“Extraordinary” would not be enough to describe some of Prince Harry’s revelations in his newly published memoir, Spare. He pulls no punches and lays bare bitter truths about the inner workings of the Royal Family and his grievances with it. After the book went on sale in Spain ahead of its official publication, excerpts have dominated public discourse in the UK and elsewhere across the world. In the book, Harry writes about losing his mother, his crumbling relationship with his older brother, William, and how his wife, Meghan, and he were treated by the Royal Family. Harry also delves into details of his drug habit, his stint in Afghanistan with the British armed forces, and losing his virginity. Many observers have been critical of Harry’s “stories,” alleging that his book is highly fictionalised to garner attention. However, others have cited his memoir as an example of the “truth” about the Royal Family with all its outward pomp but internal politics and misery. The Indian Express takes a closer look at some of the themes touched upon by 'Spare'. The “spare” to the “heir” A dominant and recurring theme of the book, indeed what lends it its name, is that Harry was always seen and treated as the “spare” to his older brother and Crown Prince, William. Harry writes that he was around 20 when he heard a joke his father, Charles, had made to his mother, Diana, during his birth. “Wonderful. You have given me an heir and a spare. You have done your job,” said Charles before going “off to meet with his girlfriend.” Harry’s sense of always being second fiddle to his older brother comes off in the memoir. He writes that he was “a shadow, a Plan B” and nothing more. In fact, the whole book seems to be his response to a lifetime of being made to feel expendable and unimportant. Assaulted by his older brother Harry’s decaying relationship with his brother William is another major theme, mirroring his deeply held feelings of neglect. One of the most shocking claims of the memoir details an incident between the brothers in 2019. The two were having a loud row over Harry’s then-girlfriend Meghan whom William allegedly called “difficult”, “rude” and “abrasive”. Harry writes that William then grabbed him by the collar, ripped his necklace off, and knocked him to the kitchen floor where he lay dazed, suffering injuries to his back. Harry writes that his brother was taunting him to fight back, like they had done when children, but he refused, asking William to leave instead. Initially, Harry only confided to his therapist about the incident but Meghan found out when she noticed his injuries. “She was terribly sad,” writes Harry. The decision to leave the family Harry’s decision to leave the Royal Family was thus born out of years of trauma that he had endured as well as the treatment his wife, Meghan, received, he says. In the couple’s famous interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan had alleged racist behaviour from unnamed royals who wondered “what colour skin” her then soon-to-be-born child would have. Meghan had described feeling trapped and not wanting to be alive anymore. Scared of seeing history repeat itself (drawing parallels to his late mother), Harry decided to break away from the family. But contrary to his hopes, his father and older brother “did not understand his decision.” Upon meeting them at the funeral of the Duke of Edinburgh, he was greeted with William’s “familiar scowl” and got into a war of words with his brother. Charles told his sons, “Please, boys. Don’t make my final years a misery,” writes Harry. There was no empathy for him or his wife from his own family, he claims. Supposedly, Kate Middleton and William were themselves fans of Meghan’s character in Suits. But when they got to know her as Harry’s partner, their attitude changed. “When all's said and done, Harold, she's an American actress, anything could happen,” his brother is alleged to have said. The trauma of losing his mother, Lady Diana A major influence on Harry’s life and psyche was the death of his mother, Diana, in a car accident. Harry describes his father breaking the news to him while he sat on his bed at Balmoral Castle. He writes that his father, Charles, who at the best of times was not good at “expressing his emotions,” did not hug him at the moment, even though he was thirteen and absolutely devastated. In his book, Harry talks about various ways in which he has tried to get closure from the incident, but unfortunately, failed to do so. Replicating Diana’s last car journey only left Harry “questioning the official cause of her death.” Of the “summary conclusion” that a drunk chauffeur “was the only cause of the accident”, he concludes: “It was simplistic and absurd.” Even if he had been drinking or drunk, “he wouldn’t have had any problem driving through such a short tunnel,” Harry writes According to his memoir, Harry and William wanted a thorough investigation into the matter but were dissuaded by “those who decided”. Harry describes how his sorrow over his mother’s death led him to a woman who “claimed to have powers.” He attempted to speak to his late mother various times through this medium. Dissuading his father from marrying Camilla Just like the loss of their mother was a matter that brought the two siblings together, so was their father’s decision to marry Camilla. Harry writes that he and William begged their father not to marry Camilla. William felt “tremendous guilt” over “the other woman” whom he had “long harboured suspicions about,” writes Harry. However, the two did not ultimately stand in the way of his father and Camilla’s relationship, despite Harry wondering on more occasions than one if the now Queen Consort was like the “wicked stepmother” from fairytales. Drugs and sex The book also includes quite graphic details about how he lost his virginity to an older woman in a field behind a bustling pub. The unnamed woman treated him like a “young stallion,” sending Harry away with a “spank” after the deed was done. Harry also details his experiences with drugs throughout his life. He first dabbled with cocaine when he was 17 and often smoked cannabis “ in the gardens of Kensington Palace and at Eton school.” He also claims to have experimented with psychedelics, both recreationally and as therapeutic devices, to get help “seeing the truth.” Killing 25 Taliban fighters One startling claim in the book was about Harry’s time in Afghanistan as a helicopter pilot for the British forces between 2012-13. Harry claimed to have participated in six missions which led to 25 Taliban fighters killed. “It wasn't a statistic that filled me with pride but nor did it leave me ashamed,” he writes. “When I found myself plunged in the heat and confusion of combat I didn't think of those 25 as people. They were chess pieces removed from the board, Bad people eliminated before they could kill good people.” The Taliban has since lambasted Harry for “killing innocent civilians.” “We checked and found that the days on which Prince Harry is mentioning the killing of 25 mujahedin, we did not have any casualties in Helmand,” Taliban leader Anas Haqqani told Al Jazeera on Friday. “It is clear that civilians and ordinary people were targeted.”
