Prince Harry’s book

[Anonymous]

I know there’s a locked thread on this but that didn’t actually discuss the book at all. I thought it was a good read. Insightful. Reflectful. Sad. He’s definitely much brighter than I’d ever given him credit for, regardless of whether a ghost writer pulled it together.

I’m British by the way. I was most surprised by:

1) the fact that the Royal family apparently make so many decisions based on what they think the public expects (like announcing Harry and William were each other’s best men, or that Meghan was in labor when she’d already given birth)
2) that Charles was even more distant as a father than you’d expect (no hugs even when telling his son his mother had died) but also way more intellectual and educated (like Harry he’s been portrayed in the press as dumb)
3) just how obsessed they all are with the media coverage

What did you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know there’s a locked thread on this but that didn’t actually discuss the book at all. I thought it was a good read. Insightful. Reflectful. Sad. He’s definitely much brighter than I’d ever given him credit for, regardless of whether a ghost writer pulled it together.

I’m British by the way. I was most surprised by:

1) the fact that the Royal family apparently make so many decisions based on what they think the public expects (like announcing Harry and William were each other’s best men, or that Meghan was in labor when she’d already given birth)
2) that Charles was even more distant as a father than you’d expect (no hugs even when telling his son his mother had died) but also way more intellectual and educated (like Harry he’s been portrayed in the press as dumb)
3) just how obsessed they all are with the media coverage

What did you think?

Curious about why you read the book, esp given you are British. Are you a supporter of the royals? Ambivalent but curious?

[Anonymous]

This thread will be locked up faster than you can say Harry Meghan William Kate Charles Camilla Crazies!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know there’s a locked thread on this but that didn’t actually discuss the book at all. I thought it was a good read. Insightful. Reflectful. Sad. He’s definitely much brighter than I’d ever given him credit for, regardless of whether a ghost writer pulled it together.

I’m British by the way. I was most surprised by:

1) the fact that the Royal family apparently make so many decisions based on what they think the public expects (like announcing Harry and William were each other’s best men, or that Meghan was in labor when she’d already given birth)
2) that Charles was even more distant as a father than you’d expect (no hugs even when telling his son his mother had died) but also way more intellectual and educated (like Harry he’s been portrayed in the press as dumb)
3) just how obsessed they all are with the media coverage

What did you think?

Curious about why you read the book, esp given you are British. Are you a supporter of the royals? Ambivalent but curious?

Actually I’ve always been against the Royals (let’s abolish the monarchy!), but have moved closer toward ambivalency recently (eh, they are harmless enough and support tourism). I was in the UK when the queen died and the hysteria was over the top. Same when Diana died. But I was curious about what was really going on and felt that it’s actually fairly historic that he’s writing about his experiences. Also, the British tabloids have been horrific over the years (I personally know people impacted by phone hacking) and the tit for tat culture of why things do or don’t get into the tabloids tallys with my experience so I was interested in what he had to say about that and what evidence he had. I’m also interested in the intersection between royalty and government and who is really in power re these things - he only touches on that but it’s fascinating, nonetheless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread will be locked up faster than you can say Harry Meghan William Kate Charles Camilla Crazies!

Well let’s try to talk about the actual book so that the discussion stays reasonable. I don’t think most of the Meghan bashers have actually read it and if they have I’m interested in what they think and whether they changed their minds on anything.

[Anonymous]

I am not a fan of Meghan but after skimming and reading excerpts I did get a smidge of sympathy for her being married to this guy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know there’s a locked thread on this but that didn’t actually discuss the book at all. I thought it was a good read. Insightful. Reflectful. Sad. He’s definitely much brighter than I’d ever given him credit for, regardless of whether a ghost writer pulled it together.

I’m British by the way. I was most surprised by:

1) the fact that the Royal family apparently make so many decisions based on what they think the public expects (like announcing Harry and William were each other’s best men, or that Meghan was in labor when she’d already given birth)
2) that Charles was even more distant as a father than you’d expect (no hugs even when telling his son his mother had died) but also way more intellectual and educated (like Harry he’s been portrayed in the press as dumb)
3) just how obsessed they all are with the media coverage

What did you think?

Curious about why you read the book, esp given you are British. Are you a supporter of the royals? Ambivalent but curious?

Actually I’ve always been against the Royals (let’s abolish the monarchy!), but have moved closer toward ambivalency recently (eh, they are harmless enough and support tourism). I was in the UK when the queen died and the hysteria was over the top. Same when Diana died. But I was curious about what was really going on and felt that it’s actually fairly historic that he’s writing about his experiences. Also, the British tabloids have been horrific over the years (I personally know people impacted by phone hacking) and the tit for tat culture of why things do or don’t get into the tabloids tallys with my experience so I was interested in what he had to say about that and what evidence he had. I’m also interested in the intersection between royalty and government and who is really in power re these things - he only touches on that but it’s fascinating, nonetheless.

OP again. I should add that I felt quite sympathetic toward Harry after reading the book, despite my usual indifferent dislike of the monarchy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not a fan of Meghan but after skimming and reading excerpts I did get a smidge of sympathy for her being married to this guy.

So you read a few selected excerpts in the media? Yeah. Not really going to give you a flavor for the book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not a fan of Meghan but after skimming and reading excerpts I did get a smidge of sympathy for her being married to this guy.

So you read a few selected excerpts in the media? Yeah. Not really going to give you a flavor for the book.

I looked at it for a while at the store too. It seemed boring. And there are tons of excerpts on Tiktok. As I said, it made me a tad sympathetic for Meghan. He is way more of a mess than I thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know there’s a locked thread on this but that didn’t actually discuss the book at all. I thought it was a good read. Insightful. Reflectful. Sad. He’s definitely much brighter than I’d ever given him credit for, regardless of whether a ghost writer pulled it together.

I’m British by the way. I was most surprised by:

1) the fact that the Royal family apparently make so many decisions based on what they think the public expects (like announcing Harry and William were each other’s best men, or that Meghan was in labor when she’d already given birth)
2) that Charles was even more distant as a father than you’d expect (no hugs even when telling his son his mother had died) but also way more intellectual and educated (like Harry he’s been portrayed in the press as dumb)
3) just how obsessed they all are with the media coverage

What did you think?

So you are taking him at his word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not a fan of Meghan but after skimming and reading excerpts I did get a smidge of sympathy for her being married to this guy.

+1. She has her hands full.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know there’s a locked thread on this but that didn’t actually discuss the book at all. I thought it was a good read. Insightful. Reflectful. Sad. He’s definitely much brighter than I’d ever given him credit for, regardless of whether a ghost writer pulled it together.

I’m British by the way. I was most surprised by:

1) the fact that the Royal family apparently make so many decisions based on what they think the public expects (like announcing Harry and William were each other’s best men, or that Meghan was in labor when she’d already given birth)
2) that Charles was even more distant as a father than you’d expect (no hugs even when telling his son his mother had died) but also way more intellectual and educated (like Harry he’s been portrayed in the press as dumb)
3) just how obsessed they all are with the media coverage

What did you think?

So you are taking him at his word.

It’s his interpretation of events, but yeah, it’s not a work of fiction. He’s smarter than I gave him credit for but he’s not that smart to fabricate his entire life!

[Anonymous]

I listened to the audio and loved it.

I have a lot of empathy for his journey. It was easy to listen to and gave you his side of the past 25 years.

[Anonymous]

Video interviews with Harry show him saying multiple times over decades that the press mischaracterized him. In one or two of those, he mentioned wanting to spend more time in Africa. In 2-3 of these interviews, I noticed that William seemed like a jerk. He said, "I'd be lucky to get a birthday card" in reference to Harry and also said to a reporter who asked about William's birthday, "This is probably the first time he's realizing it's my birthday." In that video, William takes over the conversation and turns the attention to himself. Obviously, William didn't think highly of Harry and wanted to share this in digs during interviews with reporters. I saw the same behavior with William in the "engagement to Kate" interview. He takes over.

Harry doesn't attack William. Instead, you see Harry back down and become quiet and withdrawn while William takes over the conversation.

I've not yet read the whole book yet read in The New Yorker that the ghostwriter used a lot of Shakespeare-like phrasing, and some of the descriptions are poetic and stunning.

I'm not surprised Charles is smart. He learned to speak Welsh, I think, and has long had an interest in the environment (or so his PR wants us to believe). He seems damaged to me, letting various people run his life, pick Diana out for him, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know there’s a locked thread on this but that didn’t actually discuss the book at all. I thought it was a good read. Insightful. Reflectful. Sad. He’s definitely much brighter than I’d ever given him credit for, regardless of whether a ghost writer pulled it together.

I’m British by the way. I was most surprised by:

1) the fact that the Royal family apparently make so many decisions based on what they think the public expects (like announcing Harry and William were each other’s best men, or that Meghan was in labor when she’d already given birth)
2) that Charles was even more distant as a father than you’d expect (no hugs even when telling his son his mother had died) but also way more intellectual and educated (like Harry he’s been portrayed in the press as dumb)
3) just how obsessed they all are with the media coverage

What did you think?

Curious about why you read the book, esp given you are British. Are you a supporter of the royals? Ambivalent but curious?

Actually I’ve always been against the Royals (let’s abolish the monarchy!), but have moved closer toward ambivalency recently (eh, they are harmless enough and support tourism). I was in the UK when the queen died and the hysteria was over the top. Same when Diana died. But I was curious about what was really going on and felt that it’s actually fairly historic that he’s writing about his experiences. Also, the British tabloids have been horrific over the years (I personally know people impacted by phone hacking) and the tit for tat culture of why things do or don’t get into the tabloids tallys with my experience so I was interested in what he had to say about that and what evidence he had. I’m also interested in the intersection between royalty and government and who is really in power re these things - he only touches on that but it’s fascinating, nonetheless.

I'm the PP who asked. I'm Australian and generally feel pretty ambivalent about them too. Really not that interested in them and would prefer to be a republic. But there are plenty of pressing issues that need to be addressed in Australia and becoming a republic is something that should can be parked on the backburner. It'll happen in time. To me, the royal family should be seen but not heard. They can open bridges and cultural centres and what have you but I'm not interested in what they have to say. So, I guess I won't read the book as I am just not interested. I also feel sorry that one day Harry will be on his own and probably has gone too far to heal the rift with his family. Sad.