Strangest bits in Spare…

[Motorcycleemptyness]

i haven’t quite finished it yet but I wanted to read a thread about some of the weirder bits of Spare, and I haven’t seen a thread where people were discussing those without the ‘H&M’ vs the rest of the RF debate. There are definitely some parts which have made me really question why they were included, and I was wondering if anyone else had any similar thoughts.

The inclusion of the imagery of the poppy fields, and how heroin funds the Taliban. Fair enough. We all know that. The rest of the book is one long ode to posh people taking drugs. Does Prince Harry think the cocaine he takes is gently knitted by fairies and delivered to him by unicorns? Do the drugs he takes not contribute to war and terrorism and misery across the rest of the world (and indeed misery and crime in the UK, where he is 5th in line to be monarch!) I found this quite a strange passage and I was wondering if anyone else had any thoughts, or am I just over thinking it?

Elizabeth Arden cream. ‘Mummy’s lips’. ‘Todger’. Why? But really, why? Why was this included? Why did anyone think it or commit it to paper, and then publish it? Why did I read it? Why am I typing it here? ARGH.

What he actually thinks the relationship between the royal family and the press should actually be. Only reporting true things? Someone had a photo of him taking cocaine. Dressed as a nazi. Calling his colleague a ‘P*ki’. He wasn’t happy, but it was all true. Should journalists not be allowed to report true things? Or should they only be reporting things he wants them to report? Does Andrew get to choose that too? What about everyone else?

What the actual royal family should look like. This was mind bending. He seems to be perfectly happy with the idea of the monarchy, an institution which is predicated on the idea that they’re inherently superior to the rest of us, and that’s their birth right, but seems to massively struggle to apply that to himself and William. If a monarchy is the best system, why shouldn’t the heir be treated differently to the spare? (I don’t believe it is the best system and wish we could abolish them all but I don’t understand how one can believe one but not the other!).

Anyone else have any interesting thoughts?

I think that makes it more convincing that they paint him as standing like a silent sentry and M feigning not to know who he was, they just don’t want to be tainted with the Andy brush. But still more lies!!! It’s the contrivance of so many minor things that add up to make harry seem so unreliable in this book

There were no allegations about Andrew himself at that point though. Or at least not that I remember.

Yes she mentioned it in court (or an interview) that she was forced to have sex with men and named Prince Andrew

inews.co.uk/news/prince-andrew-jeffrey-epstein-timeline-friendship-virginia-giuffre-settlement-1464023

Timeline here

How did Meghan know Eugenie?
I just can't see how their circles met.

@Sugarfree23 apparently, Markus Anderson, Soho House’s manager in Toronto.

Soho House I think. Meghan stayed there regularly when in the UK

🤣🤣🤣

I have just reached the bit in the book where he talks about first being introduced to Meghan over instagram and then them texting. He is texting on his way to stay with Sir Keith Mills (as he is joining a yacht race with Keith). He says he arrives at Sir Keiths goes straight up to his guest room where he holes up texting Meghan until dinner. He then has dinner with Sir Keith and family and immediately after desert goes straight back up to his room and texts Meghan all night.

Makes me realise that he really is emotionally immature. This is teenager behaviour. Can you imagine having a guest to stay (in their thirties) and them behaving this way? So so rude. Even when we have friends with teenagers stay their parents would not let them do this. Only emerging from the guest room for meals. Staggeringly rude.

He is obsessed with her in a very unhealthy way.

This is totally conspiracy theory land but there are rumours that Meghan already knew Prince Andrew.. I won't elaborate.

A potential reason why her and Prince Andrew didn't engage at that first meeting and then she then professed to not knowing who is was and thought he was an assistant.. And why Andrew may have kept his mouth firmly shut.

Oh my, stop that.

Most of Harry's tales and obsessions make him sound like an ill-mannered 14 year old boy who isn't particularly engaged with the world. I'd feel sorry for Meghan being stuck with a petty, immature stoner, but then I remember this is the deal she has struck to chase global fame and mega-wealth. They both seem well-matched in shallowness.

A yacht race with Sir Keith: oh, the poverty and deprivation of being the Spare!

There are so many different stories coming from Harry and Meghan about when and how they met. It sounds like he was basically Edward VII, trawling the theatres for actresses willing to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship. It's not romantic at all.

Ive used covid as an excuse to get rid of excess hugging. Im happy now its confined to my very closest people and then only special occasions like birthdays and funerals.

@WickedStepmomNOT I've noticed a reduction in hugging after covid too.

Much of it never really felt natural to me in the first place. I'm sure it was a copy from Aussie soaps and things like Friends where folk seem to hug each other all the time.

He has very little awareness of how monstrously privileged his life has been. He has an idea to do Invictus games, so his Private Secretary casually calls Sir Keith Mills and invites him over - where Harry tells him the idea and that it needs to be hosted in September. Why so soon. Because Harry says so thats why. Hurry up Keith.

He is invited to go treking - so is personally flown to the South Pole, given bespoke apparel, does hike and his personally flown home.

He is feeling a little low (because Willy/Pa) and so he hops on a plane to his friends in Africa to drink endlessly around camp fires.

He has to live in this awful basement flat on palace grounds, Pa's chef keeps filling his fridge with meals. Not as good as the goat curry the Gurkhas used to make for him in Afghanistan (they worship Royalty)

Wants to go back to War - can't they make another War happen? So annoying. Will have to make do with Invictus and shooting Lions with tranquillisers instead.

Such an annoying Yacht race to attend when he wants to text Megs, ah well it stops him seeming too keen. They can't see each other all summer. Why, work? No, Eat Pray Love summer planned - yachts etc. Why is life so hard.

I agree the spoilt behaviour is staggering. I simply can’t understand its defenders.

Also he is invariably described as if he’s this teenager whereas other royals at a younger age were “men”. I heartily agree that a bloke in his 30s sitting in his room as a guest texting is obnoxious, not cutesy love-struck.

As Taylor Swift would sing (to the seals), Meghan is the Sexy Babe and H is the monster on the hill.

I’m starting to feel a bit sorry for her now. From hero to anti-hero in one tome which exposes his altruism as covert narcissism.

I think up until the book exposed him for being such a brat some people had a lot of sympathy. I can't have sympathy for the super rich whinging, but that's just me. Now things are different - there's too much that's weird and disturbing to be dismissed. And the military, and Iran's reaction to his kill count is doing all sorts of damage. He's damaged his reputation with the military beyond repair now, which must hurt. I saw a clip where he was saying that now that the book was out, everyone could see the context, and see the lies being told. I think he believes any view other than his own is a lie, rather than a different point of view.

@JillBidensShoes funny! Those two were EXACTLY what I thought of when I first heard the altruism/narcissism. 😁

There's the interview clip where he's asked about putting himself at risk by declaring his kill number and he insists that its not his fault - its the PRESS spinning it, making it sound like a boast.

The total refusal to take accountability is astonishing.

Also, their total refusal of Jeremy Clarkson apology. Granted, I don't think I'd have wanted to accept it either - and I certainly think he could have published a better one - but he at least takes responsibility for what he said and apoLogises for it. I just wonder...what is it they want? How much of an apology (for any of the slights) is going to be enough? It makes then come across as resentful and needing to assert power if they'll accept nothing less than total submission. And i say this as an h&m supporter! They keep dressing things up as them fighting on behalf of other people, fighting oppressors forthe little people...I just don't buy it anymore.

Okay, I'm almost done now (91% of way through ...). Just read this paragraph (Megs and Haz are discussing if their security will be taken away post-exit):

Also, not in the wake of my Uncle Andrew. He was embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of the sexual assault of a young woman, and no one had so much as suggested that he lose his security. Whatever grievances people had against us, sex crimes weren't on the list.

Ouch.

Personally, I think Andrew has been let off lightly here. I also agree with Harry that he and Meghan have never done anything as bad as Andrew (as I read this as sex crimes not being on their list, which I agree is worse than anything they have ever done). I also think he has a valid point about Andrew's security, especially as Andrew is also not a working royal anymore (although I think he still was at this time in the book - February 2020).

However, this is also a direct comparison to his and Meg's wrongs, as his uncle's, and how they are perceived, and treated accordingly. He is saying (rightly) that his uncle's 'crimes' are much worse.
I wonder how Beatrice and Eugenie feel about this? Especially as he mentions in the book, how much he loves 'Euge and Jack', and she appeared in his documentary etc.

Re: kill number. Awful. Doesn’t matter if he was boasting/discussing/reflecting or whatever. He absolutely should not have put a number on it, nor put it in such crass terms. Some things you just do not talk about.

Re: Jeremy Ckarkson. He should have written to/apologised to Meghan directly. I absolutely would not have accepted that apology either.

Comparing themselves with Andrew in terms of security is false equivalence. Why should the British taxpayer pick up their security bill when they choose to live in another country? It was quite clearly the Queen who continued to provide security for Andrew, it’s been taken away now.

I am wondering if being brought up playing with toy soldiers and having a Granny who is the head of the armed forces gives a slightly skewed view of the reality of war? He’s surrounded by family members who have played at being at war in a sense too. Not really at risk but strutting about in uniforms. If you’re brought up in a gilded cage, not meeting normal people or living a normal life, I imagine being in a war zone feels like a game in a way too.

No number of apologies is going to make them like her and that’s what he really wants I think. He wants them to say that their view of her was all down to unconscious bias , they’ve seen the error of their ways and now they are going to welcome M into the fold . That’s never ever going to happen. They just don’t like her, and that’s what he is unable to accept. In my opinion.