"Spare" memoir by the Duke of Sussex (2023)

[Denville]

I think it means exactly that - brief periods of lots of attention and fussing in between longer periods of minimal contact.

Diana visited the boys at school quite a bit, one of her male freinds told her that she went up to Eton too often to see William... and when she had them home, she usually cleared her diary to spend as much time with them as possible.

 

[HRHHermione]

But that's just the thing, isn't it? Being away at boarding school so early and for so long? William was a bit older, but Harry lost his beloved mother at such an early and formative age and then was shuttled off to boarding school where his own brother (like a lot of other older siblings) didn't pay attention to him.

I'm no fan of Harry any longer, especially after all of his indiscretions with this book, but I can see where there would be a large disconnect with his family because of how he was raised. It's also no wonder that he was ignorant of a lot of the RF history and protocol, since he was raised away from it so often.

There are things in the book that contradict Harry's own assertions that William fully ignored him during their Eton years. At one point in the book, Harry calls William's best friend, Thomas Van Straubenzee, and just chats and catches up and reminisces about all the time they'd spent together as a foursome with Thomas's deceased younger brother Henners. Club H is remembered as a haven where their mutual shared friends spent a ton of time together. Clearly, William must have let his little brother in a good deal of the time for those memories to exist.

 

[Erin9]

I remember, after the Oprah interview, the Sussexes indicated they had said their piece and were ready to move on.
Perhaps that’s just my own curated memory.

That’s how I remember it. I think it was about a month or so when they started up again. IF you discount his responses following Oprah about TQ, Philip, and the family conversations post interview not going well.

So- when Harry says this is it- I’m not taking him at face value. They’ve talked for over 3 years. And I’m sure they can come up with more stories….

 

[Denville]

William might not want his brohter who was in a different year, hanging around all hte time, but I cant imagine that he was brutally ignoring his brother when they had lost their mother. I think this is another bout of H attacking his brother

 

[bmbutler2]

Ken Wharfe finally laid out the truth about Paul Burrell in his latest book that he co-authored with someone else (I normally like Wharfe, but that book wasn't much except finally expose Burrell for who he is.)

I doubt it very much. Harry seems to think he has the right to do it to others because it's been done to him.

I will say, however, that I find it sickening how much Burrell has exploited Diana for over two decades now, setting himself up as the expert on what she would think, what she would say and dropping snippets about her to anyone who'll pay him. If he'd done that about my mother, I'd be furious so I think William and Harry have every right to be (despite Harry breaching other people's privacy).

 

[Denville]

and what has Wharfe been doing for 20 years except writing about Diana and appearing on TV talking about her

 

[HRHHermione]

Oh, and there's another bit I wanted to call out very specifically because I think it really shows a level of delusion I hadn't expected.

It is from a moment where Harry is complaining yet again to Prince Charles about his and Meghan's treatment by the press. "Pa said : You must understand , darling boy , the Institution can’t just tell the media what to do ! Again , I yelped with laughter . It was like Pa saying he couldn’t just tell his valet what to do "

The comparison here, of the free press of the United Kingdom, to the valet of the Prince of Wales, is incredibly unwise. It shows that Harry believes his family can control the press to a much greater degree than is possible in reality. If Charles had that level of control, much of what's been written about him and his wife would never have made the papers.

 

[Erin9]

Quote by Sunnystar:

Originally Posted by _Heather_ View Post

So there's now an article from the Mail stating that Harry wrote that his memory is faulty and "curates as it sees fit" but that his memory has just as much truth as "so-called objective facts." Seriously? Make it make sense, folks. The mental gymnastics required here...whew. Just because your brain and memory tell you something is true or that it happened just as you believe it did does not, in and of itself, mean that it's true. In fact, some would argue that believing your own thoughts/memories but admitting that they're faulty might actually be the very definition of delusion.

Yes, he does those mental gymnastics to explain away any inconsistencies in his memoir. It's in the prologue - I have the ebook on Google Play and it's showing as pg 16 for me.



To quote the full paragraph:



Quote:

Whatever the cause, my memory is my memory, it does what it does, gathers and curates as it sees fit, and there’s just as much truth in what I remember and how I remember it as there is in so-called objective facts. Things like chronology and cause-and-effect are often just fables we tell ourselves about the past. The past is never dead. It’s not even past. When I discovered that quotation not long ago on BrainyQuote.com, I was thunderstruck. I thought, Who the fook is Faulkner? And how's he related to us Windsors?

He really seems to have embraced the whole "my truth is my truth" mantra of the millennial/Gen Zers. There is no challenging someone who believes that their own recollection/feelings/ trauma is paramount to all else. There isn't any willingness to recognize that the truth is subjective.



I've managed to get through the first section and I'm struck by the idea that Harry very much doesn't have much use for logic and, while Faulkner is one of the great writers of the 20th century, Harry could do with studying some of the great philosophers of ages past, but especially the Enlightenment/Age of Reason.



----------



What kind of mind-blubber is that?!?



He is basically admitting that everything he says is not only potentially wrong, but that a considerable part of it probably is wrong, because his memory is pretty cloudy as well! But it's okay because his, no doubt vividly colored, memories are just as valid as any hard facts...



What kind of silly-weed has he been smoking?!?

This book is no longer non-fiction. It's fiction by own admission.



I'm right now sitting 538 km from London (I just checked) and I can actually hear the BRF layers laugh!

Exactly!!

He’s dragging his family through the mud while saying- well- this might not be accurate. WHAT?! And he can’t figure out why this might be a problem for them. Recollections may vary indeed.

It’s nonsense.

It’s like a get out of jail free card where he’s not really responsible for anything.

Truth is truth. Facts. Not his recollections. I hate to break it to Harry but there is a huge difference between objective facts and HIS recollections. They are not weighed the same.

What does he mean “so called” objective facts? Facts are facts are facts. With evidence- it is what it is. Spin it how you want, but facts are facts. Like how he wasn’t at school when the QM died.

I can’t imagine having a rational conversation with this mindset.

 

[chelly]

Oh, and there's another bit I wanted to call out very specifically because I think it really shows a level of delusion I hadn't expected.

It is from a moment where Harry is complaining yet again to Prince Charles about his and Meghan's treatment by the press. "Pa said : You must understand , darling boy , the Institution can’t just tell the media what to do ! Again , I yelped with laughter . It was like Pa saying he couldn’t just tell his valet what to do "

The comparison here, of the free press of the United Kingdom, to the valet of the Prince of Wales, is incredibly unwise. It shows that Harry believes his family can control the press to a much greater degree than is possible in reality. If Charles had that level of control, much of what's been written about him and his wife would never have made the papers.

Harry seems to have an odd idea of what is reality. Where in the world did he think that the Royal family could control the press. Who put that in his head.

Almost sounds like harry had a Bashir equivalent whispering in his ears.

 

[Denville]

Oh, and there's another bit I wanted to call out very specifically because I think it really shows a level of delusion I hadn't expected.

It is from a moment where Harry is complaining yet again to Prince Charles about his and Meghan's treatment by the press. "Pa said : You must understand , darling boy , the Institution can’t just tell the media what to do ! Again , I yelped with laughter . It was like Pa saying he couldn’t just tell his valet what to do "

The comparison here, of the free press of the United Kingdom, to the valet of the Prince of Wales, is incredibly unwise. It shows that Harry believes his family can control the press to a much greater degree than is possible in reality. If Charles had that level of control, much of what's been written about him and his wife would never have made the papers.

can he really be so stupid? DId he not see the nasty coverage of Camilla by the tabloid press for years and years?

 

[Erin9]

"Spare" memoir by the Duke of Sussex (2023)

I think Diana would have been no better than Charles in disciplining him. There’s a short line in the book when Harry is talking to his therapist, and they discuss how his mother would “over - parent” him for a period of time, followed by a period of absence. It was interesting to me to hear Harry admit even in a throwaway line that he recognizes his mother had faults. And it does bring home that Diana loved the boys dearly, but her own life came first. Charles was the same. I don’t think either of them were capable or interested in the hard, thankless parts of parenting.



I still have some compassion for Harry, in that he’s not someone who had really solid parenting and turned his back on the skills he was taught. He was never taught some pretty fundamental skills to start with, including how to take responsibility for his own actions and how to deal with anger in a productive way. On the other hand, Charles wasn’t the worst parent in the world, and as an adult Harry has so many advantages and resources he could use if he really wanted to pull himself together. And he needs to learn, like a previous poster said, you can’t heal yourself by causing other people pain.

I think in fairness to Diana and Charles- neither one was parented the way most average people are: Boarding schools, Nanny’s, etc. Charles’ parents traveled a lot. In Diana’s case, divorced parents too.

I think Charles was probably more hands on than his parents. I think the same could probably be said for Diana? But they sent the boys to boarding school too. Traveled a lot. etc. There’s only so hands on either could be with those decisions.

That’s my thoughts: I know Charles and Diana were far from perfect. But they certainly loved the boys. Harry had many advantages in order to help him become a productive person.

It’s hard to say though- if he wasn’t taught certain skills- or just refused to listen when anyone tried.

Lashing out though won’t help anything. Too bad he doesn’t understand that. He seems to think he can say anything, and everyone just needs to accept it as “his” truth. And be okay with him saying it publicly at all.

I guess he never learned: treat people how you want to be treated. Harry’s pretty Old Testament it seems.

 

[Kaye1850]

I have finished reading "Spare" and feel ready to share my thoughts. I took copious notes on my Kindle throughout the reading process.

First of all, as many have stated in other reviews, the book is well-crafted. J.R. Moehringer's gift for memoir is apparent. I do not want to state this as fact, but in my opinion, almost any moment in this book where any reflection on Harry's story and its themes and connection to others comes from Moehringer. This does sometimes lead to contradictions. For example, early in the book, Prince Harry makes it clear that he is not a literary person, which is also very widely known. He opens the book with a quote from Faulkner, but not because he'd ever heard of Faulkner- he merely pulled it from "Brainquotes.com" because he liked it. Yet, literary and classical allusions are peppered throughout the book. The owner of the Daily Mail is described as "the impossibly Dickensian-sounding Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere." A bodyguard who has a panic attack next to him in Afghanistan and begins talking about how he knew the deployment was a bad idea is described as "an unappreciated Cassandra" who Harry tells to "stuff a sock in it." At one point, Harry wonders if his newfound attachment to his beard is Freudian "security blanket" or Jungian "Beard as Mask." It stands out because most of the book is so inwardly focused, with very little thought about how others think or feel, and because Harry makes his lack of academic curiosity and accomplishment very plain in several places. I think most of this, as well as musings on how Einstein described light, had to come from Moehringer. “

Thank you, HRHH, for working your way through this and summarizing!
I don’t doubt many of the literary allusions are from his ghost-writer, but MM is also well-educated and capable of adding to the book’s prose.
It would defy belief that she didn’t participate in this project.

 

[Erin9]

I have finished reading "Spare" and feel ready to share my thoughts. I took copious notes on my Kindle throughout the reading process.

First of all, as many have stated in other reviews, the book is well-crafted. J.R. Moehringer's gift for memoir is apparent. I do not want to state this as fact, but in my opinion, almost any moment in this book where any reflection on Harry's story and its themes and connection to others comes from Moehringer. This does sometimes lead to contradictions. For example, early in the book, Prince Harry makes it clear that he is not a literary person, which is also very widely known. He opens the book with a quote from Faulkner, but not because he'd ever heard of Faulkner- he merely pulled it from "Brainquotes.com" because he liked it. Yet, literary and classical allusions are peppered throughout the book. The owner of the Daily Mail is described as "the impossibly Dickensian-sounding Jonathan Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere." A bodyguard who has a panic attack next to him in Afghanistan and begins talking about how he knew the deployment was a bad idea is described as "an unappreciated Cassandra" who Harry tells to "stuff a sock in it." At one point, Harry wonders if his newfound attachment to his beard is Freudian "security blanket" or Jungian "Beard as Mask." It stands out because most of the book is so inwardly focused, with very little thought about how others think or feel, and because Harry makes his lack of academic curiosity and accomplishment very plain in several places. I think most of this, as well as musings on how Einstein described light, had to come from Moehringer.

There's also a section where Harry shares how he felt about William getting married in Westminster Abbey. He was quite uncomfortable with the idea of William getting married in the place where they buried their mother, saying he couldn't help thinking about all the bodies buried in the place. He says "Everything in that building spoke of death . It wasn’t just the memories of Mummy’s funeral . More than three thousand bodies lay beneath us , behind us . They were buried under the pews , wedged into the walls . War heroes and poets , scientists and saints , the cream of the Commonwealth . Isaac Newton , Charles Dickens , Chaucer, plus thirteen kings and eighteen queens , they were all interred there . It was still so hard to think of Mummy in the realm of Death . Mummy , who’d danced with Travolta , who’d quarreled with Elton , who’d dazzled the Reagans — could she really be in the Great Beyond with the spirits of Newton and Chaucer ?" Later, when he visits a Mayan temple. he thinks of it as temple of death, a "Mayan Westminster Abbey." Yet, when the time comes for him to marry Meghan, Westminster Abbey is his first choice of venue and he feels slighted that they are denied it. I found it interesting that the contradiction is there and no real exploration of why. Additionally, the timeline in this section gets incredibly fuzzy. Harry describes frustration at the palace dragging their feet to confirm the details of when and where the wedding will take place. This is not supported by the historical record. Their engagement was announced November 27,2017. The wedding date and venue was announced just 18 days later. This does not seem like an unusual length of time to confirm something this logistically complex.



I found the first two sections more interesting and illuminating than the third, though the press has focused mostly on the gossip contained in the third section.

The first section deals with Harry's childhood and his reaction to Diana's death. It would be hard to read this section without some empathy for the 12 year old Harry, no matter how exasperated one is with 38 year old Harry. He's clearly lost, and he struggles to recognize when adults are trying to help him. For example, the history teacher at Ludgrove who he feels is bullying him for not understanding his family history actually comes off as extremely kind- even giving Harry a present of a ruler full of rulers- a ruler that had every King and Queen from the Norman Conquest all the way to his Granny. This section also contains the very jarring section about the matron who was not sexually arousing, which has been shared here already. It contains an additional note that wasn't unkind but was thoughtless, when it describes a teacher who uses a wheelchair as "confined to a wheelchair" and frames the story primarily around what a pain it was for the students to help him in and out of the classroom. Even if this what he thought as a young boy, one would hope that years of working with disabled veterans had taught him more about disability awareness then he shows here.

The second section deals with his time in the Army. I went into this section believing the media had been a bit unfair to Harry in characterizing the disclosure of his number of kills as a reckless threat to his own and national security. I walked away aligned with the military experts who have spoken out and deemed it unwise. There are a few reasons for this. One, Harry describes a training exercise and how he absorbed it here: "We were a Christian army, fighting a militia sympathetic to Muslims . Our mission : Evade the enemy, escape the forbidding terrain." I think framing anything having to do with that war as a Holy War of Christians v. Muslims was inappropriate, given the religious diversity of the United Kingdom and the fact that this was a very politically insensitive take. Second, he describes an evolution of the Taliban's tactics observed during his second tour. He says "They’d got better at hiding too. They could effortlessly melt into a village, blend into the civilian population, or vaporize into their network of tunnels. They didn’t run away—it was far more diffuse than that, more mystical." Even given his extensive descriptions of how permission to fire was granted, I think this leaves him far too open to accusations that some of those killed were civilians rather than militants. It may not be fair, but that is how it will be used as propaganda. Third, he describes the weapon he handled as something difficult for most people to handle but not him. He is very proud of his abilities here, and likens it to throwing darts at a pub. The follow up sentence describes the carnage by saying "That’s what the flechette was , in fact , a lethal burst of eighty 5 - inch tungsten darts . I remembered in Garmsir hearing about our forces having to pick pieces of Taliban guys out of trees after a direct hit from flechette." I would think that the description here would be easy to use as propaganda- both the part where he compares it to throwing darts, and the ease with which he relates how it ripped apart bodies.

The military section was probably the most engaging, but also left the most questions about Harry's state of mind.

The third section describes his major mental health challenges when he comes out of the military. He makes it clear that he has PTSD, but he also doesn't believe its onset was from his tour of duty. He believes the onset was Diana's death and frequently blames the press for triggering it. I have a lot of sympathy for what he went through here, while I think his outlook is very narrow and actually takes him away from relating to other soldiers as much as he might have. He seems to believe his PTSD experience is separate and unique from theirs and I think it has probably made it harder for him to find community and help.

Then he meets Meghan. It is extremely jarring to go from reading about this man who is an absolute mess one moment to a fully realized individual making clear eyed decisions about his future the next. You walk away believing that he's deified Meghan in ways similar to the ways he deified his mother and wondering if it was good for either of them. Their relationship moved at lighting speed- from instagram messages to text, to a first date, a second date the next night, and the immediate decision that they were in a relationship. You very much get the sense that he was beyond ready to be married and settled down and that when he decided Meghan was THE ONE any doubts were very quickly chased away and any person who cautioned him to go slowly and think through his plans was viewed as hostile to her and therefore to him.

He describes what happened to them within the family as a slow-rolling catastrophe, but the reader will be left wondering if it really was? It was fast, and the primary catalyst for how quickly things moved were the two of them. At one stage, Harry views nearly any bureaucratic delay as a deliberate obstacle to his happiness.

Finally, my biggest impression: if Harry was ever going to tell his story in a way that reflected back on his own actions, this was the chance. It was a book written over a period of years, with the help of an expert writer. It was 400 pages of his story. Yet, there is not a moment in this book where he looks at any of his own actions and says "I shouldn't have done that" or "I could have been kinder/better here" or "Maybe I should have asked my brother what he meant when he said that getting married this soon would be hard on me." He's incredibly angry, but since he can't allow himself to be angry at either Meghan or himself, it is almost all deflected onto his brother.

Thank you so much for this review. I appreciate your insights and analysis.

Almost no self reflection, but plenty of blame to pass around. Interesting memoir.

 

[Prinsara]

I guess he never learned: treat people how you want to be treated. Harry’s pretty Old Testament it seems.

The "Old Testament" is actually "do not do unto others as you wouldn't have done unto yourself", so not even.

 

[teruterubouzu]

Oh, and there's another bit I wanted to call out very specifically because I think it really shows a level of delusion I hadn't expected.

It is from a moment where Harry is complaining yet again to Prince Charles about his and Meghan's treatment by the press. "Pa said : You must understand , darling boy , the Institution can’t just tell the media what to do ! Again , I yelped with laughter . It was like Pa saying he couldn’t just tell his valet what to do "

The comparison here, of the free press of the United Kingdom, to the valet of the Prince of Wales, is incredibly unwise. It shows that Harry believes his family can control the press to a much greater degree than is possible in reality. If Charles had that level of control, much of what's been written about him and his wife would never have made the papers.

Wow! I wish one of his interviewers had asked him about this passage.

 

[Erin9]

Oh, and there's another bit I wanted to call out very specifically because I think it really shows a level of delusion I hadn't expected.

It is from a moment where Harry is complaining yet again to Prince Charles about his and Meghan's treatment by the press. "Pa said : You must understand , darling boy , the Institution can’t just tell the media what to do ! Again , I yelped with laughter . It was like Pa saying he couldn’t just tell his valet what to do "

The comparison here, of the free press of the United Kingdom, to the valet of the Prince of Wales, is incredibly unwise. It shows that Harry believes his family can control the press to a much greater degree than is possible in reality. If Charles had that level of control, much of what's been written about him and his wife would never have made the papers.

That’s an absurd comparison.

But it explains a lot about where Harry is now. His family are all powerful with the media. Not so much.

Indeed- if Charles had so much control- Camilla never would have been dragged through the mud. Neither would Charles for that matter.

This makes no sense.

What’s the saying: you can’t reason with an irrational person? Something like that. Sounds like Harry. What a nightmare he must be to try and talk to. And he doesn’t even see it.

 

[Lilyflo]

I think HRHHermione has produced an excellent summary and review of the book, better than any review I've read in any newspaper or magazine. I also agree with your opinions of it and I like the balanced way you considered it as a whole. Thank you!

 

[bmbutler2]

Why won't anyone say what Harry is doing? it is called lying. He and Meghan can tiptoe around it all they want, but they are liars. Period.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Did this boy really say Henry VI is his grandfather? He had no direct descendants, the best he could be is a great uncle or something.

 

[Alison H]

Thanks for all that info, Hermione. I think Harry's completely delusional if he's comparing the press to a valet, and I'm shocked by the comment about "a Christian Army".

"Curated memory." So if Harry remembers that he was at Eton when the Queen Mother died, then that's correct, even though he was actually away ski-ing. Forgive me for not understanding how this works. What utter rubbish!

 

[SLV]

Thank you Hermione for the summary of the book.

 

[Moran]

Thank you, HRHHermione, for all this info. With Harry's competitive streak, I can see why he was so furious that all their people could only suppress 10% of the unflattering articles about them when in his mind, his father's men in gray could suppress all. It boggles my mind that he never noticed that... they didn't?

What's the deal with the staff and freebies? Although with his memory, I doubt he can be a trusted source on anything resembling the truth and not his truth.

 

[Lady Daly]

Truth is NOT in the eye of the beholder. Truth is not "my truth" and "their truth". There is actual , factual truth. And then there are hallucinations, false memories, and outright lies.

My reference was about Harry's memoir. I hope Harry and Meghan will both move on and seek other money making endeavors that do not include airing the BRF dirty laundry for lack of better wording. Again Harry was very entertaining on the Stephen Colbert show, a better interview than a couple others that I had to turn off.

 

[HRHHermione]

Thank you, HRHHermione, for all this info. With Harry's competitive streak, I can see why he was so furious that all their people could only suppress 10% of the unflattering articles about them when in his mind, his father's men in gray could suppress all. It boggles my mind that he never noticed that... they didn't?

What's the deal with the staff and freebies? Although with his memory, I doubt he can be a trusted source on anything resembling the truth and not his truth.

He claims that Meghan received freebies but shared them with all the staff. He doesn’t see anything wrong with it. Then he says that a PA, presumably Melissa Toubati, was fired because she sought freebies for herself. It doesn’t make a lot of sense and he never meaningfully addresses the bullying allegations. He believes anyone who thinks that is deluded and getting their info from the press.

 

[HRHHermione]

And it’s interesting to note that in the first half, Harry talks about how boring he finds studying royal history and government and how he doesn’t retain any of it.

There’s no connection made between that and how ignorant he was of protocol when it came time for him to be married, but it stood out to me. He also comes off as very incurious about other people’s experiences and perceptions and you don’t get the impression he asked anyone questions.

 

[Mbruno]

I have finished reading "Spare" and feel ready to share my thoughts. I took copious notes on my Kindle throughout the reading process.
[...]

The second section deals with his time in the Army. I went into this section believing the media had been a bit unfair to Harry in characterizing the disclosure of his number of kills as a reckless threat to his own and national security. I walked away aligned with the military experts who have spoken out and deemed it unwise. There are a few reasons for this. One, Harry describes a training exercise and how he absorbed it here: "We were a Christian army, fighting a militia sympathetic to Muslims . Our mission : Evade the enemy, escape the forbidding terrain." I think framing anything having to do with that war as a Holy War of Christians v. Muslims was inappropriate, given the religious diversity of the United Kingdom and the fact that this was a very politically insensitive take. Second, he describes an evolution of the Taliban's tactics observed during his second tour. He says "They’d got better at hiding too. They could effortlessly melt into a village, blend into the civilian population, or vaporize into their network of tunnels. They didn’t run away—it was far more diffuse than that, more mystical." Even given his extensive descriptions of how permission to fire was granted, I think this leaves him far too open to accusations that some of those killed were civilians rather than militants. It may not be fair, but that is how it will be used as propaganda. Third, he describes the weapon he handled as something difficult for most people to handle but not him. He is very proud of his abilities here, and likens it to throwing darts at a pub. The follow up sentence describes the carnage by saying "That’s what the flechette was , in fact , a lethal burst of eighty 5 - inch tungsten darts . I remembered in Garmsir hearing about our forces having to pick pieces of Taliban guys out of trees after a direct hit from flechette." I would think that the description here would be easy to use as propaganda- both the part where he compares it to throwing darts, and the ease with which he relates how it ripped apart bodies.

The military section was probably the most engaging, but also left the most questions about Harry's state of mind.

Thank you for your review. I haven't read the book yet and won't have time to do it this month probably.

By your account, the section on Afghanistan is much worse than the newspaper headlines. I can't believe Harry made the Christian vs. Muslim reference, which is probably what the political leaders in the West have been trying to distance themselves the most from in the past 20 years whenever the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are discussed. Second, why did he have to talk about "our forces having to pick pieces of Taliban guys out of trees after a direct hit from flechette" and compare it to "throwing darts"? Combine those 2 statements with the other one on "chess pieces", and you are basically giving great propaganda talking points to the Taliban, besides putting a target possibly on Harry's own family, or other people in the West (military and civilian alike). It is extremely reckless, and what for? So that we can see how tough Harry is (or was)?

 

[Moran]

Thank you again, our dear reviewer. If I can ask one more question... I saw in twitter that there was a passage Harry was directing or fantasizing of directing a Typhoon over his father's car but eventually... spared him? Was this part of the book or some sick twitter joke? I'm afraid that with him, I can no longer say. The words "eventually spared him" were cringe-inducing, for some reason.

 

[Erin9]

And it’s interesting to note that in the first half, Harry talks about how boring he finds studying royal history and government and how he doesn’t retain any of it.

There’s no connection made between that and how ignorant he was of protocol when it came time for him to be married, but it stood out to me. He also comes off as very incurious about other people’s experiences and perceptions and you don’t get the impression he asked anyone questions.

This explains a lot of the problems right there, including protocol on marriage, probably HIHO, etc. He didn’t care to learn. He just wants what he wants.

 

[royalwatcher96]

I would have never expected Harry to be such a troubled and resentful person, we all knew he struggled with his mum's death and loathed the press, but the extent of his misery is shocking. Goes to show you can never tell what goes on behind closed doors.

 

[HRHHermione]

Thank you again, our dear reviewer. If I can ask one more question... I saw in twitter that there was a passage Harry was directing or fantasizing of directing a Typhoon over his father's car but eventually... spared him? Was this part of the book or some sick twitter joke? I'm afraid that with him, I can no longer say. The words "eventually spared him" were cringe-inducing, for some reason.

It’s there but it’s not a mean thing. It was Harry joking with Charles while doing military training at Sandringham. They chose the location so no one would know what he was training to do.