Author: Prince Harry Windsor-Mountbattan
Genre: Memoir
Series: No
Brief Summary:
The book gives a peek behind the curtain of Britain’s royal family, as told through the eyes of King Charles’ youngest son, Harry. The reader is soon shed of romantic fairy-tale notions of what it means to be not only royal, but to have the role of ‘spare’. The growing schism, especially between Harry and his older brother, the King presumptive, William, is laid out in brutal detail.
Here is what Goodreads had to say:
My take on things: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.
I love anything having to do with the Royal Family, and this one did not disappoint. As to be expected, the reader is getting one side of the story (Harry’s, of course), no doubt William’s memoirs would read totally different. The reader (at least this one) finds themselves identifying with the young Royal (Harry), and can’t help but cheering him on and wishing him well with the life he has chosen.
If there is any downside to the book, it is the detailed account of Harry’s military career. I know it was illustrious, but at times the book read like a war journal, and after 3 chapters of military maneuvers, I found myself skipping huge chunks of pages. Other than that, if you consider yourself a proud Anglophile (like me!), than I would strongly recommend you give this one a shot.
