Spare leaves a nasty taste in the mouth and it's Harry's desperation and envy

6 January 2023, 13:33

What is going through Prince Harry's mind as he sits and watches the sun gradually set over the Pacific Ocean after another picture-perfect day in his Californian mansion?

No doubt he feels he made the right decision to speak out and tell all in his warts-and-all memoir. Perhaps Meghan sits by his side as their children run happily along the beach telling him that everything is ok, he made the right decision and it is all worth it.

But is it?

Today, Harry's position as Britain's most popular royal seems a long time ago. Yes, he had made mistakes but we were all charmed by his easy manner on royal visits and impressed by his bravery serving his country in Afghanistan.

And yes, we were all thrilled when after a couple of false starts it seemed that the nation's favourite royal had finally found his perfect Princess - a Hollywood star.

Thousands descended on Windsor to see the historic moment that British royals came together with Hollywood royalty. Their position at the centre of the country's hearts and the monarchy's future seemed assured.

Now, having moved to America and made the frankly idiotic decision to ‘go public’ about his rift with the Royal Family, Harry was no doubt under enormous pressure — from Netflix, from publishers, from his publicists and agents — to roll out as much poison as possible.

Let's face it a Californian lifestyle is not cheap.

So now, we know that he has taken cocaine, lost his virginity to an older woman in a field behind a pub, and disliked Camilla for turning his old bedroom into a dressing room.

But worse, he ignored Charles' heartfelt plea to make up with William so as not to 'make his final years a misery' and broke a sacred military code by revealing he had killed 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan threatening the safety of himself, his family and servicemen around the world.

He even revealed William had knocked him to the floor during a row about Meghan.

I'm sure there are many who, after reading Spare, will have a measure of sympathy with anyone wanting to hit Harry.

It would have been more decent to keep the story of the fight private, along with so many others about royal goings-on. It has cast him in an appalling light. And whatever he intended, it makes us sympathise not with him, but the Royal Family.

His father, his brother and his late grandmother made almost no comment about the torrent of indiscretions and insults from Meghan and Harry, either before or after the notorious TV interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The stories from the book are designed to make us think less of Prince William, his wife, Catherine, the King and the Queen Consort.

Harry and Meghan bleat about privacy but he has shown himself willing to invade the privacy of other members of his family, in an all-too-apparent attempt to degrade them and burnish his own credentials, is calculated and despicable.

Spare leaves a nasty taste in the mouth — the desperation and envy of Harry