Just finished 'Spare'...

[HerReputationMadeItDifficultToProceed]

… and I encourage anyone who’s even vaguely interested in this story to give it a read. Especially if what’s been leaked has made you at all angry, because I think in context everything makes a lot of sense.

I wasn’t a Harry and Meghan hater before reading this, but I wasn’t a fan girl either. Like many Brits, I find a lot of Americans- especially West Coast Americans- quite irritating and Meghan firmly falls into that camp for me. I’m sure she’s nice enough, but she’s very American and very perky and much like Wednesday Addams, I don’t do perky. However, I suspect that her intentions and generally good and that like most of us she’s got good and bad qualities. She’s clearly ambitious and I think that she probably initially dated Harry based on that ambition and on getting a platform, although I think that she genuinely loves him now.

The ghost writer has done a great job at capturing Harry’s personality I think; he comes across as introspective and thoughtful but funny and bright.

I think that Harry has a good soul; I think that he’s kind and has had a hard time of it growing up. I also think he’s a bit clueless and naive and has been in a bubble, but I think he acknowledges that and wants to understand and change. Undoubtedly losing his mother at the age he was had more of an outward impact on him than it had on William. He’s also been a victim of his dad’s wishywashy parenting. It sounds like- and looks like to me from my vantage point as a normal citizen who knows bugger all except what I’ve seen in the media- that Charles has been there for his kids to an extent, but not in a hands on or especially useful way. It also seems clear that Charles has always put Camilla first. From almost the moment Diana died it seems that he wanted, above everything else, to rehabilitate Camilla’s image so that they could marry. I think that he put that above being a father and the way Harry writes about their relationship makes that clear too.

I also think that it’s suited the palace to portray Harry as dimwitted and feckless to show William in a better light and that Harry has every right to be angry about that and not want to play that game anymore (and to call it out now). Especially as it’s obvious that the palace haven’t kept up their side of the bargain and protected Harry from the media in return.

I also think that the media have treated H and M poorly and it’s clearly the case that the palace has used them and news stories about them to divert from other newsworthy problems… certainly Prince Andrew, perhaps William’s affair/s. Is Harry overly jumpy about the media and the paparazzi in particular? Yes, of course. Who wouldn’t be with his background. But they’ve also obviously been hounded and harassed.

I do think that Harry is on a journey that he isn’t at the end of yet, but I think that he realises that too. I think that he was always going to leave the royal family and that Meghan didn’t cause what’s happened, she was just the catalyst for it. I think that he’s been scapegoated and an afterthought within his nuclear family and I don’t blame him for being angry. I think that he means well and is essentially good. And I don’t think that anyone who’s read the whole book would be able to disagree.

More than anything I think it’s clear that the British Royal Family is no longer fit for purpose; the way they live, bring up their children, pay their members for work and demand unrealistic levels of protocol and formality is no longer working in the 21st century. These people need purpose and lives beyond the crown and those on the edges of the heir shouldn’t have to live their lives in service of the their. Realistically H and M could have worked as royals and had private interests, the RF chose not to bend to help them live fulfilling lives because of its own, outdated reasons.

I've already read an article by a Muslim commentator saying just that (without the bit about it being justified to kill hime, of course). To many people, he's just a symbol of British pride and interference. They don't care about some family spat - only that he killed people and then called them chess pieces.

I think that's a very fair summary - I also have a lot of sympathy for the members of the Royal family, they have all been born into a bit crazy situation and I agree that nobody should have to live their lives like that. I also think Harry needs some better advice as focusing his anger on his family or even the media is sort of missing the point.

Exactly! I don’t know how dense you would have to be not to realise that. He is a walking symbol of the damage done to Afghanistan by the war and the taliban are now back in control of the country! They must be laughing their heads off that he could be so stupid, it’s handed them an absolute gift

This

If you say so @Eyerollcentral

Mountbatten was murdered by the IRA, in Ireland, 12 miles from a hotspot for the IRA, but let's use his murder to make your point sound more dramatic....

If you seriously believe the 5th line of the throne is more of a target from extremists than before, because he states how many he killed while fighting them , very publicly, so be it.

If you also believe the Taliban are an international terrorist organisation, I also suggest you read up on the history of Afghanistan.

The stupidity is beyond me too. Which is why I suspect it’s provocation.

Wow! I've loved reading all your comments, one minute I'm up for one camp then I read a bit more and I'm up for the other! And everyone (and both sides have good points) some families royal or not have a lot of drama in them!! 🤪

Thank you OP. I haven't read the book, but have been watching how things have played out recently, especially when both Piers Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson who have been completely unreasonable to H&M were invited to Camilla's Christmas lunch, and I tend to agree with you. The media has been completely vile to every woman who ever married into the family and I find it strange that we tolerate it.

Harry comes across as a person deeply damaged as a child who begs for recognition and redress within a family who refuses to acknowledge his pain.

That image of him is complicated by his need to court the press and us, so that he can earn enough money to protect his own family from the press. It's a catch 22 situation and intensified by his almost psychologically disturbed hatred of the press. So while his motives may have been pure, he has undermined himself too.

Moreover, why do we look up to this family, who clearly accumulated (some would say stole) their power and money in an earlier age and no longer really represent the society we live in. We are much more hierarchical than other European nations, and in my view, this needs to change.

I'll just leave this here...

twitter.com/davidvelohue/status/1613146847819743233?s=20&t=upDFht8-ywN6g_kRpsqiVg

I love the line, ' I wished he would have killed more! '

Finally had a chance to use his voice? Where have you been these last couple of years, under a rock?

Mountbatten was murdered because he was a symbol of British imperialism, it wasn’t a random act. Please see below.
Harry is a target because of his callous disregard for the ‘chess pieces’ he says he picked off from a helicopter.
If you do not think the taliban or their fellow travellers or an individual outraged by Harry’s comments won’t seek to target him, you are very foolish.

Well technically the British tabloids have contributed to the gift as they’re the ones who plastered it so salaciously out of context in the first place. I read it first online, but in the book it’s entirely different.

I don’t know how dense you would have to be to see that no-one has said naming numbers is a good idea?

I would have advised against it personally but I find the hypocrisy nauseating - to chastise him for that with not a word against the tabloids for sensationalising it or noting their splashing of him across the papers 10 years ago with bloodthirsty jingoism.

That man is an ex US SEAL. The UK military do not do this. Harry has been condemned for what he said. See here

Well they wouldn’t have published it if half wit harry hadn’t put it in his book, would they? Of course it’s the media’s fault, they should have just ignored his comments. Many people have been disgusted by what he has written and indeed several former senior military figures are aghast that he would do it at all.

Yeah I’ve read a lot of ex solders accounts including SF they have all discussed killing people.

Then you’re even more of an idiot than he is.

No-one forced them to take it out of context and splash it cross the entire media. The 2 military figures that I read were reacting to the newspaper quote, not the book itself. And I’ve read similar comments in books by other vets (as the Americans call them).

@Mirabai and you can’t spot the difference between an ordinary, unknown soldier saying ill advised things and a British prince saying them? If so you are not living in the real world.

I see you’re using Harry’s defence. Nothing’s ever his fault, is it?

You’ve missed the point as usual and haven’t read my post.

@Mirabai what’s out of context? Every extract I saw provided a lot of context usually full paragraphs. He didn’t need to say any of it. He wanted to make himself seem like the big brave man. He is a moron

Yes, I have read your post.

So you know full well your post was bollocks then.

You missed the one liners then.