Author: Prince Harry
Ghostwriter: J. R. Moehringer
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 518
Read On: iPad
How Long it Took Me To Read: 8 hours or so, I read this in a day.
Review: I want to start this off by saying clearly that I am not a fan of Harry and Meghan. Not at all. I am also no Royal fan. Them and their shenanigans make no difference to my life. Yet for the last five or so years all of this noise about H and M and their mistreatment at the hands of the Windsors and of course the very problematic and cruel media and tabloids is something I couldn't tune out. Especially since 2020 and the infamous split in the Royal family, every single statement and conversation made by these two has somehow made it's way to me and I am sure a lot of others who weren't even seeking this info out.
It's like the damn Kardashians, I don't follow any of them, yet through IG I often know what they're up to.
This whole Royal scandal is something in the same vein. Whether you want to or not, you know about them and everything they're doing and saying.
So why did I read this, if I don't particularly like the man at the heart of it all?
Because I want to see him, or hope to see him speak his truth. "Break his silence" something he's been doing so often it's lost it's meaning altogether. Plus, I am a big on gossip, it's a guilty pleasure I do not feel bad about. If dude is spilling his guts...I want to read it.
But before I started reading this tell-all, I did remind myself to keep an open mind. To give this a chance. To not roll my eyes. To maybe keep my preconceived notions aside. To hear him out and maybe see things from his perspective. I also think his feeling, his lifelong feeling of being less than or less important than his elder brother, the Heir is a feeling I wouldn't wish on anyone. Yet, I think so many siblings the world over, Royal or not, grapple with something similar. One child is the golden child, the other pales in comparison. One child given preferential treatment, the other ignored or rebuffed. In India, we know of boys and girls in the same family being treated differently, we know of bright/high achieving kids being treated better than their siblings who are slightly less gifted. So, this happens. Not in this scale maybe but it happens. So, I wanted to read and maybe cut him some slack and see this very privileged world from this very unique perspective. So, I read this and here are my thoughts.
Things I Liked:
1. This is a very clever book. Very, very smartly put together and for that they deserve all the snaps. It starts with the death of Lady Diana, the single most pivotal moment in young Harry's life. The moment his world changed. The moment that would alter his life and his future. The loss that effects every single aspect of his life from here on out and also the moment every one of us remembers. The death that every one in the world grieved. It's powerful and the best way to kick off this book. The book is split in three parts. Part One is his childhood and schooling and Eton and life after the death of his mother. Part Two focuses on his decade long stint in the Army. Part Three is the shortest part and this focuses on his marriage, on meeting Meghan and the marriage that exposed him to the harsher shades in the world. The book is more about his life and his lifelong disenchantment with the Royal way of life and how he was treated like the "Spare" from the get go.
2. The writing is quite good. Very good in fact. The ghost writer, J.R. Moehringer has done a great job of painting this vivid picture of this life and his journey. Everything from Balmoral, Buckingham Palace, Eton, Africa and even Afghanistan is brought to life in these pages. The places, the people and how all of it made Harry feel is beautifully brought out. Moerhringer is a Pulitzer prize winner writer and was a good choice to pen this memoir.
3. If you want big reveals and juicy disclosures, this book more than delivers. There is a lot of shocking inside info and a lot of dirty royal laundry aired out.
Brothers fighting.
An absentee father.
An evil stepmother.
Royal protocols.
The press being downright evil.
Palace politics.
Some good old devrani-jethani squabbles.
This book has you covered. If you want the palace dirt, you've got it.
4. I also enjoyed reading about how not-normal the Royal family is. You don't get to hug your Grandma! What!? The stiff, formal relationships between parents and children is just mind boggling to me but it's normal and expected for someone growing up in the institution. Quite fascinating.
Things I Didn't Like:
1. I don't like people, in life and otherwise, who take zero responsibility for their actions. Zilch. Zero. Everything is someone else's fault.
Wore a Nazi uniform to a party, not his fault. Kate and William approved of it and he had no idea how inappropriate and hurtful that imagery is.
Called a fellow soldier a Paki but had no clue that it's a racial slur.
Really?
And these are just two examples of things that Prince Harry off shoulders on others. If he were to be taken at face value nothing he does is ever his fault or his responsibility.
It's kinda very off-putting.
2. This book is an out-and-out lets-shit-on-Prince-William saga. From the very first few pages we see one petty attack after another. Everything from his looks (comments on his balding were just the worst), to his frowning, his temper and his better home...everything was a constant poking at his older brother. In fact, this book felt like a never-ending whining session about an older brother who has always taken up your share of the limelight. Sibling rivalry is one thing, this feels like non-stop pettiness. Not a good look.
3. The second section, the one focusing on his military days takes up a whole chunk of the book. It's the longest portion and frankly not something I enjoyed very much. I am not someone who reads a lot of military books and this whole bit was not for me. At all. I was so beyond bored.
4. Call me crazy but reading about a man, who's born in more privilege and wealth than most of us can even imagine and can only find things to complain about and whine about is a little off-putting. You live in this glorious bubble, travel the world, live in a literal palace and yet there is little to no gratitude for the many blessings you have in life. No appreciation. Just something to complain about and being all woe is me. The poor little rich boy schtick gets old very quickly.
5. The objectives of this entire biography seem to be:
a) Paint himself and Meghan as victims of the Royal family and the nasty tabloid media
b) Paint himself as the victim of his immediate family- absentee, uncaring father, nasty stepmother, a mean brother. Everyone hates poor Haz. Nobody loves him, he ought to go eat worms!
c) Show that Harry has value and that Harry has contributed in a more hands-on and meaningful, if you will, way than his brother ever has to England! Look, he went to Afghanistan! Look, he started a sporting event for differently abled veterans! Look, he goes to Lesotho and works with AIDS patients. So much virtue! So much value!
d) Meghan is a happy and friendly little puppy, who just wants to hug everyone and no one appreciates her! How sad, no?
As you can imagine, none of this one-sided whingeing is likeable or even pleasant. It is consistent with Harry and Meghan's other PR efforts to paint them as saintly, innocent victims, who've been horribly wronged by every single person in the Royal Family! It makes me believe that the opposite, in fact, must be true! It must be true that Meghan is unpleasant, greedy and graspy, Harry has been jealous of William for such a long time that Meghan was just the trigger for him to explode and for all this latent jealousy and hatred to come spewing out on the pages of this book!
Let's not entirely blame Meghan for all of this! She seems to just be the catalyst. A C-grade nobody marries a prince, thinks she can outshine all other Royalty and when that doesn't happen, turns all nasty and petty. But Harry is his own poison. It is obvious that he had a bagful of deep-rooted resentments against his father and brother and this was just the excuse he needed to lash out. Not a nice look all around. Not something anyone should believe because we only have Harry's word on all these slights and hurts.
6. With all this "breaking his silence" nonsense, not once have Harry or Meghan directly addressed the allegations of grossly overspending on Frogmore Cottage or the other cottage where they lived! They were accused of spending over 17 Million Pounds on renovations and furnishings, which they have just glossed over completely! Why this selective transparency? Why not address some of these issues, which Meghan was accused of? Makes you realize that all of it is just a glorified PR exercise to fix their image. Not the truth.
Rating: 3/5
Pick this book up if you are looking for some Royal Family gossip and light reading.
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