Spare: What Prince Harry’s memoir means for the royals
The critics will slam Prince Harry for the bombshell revelations contained in his new memoir, but some will create a PR nightmare for the Royal Family.
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Amid the flurry of hot takes, mean memes and earnest commentary to emerge about Prince Harry’s memoir Spare late this week, it was the English comedian Kathy Burke who slayed them all.
Referencing the section of the book in which an enraged Prince William threw Harry to the ground during a screaming match over Meghan Markle, breaking a dog bowl in the process, Burke tweeted a picture of William in steely-eyed conversation with a member of the public, with the caption “He f***ing slipped”.
Gold. Absolute certified gold.
The genius of the tweet is the way in which it goes to the heart of the public perception problem the royal family now faces, thanks to Harry’s memoir.
The publicity material for Spare promised it would be a “raw and unflinching” account, delving into Harry’s “experiences, adventures, losses, and life lessons” – all of which might have been dismissed as typical publisher hype. But after the book was mistakenly and briefly put on sale in Spain on Thursday, leading to a worldwide barrage of stories, it’s clear the book has delivered on its promise.
Many had been wondering if Harry had any more “truth bombs” to lob. Surely after the 2020 book Finding Freedom, the 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, and last year’s six-part Netflix docu-series, the arsenal was bare?
Clearly not. They were but the prelude, and focused mainly on the dramas around Megxit. In Spare, Harry has looked at his entire life, and the institution that framed it, and the personalities that dominated it, and put the torch to the entire lot.
He describes his brother William as his “arch-nemesis” and accuses him of resorting to violence, an image that – whatever the truth behind the altercation – may forever live on in perceptions about the future king. He accuses Kate of being overly sensitive, and Charles of being cold and overly formal, even when breaking the news of his mother’s death, and of marrying Camilla despite being begged not to by both his sons. Camilla herself is accused of being a serial leaker who mounted a calculated campaign to get to the crown.
Harry also says William and Kate seemingly gave their imprimatur for his choice of a Nazi uniform for a 2005 fancy-dress party, reportedly “howling” with laughter when he told them. The move justly prompted worldwide condemnation, and Harry’s assertion in Spare that the ridiculousness of the costume “was the point” is unlikely to sway opinions on the matter.
The revelations in Spare will obviously draw out Harry’s haters, that well-oiled chorus of critics who have accused him of being undignified, vengeful, and perpetually played by his Lady Macbeth of a wife. Many readers will agree with those claims.
But Spare may not easily be discounted, even by the critics; by tearing down the curtain that shields the Royal Family, Harry has offered some intriguing insights into how they think and feel.
Perhaps most startling of all, Harry references the claims that his biological father is not Charles at all, but James Hewitt.
While dismissive of the rumours – Harry writes that his mother did not meet the red-headed cavalry officer “until long after I was born”, he does reveal Charles was aware of the rumours, and joked about them. It’s a fascinating insight into a notion Buckingham Palace has always firmly rejected out of hand.
In another surprising and heartbreaking admission, Harry reveals both he and William comforted themselves with thoughts that Diana was actually in hiding after her death in Paris in 1997.
His recollections of the confrontation between William, Kate and Meghan – when Meghan suggested Kate had “baby brain”, was told off by William, and subsequently told the future King “If you don’t mind, keep your finger out of my face,” also offer a tantalising glimpse into the drama behind the facade of the Fab Four.
One can’t help but wonder if the creator of The Crown, Peter Morgan, will consider extending the series beyond this year’s sixth and final season.
While Spare is replete with revelations, the early reports suggest Harry has not spared himself. He reveals he took cocaine at 17, and has done so since, and details his “kill count” as a serving soldier in Afghanistan (25) and how he feels about it (neither satisfied or embarrassed). And he provides way too much information around the circumstances under which he lost his virginity (with an “older woman who liked macho horses” and who “treated me like a young stallion”).
In one of the more surprising admissions of the book, Harry says he also consulted a medium to deal with the grief he still felt over his mother – and he reveals it happened comparatively recently, too, as the medium referenced an incident involving Harry and Meghan’s son Archie (now three and a half) which apparently amused the dead Diana.
The medium, Harry writes, told him Diana had a message for him, which was: “You’re living the life she couldn’t, you’re living the life she wanted for you.”
Some will read that passage as yet more evidence of how far Harry has fallen; his descent into Hollywood new age quackery.
But whatever the view, it’s clear that there is more to come from the rogue royal. The early release of the book in Spain, ahead of its global launch next Tuesday, has ensured a constant stream of stories and revelations, which will be bolstered by two sit-down interviews to air on either side of the Atlantic on Sunday night.
In the UK, Tom Bradby will interview Harry as part of a 90-minute special scheduled for broadcast on ITV at 9pm local time (8am Monday AEDT), while a sit-down with Anderson Cooper for America’s 60 Minutes will screen on CBS at 7pm east coast time (11am Monday AEDT).
Promotional clips for the interviews suggest they could be just as explosive as the memoir.
In the interview with Cooper, the Duke makes the claim that Buckingham Palace not only leaked but actually planted stories “against me and my wife”, while in the Bradby interview, Harry says the royal family have “shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile”.
“I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back,” he adds.
But the passages from Spare that have leaked so far suggest that will never happen, let alone soon.
Last weekend, the UK Sunday Times quoted an unnamed source who had knowledge of the memoir, who warned Spare would be “worse for them than the royal family is expecting”.
“Everything is laid bare. Charles comes out of it better than I had expected, but it’s tough on William, in particular, and even Kate gets a bit of a broadside,” the source was quoted as saying.
“There are these minute details, and a description of the fight between the brothers. I personally can’t see how Harry and William will be able to reconcile after this.”
Australian readers will have to wait a little longer than most to make up their own minds. While electronic versions of the book are expected to be available to Australian readers on Tuesday, it won’t be until local bookstores open on Wednesday that readers will be able to snap up a physical copy.
Coming four months before Charles’s coronation as king, Spare lobs at an incredibly sensitive time for the royal family. The timing is but one way Prince Harry has ensured he has written a sure-fire bestseller.
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Originally published as Spare: What Prince Harry’s memoir means for the royals
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