, except she gave Harry the higher one, and they spent entire time droning on about RF being racists to focus on Meghan instead of doing the work. So the Queen removed them. Remember Meghan had CW countries embroidered on her veil, secretly as ‘surprise’ for Harry. How presumptuous of her, knowing that William and Catherine will be king and queen, not her, and the CW is related to them, not her. She wants the power, to feel superior to Catherine, she couldn’t stand walking behind her.