A certain book

So if Harry is all for the more physical, outdoorsy, simple life, why have the past two years in sunny California, - swimming, polo matches etc, - not made him happier, but even more bitter?

Harry did manage to get into Snadhurst which required two A levels.

However there was a suggestion that his Art teacher at Eton had given him rather more help than she sjould have done to enable him to pass A level Art.

www.csis.org/blogs/brexit-bits-bobs-and-blogs/did-russia-influence-brexit

Diana used to joke that she was as thick as planks but she often hid her light under a bushel. She had more musical ability than Charles but didn’t get the chance to show it.

Germanshepherdsmum

It’s pretty obvious that H wouldn’t have got into university on his own merit. I imagine William’s academic success rankles. IIRC Diana had barely an O level to her name and Charles’s academic career wasn’t exactly stellar.

I didn't get any sense that Harry wanted to go to university. I agree with the poster on Mumsnet who said Charles should have gone to Eton and Harry to Gordonstoun.

It’s pretty obvious that H wouldn’t have got into university on his own merit. I imagine William’s academic success rankles. IIRC Diana had barely an O level to her name and Charles’s academic career wasn’t exactly stellar.

I like this tale

Prince Charles was educated at Gordonstoun, Scotland, where he achieved five O-levels (GCSEs) and two A-levels - a B in History and a C in French C. He then went on to Cambridge University where he achieved a 2:2 degree in History. Legend has it his bodyguard who was present at all lectures with the young prince sat the exams too - and got a First

I have always thought that Geography, a BA or a BSc, is good choice of uni degree subject for lots of different careers. Good advice from his girlfriend.

William studied at St Andrews and his girlfriend’s name was Catherine. And I understand he gained a 2:1

William did manage to graduate from St Andres University with a 2.2/

He started doing Art History which was where he met Katharine.

It was not really his thing so he talked to his friends about dropping out.

At the ancient Scottish universities students do three subjects in the first year,

When William talked about giving up, his friend Katharine suggested he should do geography, one of his other subjects which he did well in.

And so, eventually William graduated with a geography degree.

IIRC, Harry was well known for partying and taking drugs at a fairly young age - long before the age at which William met the Middletons. I would certainly agree that William has the greater intellect.

Sad, isn't it?

Thank you Mamie, yes Harry was very close to Tiggy, he is
Godfather to one of her children. Diana was very jealous of Tiggy because the boys really loved her, they spent much time with her, fishing, climbing , shooting. Diana accused Tiggy of
having an abortion from an affair with Charles, she had to apologise.

Joseanne

Interesting assessment.

I guess that is what a lifetime of teaching does for you, doesn't it. 😂😂😂

Interesting assessment.

I don't get the impression it irks him Joseanne. With my teaching hat on I would have him down as very physically active and a visual and kinaesthetic learner. He clearly doesn't read and I don't get the impression he reflects much on other people's emotions and motivations. I may be wrong!

Poor Diana came from what we used to call a "broken home"

Charles's parents did remain married but their style of parenting was somewhat unusual and did not seem to involve the clear expression of unconditional love of a parent for a child.

William may very well have been rescued by the Middleton family who welcomed him many years before he and Katharine became engaged.

Harry fell for a woman who had already had one unsuccessful marriage, but was also at war with most of her biological family.

Somewhere along the line, if you want a marriage to work, especially with the added pressures of being in the public eye, you need to see how a marriage can work.

No-one has so far shown that to Harry and Meghan, so they are on very rocky ground.

Yes he does and very warmly. I thought she was sent for when Disna died, but I don't think he mentions that. Later on she was with him at various times and was obviously important to him. He also talks of a friend, who he says was the only person to talk to him about Diana when he went back to Ludgrove two weeks after she died. The friend was later killed in a car accident and he is distraught about that.

So maybe Mamie, William's ability to cope "better" with their mother's death is yet another thing that irks Harry along with the list of other stuff?

Does Harry speak of Tiggy in his book ?

GSM I think Harry is not as intelligent, not as capable of reflection and a much more vulnerable character (like his mother?). I am not going to point the finger of blame for that, children turn out differently don't they?.
Also I suspect William has been in part rescued by the Middleton family.

Germanshepherdsmum

Thanks Calendargirl. Were you able to form a view as to how William has not continued to be so dramatically affected by his mother’s death? Without wishing to downplay the tragedy of early death, I have long wondered if this is almost an excuse Harry trades on, for want of a better description, to garner sympathy. Is he still so genuinely traumatised as he would have us believe?

Reading that I am reminded of the tragic death of Princess Grace of Monaco, and how both her daughters were affected, Princess Caroline less so because she was older in her 20s. I think Stephanie was still at school and never spoke about the effect the trauma that her mother's death had on her until a long while after, and only to say she wasn't at the wheel of the car. She was actually with her mum when she was killed in the horrific accident. Since then the younger sibling has had a troubled personal life but she never trades on her mother's death like Gsm mentions above.

Thanks Calendargirl. Were you able to form a view as to how William has not continued to be so dramatically affected by his mother’s death? Without wishing to downplay the tragedy of early death, I have long wondered if this is almost an excuse Harry trades on, for want of a better description, to garner sympathy. Is he still so genuinely traumatised as he would have us believe?

Very good summary Calendargirl. The thing I took away from it is that nobody should have to live in this way. I have never been a republican, but this made me think that a royal family in the world of social media is unsustainable. It just isn't fair.

Have just finished reading ‘Spare’.

These are just a few of my personal observations.

1) Harry has never got over the tragic death of his mother. Should have had more counselling back then, assuming he didn’t, but 25 years ago, thoughts on such matters were different.

2). William, being the firstborn and second in line to the throne, was always going to be treated differently to Harry. He is also much more academic, and this has rankled with Harry.

3) I didn’t find the lengthy sections about his army life the most interesting part, but think that army life suited him and he seemed good at it.

4) It’s very clear, Harry makes no secret of the fact that in his 20’s, he is desperate to meet someone, get married, have a family. This doesn’t happen with either Chelsy or Cressida.

5) He cannot believe his luck when he gets introduced to a certain Meghan Markle. Besotted is an understatement, and to think she knows nothing about the Royal Family?
Poor, deluded Harry. Meghan had her eye on him from the get go- a wealthy prince of the realm, but troubled and needy, just ripe for the picking.
She could have helped him so much more, I feel. Instead, she has fed on his insecurities, coming across as a mother substitute in many ways, and not helping him move on from the past.

6) The last section of the book is, of course, the downward spiral. I think there are issues from all sides, but we only read Harry’s side of it.

I’m glad I‘ve read the book, but it wasn’t comfortable reading.

Callistemon21

^Not in a typhoon. On the ground FAC^.

Nor directing a real exercise.
On a simulator?

FAC training is simulators, computers if you will. Fighters fly in and practice 'on time, on target' with no munitions, scoring 'hits' on said targets provided by FACs computer. No harm apart from the jets screaming in low level over the countryside, joint training for the Army FAC and the RAF pilot.

"A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat."

Harry explains training for such, jets low over Sandringham, perhaps typhoons out of Coningsby. No munitions. He had to be trained, securely, somewhere. Queen's back garden is, for him, a safe place. Totally plausible.