Prince Harry’s book

[Anonymous]

Loved this essay by Harry’s ghost writer. Beautiful insight into how he works as a ghost writer (and why) and also shares some of his own experiences related to working with Harry.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/15/j-r-moehringer-ghostwriter-prince-harry-memoir-spare

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Loved this essay by Harry’s ghost writer. Beautiful insight into how he works as a ghost writer (and why) and also shares some of his own experiences related to working with Harry.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/15/j-r-moehringer-ghostwriter-prince-harry-memoir-spare

Great read. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems fairly obvious that he was regarded as a satellite of Wm & Kate and when he got his own wife he wanted to be center of gravity in his new family, and wanted to level up to a level of respect and adulting that he’d never had. There was resistance but the royals treated the couple amazingly well w jewelry, trips, special engagements, big budgets, and a new house with renovations all to make them feel not less than. But they just could not take being suborn in any way, so the split and have been throwing a look-at-me tantrum ever since.

As demonstrated by Prince Harry's needless trip to London this week to test the waters for the Coronation. He has managed to survive for three days without the Met special protection unit and staying in a hotel. No one has accosted him nor has he caused much of a stir the two days he appeared at the Courts. If they wish to do so, Harry and Meghan should be able to attend the Coronation in the same manner as the Jubilee and the Queen's mother. In and out of the country in a day or two with no special consideration and attention.

he didn't stay in a hotel- he stayed at frogmore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:She is intelligent, educated, has confidence and social skills, active in environmental, social justice and non-profit scenes. Being biracial is a positive as well.

And loved by all...

Especially the people in her duchy.

If she runs for political office, she will have to give up being the duchess of the duchy. And a big fat income from her loyal subjects.

She wants $. She doesn’t need to run for office now and the idea is farcical. All she needs to do is stay married another 4 years in CA and half of everything she and Harry both have is hers. Common property state, as she well knows.

[Anonymous]

Anyone read the spoof version now on Amazon?

It's called SPARE ME!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Loved this essay by Harry’s ghost writer. Beautiful insight into how he works as a ghost writer (and why) and also shares some of his own experiences related to working with Harry.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/15/j-r-moehringer-ghostwriter-prince-harry-memoir-spare

This was great!

I finally got off the hold list for Spare, trying to decide whether to keep reading after chapter 1.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:He is such a whining attention seeker

Funny. no one says that about Diana. She is, instead, a martyr.
Secondly, there's no bad press about the other royals. Not Anne who left her husband, not her kids, and really low key reporting on Andrew with the Epstein case, nothing about Camilla, nothing about Beatrice's husband and his divorce- just passing references. They've been after Meghan like swarms of bees.

The ours used to say that about Diana all the time. And Camilla was roped to pieces for being a horse face marriage wrecker.

For a minute. That's it.

Sounds like you missed most of the 1990s.

I was living in England and the age of Diana in the 1990s. I didn't miss anything. Literally nothing happened to Camilla that has happened to Meghan. Nothing. And you can see there's nothing happening now. Nothing about Andrew. Nothing about Anne's adult kids and their respective spouses, nothing about Phillip who went unscathed for his entire marriage, but everything is piled on Meghan.

Philip certainly didn’t go unscathed - he famously made many gaffes, frequently racist ones. I am British, lived in the UK during the 90s and Camilla was HATED! Zara got a lot of negativity for marrying a rugby player. Anne and her kids for being horsey. Charles for being dumb. Kate was “wait-y Katie”. Chelsy was hounded. Fergie got hate after hate (and don’t forget toe-gate, and Charles “I want to be your tampon”. Meghan is different because of the racism and because it’s now solely on them - perhaps because of a deal or collusion by the Royal press offices . I have no idea why Andrew, a pedophile allegedly has got off so lightly.

You gave the 1 or 15 minute examples of criticism of each of the above, but it was not world wide condemnation for any. Kate is chronicalled as perfect on a daily basis, her family beyond reproach, Fergie still lives with Andrew, she is beloved by Brits. No mention of Anne's son's divorce to speak of other than a day's worth. Phillip's affairs have never been brought to the papers, only alluded to in various documentations. He nearly killed someone driving around a few years before he was too sick. His gaffes were only the butt of jokes. Charles and Camilla are King and Queen now. Andrew is ever present and will return to royal standing. Why wasn't he raked over the coals? That was the information trade off... that Harry implied.
Harry and Meghan-called narcissistic, whiney, attention seeking, ungrateful, unhinged, power seeking, dangerous- for years. One doesn't even need to read the book to understand.

As I actually lived through this in the UK and understand the tabloids, I could give many more examples but there isn’t time. No Fergie is not beloved, far from it. No Phillips gaffes were not only jokes. Yes, things have changed now. They generally get more positive coverage and Megan doesn’t. But you must have been asleep if you missed all the anger and negativity directed at Kate, for example.

Duchess of Pork, Kate’s middle class background. The Brits pay taxes for a family to live in opulence. There are a lot of feelings about that including, from some, hateful resentment. If Harry took the stance of wanting to abolish the monarchy he may get more support than wanting to keep it but improve the experience of the siblings living within it

Again, those were temporary and not all encompassing. There was never hatred toward Kate. A couple of shots about her college modeling outfit, really nothing. The family's aspirations were in some question, she was called " waity Katy"...they didn't even continue in a deep dive about sketchy uncle. Her parents were literally flight crew employees before opening an online store, and got relatively no harraasment. Come on.

They were one off comments, all remediated by the time these folks were solidly in their position. They were and are still going for Meghan's jugular. Reading comprehension is still an issue here, I see. It was nothing like what happened to Meghan- not comparable at all.

Yes. This. One example from the book:
Kate eats avocado while pregnant. Press says: she’s just glowing, must be the avocados. She’s taking such good care of her self.
Meghan is found to eat avocado toast. Press says: doesn’t she know that avocado harvest are ruining the rainforest?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seems fairly obvious that he was regarded as a satellite of Wm & Kate and when he got his own wife he wanted to be center of gravity in his new family, and wanted to level up to a level of respect and adulting that he’d never had. There was resistance but the royals treated the couple amazingly well w jewelry, trips, special engagements, big budgets, and a new house with renovations all to make them feel not less than. But they just could not take being suborn in any way, so the split and have been throwing a look-at-me tantrum ever since.

As demonstrated by Prince Harry's needless trip to London this week to test the waters for the Coronation. He has managed to survive for three days without the Met special protection unit and staying in a hotel. No one has accosted him nor has he caused much of a stir the two days he appeared at the Courts. If they wish to do so, Harry and Meghan should be able to attend the Coronation in the same manner as the Jubilee and the Queen's mother. In and out of the country in a day or two with no special consideration and attention.

he didn't stay in a hotel- he stayed at frogmore.

And it’s much easier to keep one person under the radar. It would be different if they traveled together, let alone with their children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's condescending AF to tell someone you aren't that close with, who is as much a co-worker as anything else, that they have "baby brain". It's not some cutesy American thing women all say to each other. Especially from someone who doesn't even have kids. A friend might say it to another friend, who are both mothers, when one can't decide what to eat for dinner or some other trivial thing. Otherwise, it's rude and inappropriate.

It is reasonable to assume that your relationship with your soon-to-be SIL is on a different level than a coworker. Yet, even with co-workers, it wouldn't be unreasonable, condescending or rude to excuse a lapse by attributing it to baby-brain. Presumabley, there is some friendliness and goodwill between coworkers. What the incident highlighted is how very wrong that assumption was for the family Meghan was joining.

Kate probably thought she was the queen and how dare Meghan tries to be buddy buddy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In some ways royal lives are like never ending day time soap operas, we assume many things and see characters in that light.

True. It is kind of sad that they are never treated like real human beings.

[Anonymous]

I bought this book and thought it would be better.

I mean, Harry is a lot more intelligent than I ever thought he was (!) - but the book is kinda dull.

Guess I haven’t gotten to the good part(s) yet??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Loved this essay by Harry’s ghost writer. Beautiful insight into how he works as a ghost writer (and why) and also shares some of his own experiences related to working with Harry.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/05/15/j-r-moehringer-ghostwriter-prince-harry-memoir-spare

I liked this essay better than the book.

I didn’t end up liking Harry and Meghan more, or sympathizing with them more, from reading the book. I did sympathize with Harry around his mother’s death. That was shocking - the way he was treated and was expected to carry on.

I found the adult Harry frustrating. He kept talking about all these causes and things he wants to do, but seems oblivious to the fact that he only has the platform he does because he’s a freaking prince, and specifically a son of Diana and Charles. He doesn’t seem like an exceptional person at all, really, aside from that. Meghan does not seem all that exceptional either. So while I do empathize to an extent, especially with the racism aimed at Meghan, I was puzzled by their expectations. You want to step down from royal duties while still having the perks and platform accorded to a prince? How does that work?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought this book and thought it would be better.

I mean, Harry is a lot more intelligent than I ever thought he was (!) - but the book is kinda dull.

Guess I haven’t gotten to the good part(s) yet??

I am about halfway through it now, and at points I find it really well written and interesting/juicy - others I find he just comes across as so utterly, preposterously un-self-aware, that I cannot believe it.

[Anonymous]

I know I am late to the party on this one but I am 85% done and my main take away:

1. He complains about how the media portrays him, but it's actually pretty accurate- he is a party boy who makes poor decisions.

2. The royal family is incredibly outdated and uptight. Having to ask your 90 yr old grannie permission on what to wear to your own wedding. I wouldn't last a day in that family. Kate being upset over such small things Meg did is also insanely uptight, but doesn't surprise me as I have never though her anything less than uptight.

3. There should be some sort of rule on the paps chasing down children. Sure once you stay in the royal family and do whatever it is they do then you are inviting in the scrutiny, but kids being chases around simply for being born into the outdated family should be left alone until the age they can choose to be a part of this circus.

4. Leaving the royal family was the best decision they ever made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know I am late to the party on this one but I am 85% done and my main take away:

1. He complains about how the media portrays him, but it's actually pretty accurate- he is a party boy who makes poor decisions.

2. The royal family is incredibly outdated and uptight. Having to ask your 90 yr old grannie permission on what to wear to your own wedding. I wouldn't last a day in that family. Kate being upset over such small things Meg did is also insanely uptight, but doesn't surprise me as I have never though her anything less than uptight.

3. There should be some sort of rule on the paps chasing down children. Sure once you stay in the royal family and do whatever it is they do then you are inviting in the scrutiny, but kids being chases around simply for being born into the outdated family should be left alone until the age they can choose to be a part of this circus.

4. Leaving the royal family was the best decision they ever made.

I'm listening to the audio book and I pretty much agree with all of these points.

His indignation about being teased about the Vegas strip pool incident and then his extended attention to his frostbitten "appendage" was one of many examples of him being sort of clueless, but I found him thoughtful and engaging about his military training and service.

ITA on leaving the Royal family. My main takeaway is that he wishes he had a fundamentally different family, and he always has. It's interesting that his grandmother gets a total pass, but it's clear he's hanging onto the idea of love from his family. His discussion of wanting to marry and have a family was very sincere and surprising in a way. I have my doubts about the longevity of his marriage, but I hope they remain happy and together.