‘Spare’ by Prince Harry

LondonMzFitz

This Forum has so many threads about H, about H&M, about W&K etc. I'm personally very interested to hear the opinions of one of the parties involved. Harry - from what I've seen, read, observed - has a deep dislike of journalists, the "gutter press". Why not tell his own story, from his perspective, and - now he's decided to no longer live in the UK and take money from the UK purse - get paid for it. He's already made two Charitable donations on the back of this book, £1.3M and £300,000. So what if those closest to the story don't like it - King Charles "threatening" to take away titles from his Grandchildren - how petty, how distasteful. Trying to control his son and his son's actions gives credence to Harry's wishes to distance himself from this toxic behaviour.

So many people have written books about Royals, including that dreadful Lady Colin Campbell, "Harry and Meghan, The Real Story" currently on sale at Amazon for £19!, coining in on the public interest; I don't have a problem in the least of one of the Royals putting pen to paper.

I’ll just post it again. It is not in Charles power or any monarch come to that to strip anyone of their peerage or “princely titles”.
Deprivation of Titles Act 1917.

A Comitte has to be convened to recommend ant stripping of titles to both Houses of Parliament and it can only then happen if both Houses raise no objections.

Any media that suggests that the King can do this is just totally wrong and trying to raise some kind of indignation or whatever.

It’s simply not true because he can’t do it!

Harry has had to sing for his supper. If rumours are to be believed, he tried to get parts of his book toned down before publication following the Queen’s death. The publishers were having none of it. They know what sells.

I try to find some sympathy for Harry but it’s Charles, Camilla and William I feel sorry for. I can’t imagine how it must feel to know that in a couple of months a book will come out detailing the kind of family conflicts that are normally kept private and not plastered across tabloid front pages in order to earn a close family member the millions he needs to sustain a lifestyle he once had for free.

I doubt he ever did put pen to paper, he is not Rees-Mogg.
He will have dictated it I am guessing or simply allowed a ghost writer in.

Joseanne

ParlorGames

Second child syndrome springs to mind.

Princess Anne didn't bleat on and on.
Many studies suggest a 2nd child can often be more successful and well adjusted than the first.

Second children are often rebellious, that does not mean they are not successful but they do need to be constructive in their life path.

So it will not feature in your Christmas stockings then?

This Forum has so many threads about H, about H&M, about W&K etc. I'm personally very interested to hear the opinions of one of the parties involved. Harry - from what I've seen, read, observed - has a deep dislike of journalists, the "gutter press". Why not tell his own story, from his perspective, and - now he's decided to no longer live in the UK and take money from the UK purse - get paid for it. He's already made two Charitable donations on the back of this book, £1.3M and £300,000. So what if those closest to the story don't like it - King Charles "threatening" to take away titles from his Grandchildren - how petty, how distasteful. Trying to control his son and his son's actions gives credence to Harry's wishes to distance himself from this toxic behaviour.

So many people have written books about Royals, including that dreadful Lady Colin Campbell, "Harry and Meghan, The Real Story" currently on sale at Amazon for £19!, coining in on the public interest; I don't have a problem in the least of one of the Royals putting pen to paper.

25Avalon

Spare us! Snippets will be all over the tabloids so there will be no need to buy the book anyway.

?

Bet he's regretting it already.

He has a perfect right to tell his story.
He does indeed, but what does he really want to achieve I wonder? Sympathy or revenge? If it brings him peace then fine, but I really can't see that happening. I'm not sure he actually wants closure on this.

Spare us! Snippets will be all over the tabloids so there will be no need to buy the book anyway.

Let's be clear. Princess Anne was the second child of a couple who married for love (at least on her mother's part). Harry was the second child of a couple who were totally unsuitable and whose mother was just there to ensure the succession. He was born purely because of that, so Spare is absolutely appropriate. It may not be a pleasant idea but it is how things were.
He has a perfect right to tell his story.

Charleygirl5

Harry will definitely regret this petty outburst because Charles has threatened to remove their titles and I doubt if they would like to become commoners like us, plain Mr and Mrs.

Think you’ve got it a bit wrong there. The monarch can’t remove a peerage title ie Duke and Duchess so he couldn’t have threatened that.

That can only be done by invoking a past Act Of Parliament. It’s called something like The Peerage and Deprivation Act.

Smileless2012

^But that doesn't mean he shouldn't try^ I agree Dickens just wish he'd do so in private; but then he wouldn't get paid would he.

Indeed. It’s all about the money.

It was the media that called them "the heir and the spare" not their parents. as far as I could see, He wasn't made to feel second best or inferior. He was one of two children, and always seemed to be treated the same as his brother. When he was older, he did a job he loved, flying helicopters, and he married the woman he chose. If she found she was a square peg in a round hole, then so are many wives when they come into close contact with their husband's families. The vast majority manage to rub along together and the couples don't go on to make a career about of dissing their inlaws.

Not quite the same is it? His mother referred to him as the spare and yet he never has a bad word to say about her. Quite the opposite.

paddyann54

You never know he may have things to say that will make folk take off their rose tinted specs about the RF .
The Spare is a particularly cruel nickname to give any child and I'm sure it has stuck with him.
I'm not a royalist ,no surprise ,but that nickname shows just how inhumane these people are .NO child should ever be second best or made to feel inferior .

It's not just a royal saying.

His mother was part of the royal family.

Did the royal family call him the spare or was it his mother?

You never know he may have things to say that will make folk take off their rose tinted specs about the RF .
The Spare is a particularly cruel nickname to give any child and I'm sure it has stuck with him.
I'm not a royalist ,no surprise ,but that nickname shows just how inhumane these people are .NO child should ever be second best or made to feel inferior .

I agree with all of you who think it’s second child syndrome etc. But apart from bleating on about poor me I think this was about making money. Hope it doesn’t take off although lots of us will be curious to get an inside scoop. Not for me though.

Yes Sparklefizz he should ask for his money back. ?

Dickens

^It’s easy to blame Meghan’s influence but he is the one who had the privileged up bringing and continued support of his father. He should be ashamed of himself.^

There's a little bit of that sentence that jumps out at me. "But he is the one who had the privileged upbringing..."

He did - a privileged and completely and utterly abnormal upbringing. Look at the charade of his parents' marriage; the media's obsession with his mother; the prurient interest in her affairs, in Camilla, not to mention the (mostly tabloid) intrusion into his own life and relationships... the media darling when he was 'Hazza' - Jack-The-Lad, sowing his wild oats. Until he had the temerity to fall in love and want to marry a woman who didn't have the right credentials to fit the defined role of a royal wife, a woman who was never going to subjugate herself to the demands or protocols of royal life.

I'm not surprised he has "unresolved issues". It would take a huge intellect and a degree of self-awareness - which he doesn't have - for him to even begin to understand the nature of his problems which are IMO firmly rooted in the whole now outdated concept of monarchy. Where one family, with all the traits and foibles of ordinary human beings, are elevated to such heights that regardless of their fallibility, a nation collectively reveres them, bows and curtseys to them.

I believe that Harry is a product of his environment, little more than that. Unfortunately, I don't think he has the necessary insight to examine himself objectively. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't try.

Makes sense to me.

I will not buy it - no doubt the media will let me know the selected highlights.

I think the title is quite good though.

But that doesn't mean he shouldn't try I agree Dickens just wish he'd do so in private; but then he wouldn't get paid would he.

It’s easy to blame Meghan’s influence but he is the one who had the privileged up bringing and continued support of his father. He should be ashamed of himself.

There's a little bit of that sentence that jumps out at me. "But he is the one who had the privileged upbringing..."

He did - a privileged and completely and utterly abnormal upbringing. Look at the charade of his parents' marriage; the media's obsession with his mother; the prurient interest in her affairs, in Camilla, not to mention the (mostly tabloid) intrusion into his own life and relationships... the media darling when he was 'Hazza' - Jack-The-Lad, sowing his wild oats. Until he had the temerity to fall in love and want to marry a woman who didn't have the right credentials to fit the defined role of a royal wife, a woman who was never going to subjugate herself to the demands or protocols of royal life.

I'm not surprised he has "unresolved issues". It would take a huge intellect and a degree of self-awareness - which he doesn't have - for him to even begin to understand the nature of his problems which are IMO firmly rooted in the whole now outdated concept of monarchy. Where one family, with all the traits and foibles of ordinary human beings, are elevated to such heights that regardless of their fallibility, a nation collectively reveres them, bows and curtseys to them.

I believe that Harry is a product of his environment, little more than that. Unfortunately, I don't think he has the necessary insight to examine himself objectively. But that doesn't mean he shouldn't try.