'Spare' review: Prince Harry's memoir is entitled, bitter and maybe a tad boring

It is not the bombshell it was hyped to be

The title, as they say, matters. Perhaps much more to those who have it. At the heart of the most hyped celebrity book in recent times―Spare by Prince Harry―is the title of the writer, as well as his identity as being the ‘spare’.

The book has been ghost-written by J.R. Moehringer, the award-winning journalist and author of Andre Agassi’s Open. As though the infamous Oprah interview and the Netflix documentary were not revealing enough, Spare certainly offers Harry enough space to explore his life in depth. And there are plenty of anecdotes from his life. It begins with the car crash that changed history, and the lives of Harry and his brother, Prince William. Harry writes about how his father broke the news. “Darling boy, Mummy’s been in a car crash,” he writes. He poignantly describes the disbelief that followed, about not being able to cry, and about his aunt Sarah bringing back two locks of Diana’s hair for the boys. And about finally breaking down.

For the royal family waiting to see how far Harry will go to hurt them, this book will come as a relief.

It has been most awaited for some time, and reports suggest that 40,000 copies have already been sold. Spare has everything that would make it a success. There is drama―including the rivalry between the siblings, Harry’s therapy sessions and William’s refusal to let Harry keep his beard for his wedding. “When I informed him that his opinion didn’t really matter, since I’d already gone to Granny and got the green light; he became livid,’’ writes Harry. “He raised his voice.... At one point he actually ordered me, as the Heir speaking to the Spare, to shave.” When he confronted him as to why it mattered so much, William turned around and said, “Because I wasn’t allowed to keep my beard.”

Then there is the battle between the sisters-in-law. While a lot of it has already been revealed by Meghan in Oprah’s show, Spare offers a juicy bit. When the two arrived to clear the air after their honeymoon, it seems that there were things that they were not aware of. “Willy and Kate were apparently upset that we hadn’t given them Easter presents,” writes Harry. No one bothered about Easter except their father, but still, Harry apologised.

There was some unease about William and Kate switching the seating plan at Harry’s wedding. And then, there was a phone conversation between Kate and Meghan in which they discussed the timing of the wedding. “Meg said: ‘Oh yes! I remember: You couldn’t remember something, and I said it’s not a big deal, it’s baby brain. Because you’d just had a baby. It’s hormones’,” writes Harry. “To which, Kate shot back, ‘Yes, you talked about my hormones. We’re not close enough for you to talk about my hormones’.” The incident may sound trivial and in hindsight, possibly funny, but in the landscape of the book, where Harry is determined to be the victim, it offers a glimpse into how trapped he felt in his family.

For the royal family waiting with bated breath to see how far Harry will go to hurt them―and whether they would be able to survive the blow―the book will come as a relief. It talks a lot about feelings―a topic that is not much favoured by the monarchy. Is it a bombshell? No. Instead, it is entitled (pun intended), bitter, and maybe a tad boring.

Spare

By Prince Harry

Published by Penguin Random House UK

Price Rs1,599; Pages 407

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