Happy Birthday, Spare!

[EncantoSpice]

It’s the one year anniversary of the release of Spare, how are you all celebrating?!

In all seriousness, a year on what impact do you think the book has had on the Royal Family and the Sussexes?

In my opinion it clearly did very well commercially but in popular culture it became a bit of a joke. In terms of the RF I’m not sure it made much difference - to people who already didn’t like them it confirmed what they already believed, to people who did like them it was more evidence that Harry was no loss. I also think even a year later it has made reconciliation between William and Harry impossible.

Peter Ball. It's not a secret. Google royalty and paedophiles and see how many nonces are connected to the Royals.

I doubt anyone on here hates Harry. I don’t. What I mean by jumping on bandwagons is choosing someone currently in the news and calling for them to be a national leader. David Attenborough Carol Vorderman Gary Linekar whoop whoop whoop!!!

Yes all of those people have more integrity than Charles

In your wee world.

Yes and the world of anyone who hates paedophiles

Anyone not touched at all by church related abuse should count themselves as very fortunate. I know some truly wonderful people who were connected to people later found to be prolific abusers. I suppose you would paint everyone as vile if they knew a monster and were not aware of their behavior. You can count a number of my friends and relatives among them.

It's not a stick with which I would use to beat anyone, even if I despised them because I thought that somehow was helpful to their estranged son.

I am sure you will crack on with more comments about it, but don't expect me to reply on this topic.

Oh give over. He sent him a letter after he'd been found guilty. What about all the others? I don't know anyone who has lots of paedophiles as friends. Charles has advisors and access to the best intelligence in the UK, they would.have known about Savile so I can believe he didn't know.

It's got nothing.to do.with Harry.

I do not.give hoot whether you reply.

What's with.the.fullstops all. the time?

Yeah my butter fingers is such an important issue when we're discussing child rape.

I was typing a different device to my usual one.

I can recommend a walk in Kinder Scout. Very beautiful, very peaceful.

Personally I’m not too keen on them either.

You can find a free pdf of spare online...

I'll bear that in mind.

They so rarely walk up to you and announce it.

I don’t actually believe anyone posting here believes Charles to be one or to even be a sympathizer of them, though.

What happened here. The same posters attacking anyone who don’t feel positively about Harry and Megan,what’s that about?

Since then he’s gone full on Fatal Attraction

TBF I don't think he's actually boiled any bunnies may well have shot them though

I don’t actually believe anyone posting here believes Charles to be one or to even be a sympathizer of them, though.

I don't think Charles is one.

I do think he thinks he knows best which led to ignoring the lackeys whose sole job was to protect and advise him and that he was wilfully blind to the swirling rumours around Savile.

Claiming he didn't understand the implications of Ball accepting a criminal caution (again against the background of skilled advisors) beggars belief,

So why did he support Peter Ball after his crimes had come to light. He even wrote him a a letter.

No one is attacking anyone.

The title is a reflection of his tantrum

That is not how it came across to me in the book.

He came across as a team player who understood his role very well indeed.

It started to really fall apart for him when the press started on his wife.

The jist for me was that he could take it being part of the system/family and having a role to play. But it was unfair to drag her.

I agree on that - anyone who marries Windsor men egts mauled in the press and it is not on.

I think that sounds like a very likely and fair assessment of how Harry was probably feeling.

I have read it. JR Moehringer is a good ghost writer, and it's clear that he's tried to tease out some important episodes and much of it reads well. I found it in a little patchy, though, some parts are quite good eg the army section, others less so. JRM spent two years writing this (I think), and at one point lived in a cottage in the Sussexes grounds. He is quoted as saying that Harry learned at "a glacial pace", so I think it was a challenge, and certainly a long project. What comes across is that Harry has very strong feelings about being second to William. However. He doesn't reflect that others in the family had lower status than him (Zara, Peter, Beatrice, Eugenie etc). He is very much a royalist and a supporter of the hereditary monarchy and titles (not a criticism, many are), but he has been conflicted with the experience of his mother, her death and immediate family relationships, and the popular press.

The title is a reflection of his tantrum

for me it was a reflection of his clear resentment and jealousy of William.

I actually suspect Harry has always been a problem, his family were well aware of this, and he was very protected.

its clear he didn’t just go off the rails when he met Megan, it was nothing to do with her, he came off the rails a long long time ago, and we saw elements of it, the drinking the drugs, the partying. But the royal family clearly protected his image and managed it carefully.

simply he came out from under their wing, and then, the public saw it, and no one was tempering his behaviour any more, if anything Megan enabled and encouraged it, as she was trying to achieve her own celeb/fame goals.

@Getthethrowonthesofa - I think that you're right, he wanted to stop being a working royal before he met Meghan. He's been quoted as saying that he would have liked to go and live in Africa, working on some sort of project there. I think it's no secret that he wanted a different sort of life. Royal, but not the same as his immediate family. I think that came across.