Of the countless wars that the British Royals have been involved in, it is just possible that the latest, the ‘War of the Windsors’, will emerge as the most significant of them all. At least it seems so at this point in history. It possibly is a function of the times we live in, with instant fame and posts going viral, influencers and clickbait and social media, the works. The internecine wars that have pock-marked the long history of the British Royal family — and haven’t there been countless — are in danger of being upended by the latest, L’affaire HarryMeghan. If the camel’s back were to break after all, then among the last straws to be counted in that would definitely be the bestselling autobiography of Prince Harry: Spare.
There is no surprise that Spare has done well, though it was heralded by a large number of pre-publication leaks, and that much animosity built up against the Sussexes, post their decision to exit the British Royal family. Since then, they have found many avenues to talk about why they have moved on — television interviews, a Netflix series, podcasts, the book. Apart from a natural curiosity about the Royals, often bordering on vile, there’s a reason why the book has done really well — it is eloquent, engaging and entertaining. The audio book, narrated by Harry himself, has also reportedly done well with a different set of audience.
The ‘good’ guy
While Harry and Meghan’s stance and approach have been judged right through, swathes of people calling the entire affair a fandangle, what needs to be judged here primarily is the book itself. As the numbers and the cash registers show, that’s a winner. But is it possible not to scope the protagonist of the book as we soak in its 400 odd pages? Looks like Harry wanted to be judged too — as the good guy.
Britain’s Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Ripple of Hope Award Gala in New York City, U.S. | Photo Credit: REUTERS
That J. R. Moehringer, the prize-winning author who also assisted with Agassi’s memoir Open (incidentally, stunningly similar in the way there is a single face on the cover, with a single word title) was an indication that the offering would be racy, hooking the reader until there are no more pages to turn. He does it again.
The writing itself is well done, with dollops of humour, happy self-deprecation, cliffhangers and subtle digs, but above all, this bildungsroman comes across as Prince Harry opening up to the reader, as if the reader is a confidante, a therapist before whom he stretches out on a couch, revealing long-kept secrets.
Harry is a deeply troubled young man, his outlook and character irrevocably impacted by his mother’s death, the circumstances of it, and the loathsome prying paparazzi. Often, though he claims it does not bother him, the position of a ‘spare’ distanced from the throne by accident of chronology, is a definitive motif in his life. The right of primogeniture favours William the heir, smoothens out things for him, even as it leaves his brother out, though in a privileged cold.
Prince Harry (right) with his brother Prince William at Kensington Palace, London. | Photo Credit: AP
It is also unfathomable that all the learned people around him failed to see that this young man (maybe even his brother), beset with so many challenges, would benefit from some help. All his life, people have thrown shade at him for not being the sharpest or scholarly, and his uninformed errors (the Nazi uniform incident or calling a Pakistani soldier a Paki) have not put him on the right side of the papers. No malevolence there, it is clear, just ignorance.
Petulant unravelling
In the unravelling, churlishness and petulance sometimes unwittingly come through, disappointingly lacking the adult cognisance one might expect of grown men, even Royals. The disbelief that accompanies his reaction to his father and brother being puzzled about what went wrong in the opening chapter, is possibly similar to what the reader feels when he breaks contract but inexplicably expects some benefits to continue.
Members of the British royal family attend the traditional Christmas Day church service, at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, England. | Photo Credit: AP
Harry, in his telling, is always the calm and collected sparrer, feinting daintily with his family — everyone else, his father, brother, sister-in-law, are angry, insensitive, selfish, even violent at various points of time. For the hothead he’s reputed to be, and he confesses he has anger management issues, meekness at these encounters seems out of character.
However, with the Royals though preferring to keep ‘shtum’, the other side of the story is unlikely to be told. Their silence makes things easy for Harry though, in stringing together this tale of the joyless existence he has lived, though how much it will help him cement a rapprochement with this family is seriously doubtful. While the book does delight readers, it is unlikely to do the same for his family.
The irony of privilege
Despite his pronouncements that he is aware of his privilege, most other times, he does take intercontinental flights for granted, meeting with leaders of nations are narrated with a blasé tone, and does make much of doing regular chores like his own shopping, cooking, washing clothes. Unwittingly, his memoir gives him away at unguarded moments, moments he probably thinks don’t count. But everything counts, everything is inescapable in a well-written book, particularly.
Copies of Prince Harry’s new book are displayed at a store in Berlin, Germany. | Photo Credit: AP
With Spare, Harry has redrawn the battle lines in the War of the Windsors, and in this, he employs every anti-monarchy sentiment present; every spoken and unspoken, imagined or real insult; anti-racism anger; hatred for the paparazzi; everything he can throw at it.
Somehow, moments from a different British monarch’s life, albeit fictionalised, flash upon the inward eye. In a scene in the 2017 movie Victoria and Abdul, her son and courtiers, jealous and angry with Abdul’s influence over her, tell the Empress: “He’s using his position for his own gain.” Angered already by their attempts to discredit Abdul, she spits back: “And how is that different from any of you?” Any resemblance to real life characters, of course, is purely coincidental.
Spare; Prince Harry, Penguin Random House, ₹1,599.
ramya.kannan@thehindu.co.in
