Spare

Prince Harry The Duke of Sussex

Format: Audible Audiobook

I have conflicted feelings since listening to the Audible edition of Spare. Prince Harry was always one of my favourite royals. I’m not entirely sure what I think these days if I’m honest. No matter what anyone says we will never really know what goes on/has gone on behind closed doors. I can only assume everything he tells us in this book is true because as far as I’m aware he hasn’t been sued for libel.

I find the whole situation really, really sad. We never know how long we have people for and I always find it sad when families are estranged, although I do understand that some people are negative influences in our lives and, blood or not, we do sometimes have to distance ourselves for the sake of our own mental health.

Do I agree with the way he has handled certain situations over the last few years, no. Having said that I think there’s a lot more to his story than we’ll ever know.

Losing your mother at such a young age must be devastating, especially in such horrific circumstances. I don’t think he has ever really grieved properly. He has absolutely no privacy. None of them have. The Royal Family are owned by the public and I absolutely agree that certain aspects of their lives should be public. Especially the happy occasions. I personally love a Royal wedding and a Royal baby announcement for example. I do think they should be allowed some privacy when dealing with much more sensitive/difficult times in their lives though.

I absolutely agree that his priorities are his wife and children. That’s how it should be. I do think it’s really sad that he wasn’t able to maintain his relationships with his family at the same time though. They might be royal, but they are still human beings.

The British press has a lot to answer for!

I respect the fact that he served (or at least attempted to serve) in the British Army. The press had a lot to do with ending that career too. He couldn’t do his job properly because as soon as they found out where he was, they published it which instantly made him, and those serving with him, a target, so he had to be sent home. He obviously saw and dealt with a lot within his short time in the military though and I wouldn’t be surprised if he still suffers with PTSD. He was well liked by his colleagues. My husband was an avionics technician in the Army for 22 years. He fixed, and serviced, the Apache helicopters that Harry piloted. Harry was training back in 2008 when my husband received his MBE from our late Queen Elizabeth II and it was one of the things they talked about as he received his award. It seems like Harry had a close relationship with his grandmother and this book ends just after she very sadly passed away. It’s a beautiful ending and tribute to his granny. Family is obviously important to him. I think he feels let down, unsupported, and not listened to. This is why I can understand him wanting to step away from royal life. I do think this can’t be done half-hearted though. Where the royal family is concerned, I think you must either be fully in or fully out.

I wouldn’t want to be born into it and I’m glad I never fell in love with a prince. I would never cope living under the scrutiny of the entire world. Those born into it though don’t have much of a choice.

I hope there are happier times to come for all of them.

Sunday Times Memoir of the Year 2023

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow-and horror. As Princess Diana was laid to rest, billions wondered what Prince William and Prince Harry must be thinking and feeling-and how their lives would play out from that point on.

For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness-and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.