Intimate And Raw: Here Are 10 Takeaways From Prince Harry's Memoir, Spare

Spare, the titillating memoir by Prince Harry has caused social media waves with people across the world captivated by the revelations in the book. The book got prematurely sold in Spain which has led to a series of excerpts being leaked. The heightened interest in the novella is due to the up close and personal account of Prince Harry’s life in a never-heard-before fashion.

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Here are 10 takeaways from the book:

Prince Harry talks about his mother, Princess Diana’s death

Princess Diana died in a car crash in Paris when Harry was merely 12 years old. His father, Charles, woke him up to the shocking news. In his book, he writes that he does not remember much from that morning, but starkly recalls not crying at all. “Not one tear,” he added.

He also took note of how his father did not hug him. “He was not great at showing emotions under normal circumstances, how could he be expected to show them in such a crisis? But his hand did fall once more on my knee and he said: It’s going to be OK. That was quite a lot for him. Fatherly, hopeful, kind. And so very untrue.”

Prince Harry asks to see the secret police files related to his mother’s car crash

Years later, Harry asks to see the secret police files related to his mother’s car crash. His private secretary obtained the files but removed the most “challenging” ones. Yet, he viewed numerous paparazzi photos of his dying mother.

He writes that the men who followed her never stopped shooting her while she lay between the seats, unconscious or semiconscious. “Not one of them was checking on her, offering her help, not even comforting her. They were just shooting, shooting, shooting,” he adds.

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Prince Harry and William begged Charles to not marry Camilla

Prince Harry and William agreed to welcome Camilla into the family. But they just had one request from Charles to not marry her. “You don’t need to remarry, we pleaded. We support you, we said. We endorse Camilla, we said. Just please don’t marry her,” writes Harry.

Press leaks from his family were commonplace

According to the memoir, sometimes Charles and Camilla approved damaging press leaks about Harry and William. Harry writes that Charles was advised by a spin doctor to cooperate with the tabloids on the story about him consuming drugs to save his own damaged reputation.

Harry includes in his book that In 2019, William was “seething” because Charles and Camilla’s people had planted stories about him, Kate and the kids. Moreover, the report that Harry and Meghan were leaving England and relinquishing their Sussex titles was leaked by the royal palace.

He killed 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan

Harry writes on his tours during the war that he killed 25 Taliban fighters. He thought them to be chess pieces removed from the board as he was trained well to ‘other-ize’ them. “On some level I recognised this learned detachment as problematic. But I also saw it as an unavoidable part of soldiering,” he adds.

Harry suffers from anxiety and panic attacks

In the book, Harry sees his fear of public speaking and big crowds becoming a form of PTSD caused by his mother’s death and military service. He writes that he told his father about his struggles and Charles said that it was his fault for not getting him the help he needed years ago. “I assured him that it was not his fault. But I appreciated his apology,” he notes.

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Charles told Harry there was not enough money to support him and Meghan

When Harry announced his marriage to his father, the conversation did not go as expected as Harry informed him about Meghan leaving her acting job in ‘Suits’ and moving in with him, to which Charles said, “Well, darling boy, you know there’s not enough money to go around.” Charles added that he was already paying for William and Catherine. Harry writes that his Pa was not financially supporting him and Willy out of any largesse. “That was his job,” he added.

About the gilded cage he was trapped in, Harry goes on to write that he had surrendered his autonomy to serve the monarch and the least the keeper of the cage could have done was to feed and clothe them. He also claimed that his father did not care about money, he just could not stomach the fact that someone else would be grabbing the limelight and overshadowing him.

Differences between the two brothers

Harry claimed in his book that his brother William did not want him to be the best man in his wedding as he feared Harry holding a live mic and putting him in a precarious position with his best-man speech.

More than that, the memoir narrates how Prince William picked a verbal fight with Meghan. He described Meghan as “rude”, “difficult” and “abrasive” during their confrontation. However, when the altercation between the brothers arose, William allegedly grabbed Harry by the collar, ripped his necklace, and knocked him to the floor.

In another instance, Prince Harry blamed Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton for his decision to wear the controversial Nazi uniform to a January 2005 costume party. He claimed that his older brother and Kate encouraged him to dress up as a Nazi soldier and called the decision “one of the biggest mistakes” of his life. When the couple saw Prince Harry in the dress, they “howled with laughter”.

Harry blames Rupert Murdoch’s media empire for damaging their sense of reality

In hyperbole, Harry singles out Rupert Murdoch’s media empire to damage their collective sense of reality in the 3,00,000-year history of the species. However, his anger towards the British tabloids was even more damning. He writes, “The paps had always been grotesque people, but as I reached maturity they were worse.” He went on to call them similar to radicalised young men in Iraq and called their editors mullahs, who vowed to do better after his mom died.

The couple felt blindsided during their discussions of the future

Harry and Meghan chose to leave England but hoped to keep some of their royal duties and the security that came with their titles. However, after the meeting titled “the Sandringham Summit” in January 2020, they got to know that they would no longer represent the queen and would only have security for a 12-month-period. Harry writes that he wished that in this dark moment of his life, his mother country and family would have been there for him.

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