A week before the official release of Prince Harry’s autobiographical book Spare, which took place on January 10, the media published scandalous quotes from him every day. Because the Spanish version came out before the English version, the public could read what the Duke had written about him before it even aired. The news lived up to expectations – it turned out that Prince Harry talked about a fight with his brother Camilla Parker-Bowles, cheating, his father’s callousness, losing his virginity, drug and alcohol addiction, the killing of 25 Taliban (the organization). banned in Russia). Each of these messages is a scandal.
However, on the day of its official publication, the reaction of the critics to the book was very positive: those who have read more than 400 pages of memoirs agree that this is the book of a thin-skinned, vulnerable person. At the age of 12, he suffered a deep psychological trauma due to the death of his mother. And a member of a powerful royal family who can’t find a role in this institution always remains a “spare”, despite the fact that according to Prince Harry the British monarchy has become a zoo and the members of the royal family themselves. They have become tabloid bugs.
The Guardian’s culture columnist Charlotte Higgins, in her review of the book, argues that The Spare is “a blatant attempt by the prince to regain his identity, to claim the right to write his own story.”
Tabloid writes about his followers: “I was a member of the royal family, and to them, a member of the royal family is not a person. Centuries ago, men and women from royal families were viewed as gods. Now they are insects. It’s fun to pluck your wings,” quotes Charlotte Higgins. And she comments, “The gods in Harry’s version aren’t Olympians or kings, they’re paparazzi and reporters – so the circle is closed.”
Charlotte Higgins described Harry’s book as “sympathetic, disturbing, oddly gripping and absurd”.
Financial Times critic Henry Mance admits in his article that he was skeptical about reading The Spare after Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix series, podcasts, and numerous interviews prior to Duke’s release. memories, apparently you already know enough. But “Reserve”, according to the journalist, is the most “tolerant” product of all the above. Largely because it’s beautifully written by ghostwriter JR Moringer – “sensitive and occasionally poignant.”
“Harry seems honest and thoughtful, but also angry, thin-skinned, lost,” writes Henry Mance. The author sees the reason for his childhood nervousness – the death of his mother and the inability of his father to show sympathy (the book contains episodes in which Prince Charles does not hug his youngest son – reports the death of Princess Diana and met her while serving in Afghanistan in 2012). The duke was also nervous about his eternal position as a “spare” – for example, he learned in childhood that he would have to donate organs for his older brother if necessary. Prince Harry calls military service the only way out, but he experienced anxiety and panic attacks on his return.
“Harry talks about how his ambitions are constantly being thwarted by family, the press, or both,” writes the Financial Times columnist.
At the beginning of the next paragraph, she admits: “As I was reading The Spare, I felt nostalgic for the medieval times when Harry could raise an army and go to war against his father and brother instead of defiantly denying his grace.”
According to Henry Mance, the lack of memoirs is due to the plethora of very intimate details (about the loss of virginity, the frozen penis on Prince William’s wedding day), and the publication of the content of private conversations between the Windsors. Another allegation of the author is about Harry’s inconsistency: On the one hand, he accuses his relatives of not trying to correct the misinformation about him in the tabloids, and on the other hand, he does not try because he clearly does not see his family as racist. Markle for rebutting Megan’s relevant statements. Henry Mance concludes his review by concluding that Prince Harry needs a job: “Substitute” asks the question: what happens to a member of the royal family without a role? And perhaps who would not be suitable for the role offered to him? There is no good answer,” concludes Henry Mance.
Everyone agrees that “The Reserve” is first and foremost a book about Prince Harry’s quest for his place in life. The Evening Standard called it “a lifelong quest to find a destiny”, The Times described it as “a 400-page psychotherapy session for the mystical Harry”.
Yasmine Alibai-Brown, a columnist for the British portal INews, described Prince Harry’s book as “the revenge of a rebel who failed to surrender the monarchy”. He believes that all his memories are filled with love for his deceased mother and is driven by the desire to be loved by the family in which he was born.
“They hate him now, and more importantly, from Megan, the woman who won his heart and turned his head. He says the hate is being monetized by the treacherous palace staff and senior family members. Good luck to Harry in your campaign against them, but it will only infuriate and upset them.” There is no doubt that this is her revenge,” Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is sure.