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?

If Harry truly believes that then he might need a lot more therapy because that would mess with his head. It won’t make sense if he was born just for that as he then would have to be a genetic match for William and there would be a lot more “spares” just in case. But who knows someone may have had a callous joke and he may have believed it etc.

@Maireas Maybe it’s not too late? As long as Harry just gets on with it. I wouldn’t have known that there was a memoir and a Netflix show and an apparently unauthorised biography had I not read it on Mumsnet so I literally know would know nothing about him if he had just disappeared behind the limelight and focused on his philanthropic causes. Someone upthread mentioned that Harry was never papped when he was queuing up in the supermarket in his single days so perhaps if he just leads a low profile life, he can still have those things.

Sometimes children overhear unfortunate conversations from adults with rather loud voices... The upper classes have no qualms about braying their opinions in public - only the opinions of their peers matter, the little people are both irrelevant and invisible.

It would certainly explain why Harry heard the words 'paranoid' and 'delusional' come out of a family member's mouth, if he actually expressed as an adult that he thought he was bred for body parts and organs.

So he thinks he was conceived through IVF using a genetically tested embryo? That's the logical conclusion to this thinking.

Surely he can only believe this stuff when he's high on drugs? Or is the damage to his brain now so great that some strange beliefs have 'stuck'? I do wonder how much of Harry's ramblings the ghostwriter attempted to counter, or challenge, or check.

This really is the most puzzling memoir.

The bin told him.
Anyone read the latest Private Eye?
There's a good parody, except it's actually close to the book.

Siblings aren't necessarily suitable as donors are they? I mean he could be A* like one parent and William could be B- like the other. Don't you have to have IVF and have the embryos tested to see if they are a match if you want to do this, I might be imagining stuff, but if so is he saying his beloved mother didn't just get pregnant and have a much wanted second baby but went through all that to get spare parts for William.

surely Moehringer realised how it would land? Presumably, the money will last a long (?) while.

I don't know anything about the relationship between ghost and subject but I think he must have had an inkling. Harry obviously thought it was all a good idea so maybe he persuaded him, with his (supposedly) better informed ideas on the RF and public opinion.

Maybe Harry thought the story would be his exposure of the relationship between the palace and the press, but to me the idea that they engage in PR, do deals with journalists and release information through "sources close to the palace" is not remotely surprising - all organisations do that (as do Harry and Meghan of course). We have heard before about the RF eg doing photo calls or releasing their own photos in return for being left alone and it seems sensible and to everyone's advantage. Similarly the idea that the RF very rarely respond to criticism is not new. If some individuals were systematically leaking damaging stories about others that might be news, but although he alleges this he doesn't seem to have examples to prove it. It's also a bit far-fetched imo, when for most of his life he was expected to be part of the institution. Much more likely that they have actually protected him and made him a popular member and an asset of the family.

Meanwhile it's the other stuff that is getting the attention - the pettiness, jealousy, delusion and TMI about his nether regions. And the lying unreliability of so much of it undermines any serious points he is trying to make.

Regarding money - again, who knows? Apparently the advance was £16m, so he has a way to go before he starts making any more from sales. Plus he will have paid the writer out of that (I guess?) I imagine it won't last that long but it's very hard to say. The trouble is that they are much less marketable now that their net approval is negative. The Spotify deal hasn't really resulted in anything that suggests there will be further collaboration. The Netflix doc did well but you can only tell that story once, so now they are in the same position as everyone else, pitching not particularly ground-breaking or interesting ideas (eg Invictus) without any of their previous personal pulling power. It will be very interesting to see what happens next. Meghan's book I suppose. What can she do with that to restore their credibility I wonder?

Yes. I mean who would allow that to be shown on global tv? If that had been me I would have had it deleted or locked away. So cringe.

Don’t forget Harry also seemed to think he was breaking some kind of exclusive news by informing us all that the monarchy is a hierarchy? I mean, no shit Sherlock, you mean you can’t work your way to the top by hard graft and equal opportunities 🙄

I know! 🙄🙄🙄 at that! For goodness sake what a way to make yourself sound utterly dim. And that goes for both of them!

No you don't get to just change it all because you want to be at a different level. No 'Grannie' isn't going to upend everything for you! She couldn't even if she wanted to, you dummy. The Monarchy is bigger even than the Monarch.

The Monarchy is bigger even than the Monarch.

I think a lot of the gaps in Meghan's knowledge about how the monarchy works are because their are significant gaps in Harry's own understanding. He couldn't tell her things he didn't comprehend.

I'd like to see him try to explain, without briefing notes, the relationship between the monarchy and Parliament. Because what's coming out of Spare is that I don't think he knows. It's embarrassing.

there ^^ not their

@AutumnCrow I agree. I mean she didn't accept that she needed any help acclimatising, which is when I had my first sense of foreboding, because I truly didn't think she had the first clue about what a massive culture shock it was going to be (don't blame her for that tbf as how would she have any idea) but I thought okay well Harry will have to guide her. Turns out he's such a dimwit...and clearly more than a little drug addled by now...to be able to teach her even the most basic, simple things. You have to curtsey, you have to be able to sing the National Anthem, no you really should not keep freebies, we don't get paid for going on tours. For Christ's sakes!

On more complex matters...yeah, no chance.

@hoooops thank you.

I guess they need the ‘movers & shakers’ on side quite badly? Will they support? Will M’s book resonate ‘better’ with the influential & powerful? I heard they wanted to upgrade the mansion, if so, money won’t go far, but enough for big mortgage (?) & leverage?

Oh terrible sentence structure there apologies!

'He's such a dimwit that he couldn't be relied upon to teach her...'.

Harry does seem astonishingly ignorant of the role and function of the Constitutional Monarchy. Meghan herself said that Harry wouldn't pass the UK Citizenship test.
They seemed to think that the Oprah interview would force the Royal Family to apologise. It didn't. Listening to Harry's interviews recently, he seems to think that this book will force them to apologise.
That they can come back in some way and have a role in The Commonwealth again. It's very odd.

Greetings👀

@TangledWebOfDeception & @AutumnCrow

I find it hard to believe she didn’t know re: curtsey & how to do it (and was SO completely thrown) & similarly the National Anthem would hardly be a stumbling block for an accomplished actress. A google and a few lines that rhyme, & bingo.

She’s very smart, sophisticated, has mixed and worked with international diplomats. She’s educated & a mature, sassy woman.

The amount of homework it would take to get the part she did on Suits, as just ONE example, you’d need to be pretty ruthless & able to think fast on feet. She changed her whole audition spec at last minute, etc. The competition was insane, she created her own luck & continues to do so. Her tenacity & diligence, very commendable. She’s no naive, fool.

She’s savvy & a meticulous researcher. The Tig was brilliant & very well curated. The amount of work needed on top of the day job... She’s an ‘A type’, not the sort to fly by seat of pants or have stains on her shirt & stray socks under the bed :)

She’ll have had spreadsheets galore, plans, long & short term. I don’t by the clueless, wide-eyed ingenue woman who had no idea at all. The caveat to that is thinking she knew better & could do as she thought best? It was a HUGE step re: royalty. Is she arrogant? She could have sort help, her track record shows her extreme resourcefulness.

I do think you’re right in that Harry poss had gaps in knowledge and/or didn’t want to take the gloss of the fairytale vision by promoting stark reality that had made earlier girlfriends bolt…

The constant whingeing about not being able to do the half in/half out thing shows he doesn’t have the first clue about any of it. That was never going to work, it was never going to happen!

Sought help! Not SORT! :) Argh need to be able to edit.

@TangledWebOfDeception how can a clever, self made woman, then genuinely love a ‘dimwit’ who was deceptive too & apparently put her in a very difficult position?

@Peverellshire I’m talking about actual knowledge and understanding of the Monarchy, the ins and outs of a constitutional Monarchy, the RF, the significance of everything. She didn’t, and still doesn’t, have a clue. She probably didn’t care or didn’t think it was important (as evidenced by the ‘joke’ she made about trooping the colour). Which is fair enough, she didn’t have to think it was important. But she should have given it the respect of at least trying to understand the history and heritage.

She may be A Type in one sense, but only in a very narrow application. She’s also reasonably smart but I don’t at all think she’s incredibly bright/extremely intelligent. Much of what she says is inane word salad and doesn’t actually mean anything. She’s certainly never said (or done) anything of substance, IMO.

No 'Grannie' isn't going to upend everything for you! She couldn't even if she wanted to, you dummy. The Monarchy is bigger even than the Monarch

the Queen supposedly said 'you work for the monarchy. The monarchy does not work for you.'

That they can come back in some way and have a role in The Commonwealth again. It's very odd.

Why would the Commonwealth want them, when they walked out on the roles they had before? It sounds as if they think Charles can just dish out these jobs, with the Commonwealth nations having no say.

@Peverellshire I expect she loved the idea of being married to a Prince and being a member of the Royal Family. He took her to Botswana on their third date, and clearly was absolutely besotted with her straight away. A lot of women couldn’t resist that kind of Lovebombing.

I’m also not arguing that she is/was naive. I don’t believe she is/was.

@Peverellshire I’m talking about actual knowledge and understanding of the Monarchy, the ins and outs of a constitutional Monarchy, the RF, the significance of everything. She didn’t, and still doesn’t, have a clue. She probably didn’t care or didn’t think it was important (as evidenced by the ‘joke’ she made about trooping the colour). Which is fair enough, she didn’t have to think it was important. But she should have given it the respect of at least trying to understand the history and heritage.

I was struck, when they did the funeral walkabout thing, that the enormity of what the monarchy represents seemed to be a dawning on her. Just my opinion.