A Few Thoughts On My Second Favorite Harry
Prince Harry is getting mixed reviews on his new release of Spare.
Coming off the heels of his Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, released last month in early December, Prince Harry has caused quite a stir with the release of his memoir, Spare, selling more than 1.4 million copies on its first day of publication. Some people love it, and others hate it, or rather, are hating on it.
Despite being named after Elizabeth Taylor, not the Queen, I’ve always been fascinated with the Royal Family. When Prince William and Kate Middleton got married in April 2011, it was the day before my 21st birthday, and I woke up at 5:30 am to watch their wedding while I got ready to head out on the Key West Express for my birthday trip. Despite my early rising for their royal nuptials, I was one of the few and the proud who always favored Harry, so I did it again (mind you, super pregnant) in 2018 when he married Meghan. From there, I continued to join with the rest of the world for the infamous 2021 Oprah interview and intentionally held off on watching the Netflix docuseries until I read his memoir.
With that said, he’s gotten some backlash, but despite being a Royal, I can relate to him in some ways. Particularly in our overlap of losing parents at a young age. He often references this magical way of thinking in regard to his mom passing as if she were still alive and coming back one day. I lost my dad when I was 4, one week before my 5th birthday, and for the greater part of my childhood, I often thought the same about him. To be honest, there are even days when I, at 32 years old, will still wonder somewhere in this hidden part of my heart that he will come back to me one day.
I could go on, but here’s the main point I want to drive across to the seven people who probably read this thing. As a Royal, Harry was relinquished to constant, real-time surveillance. He now owns his narrative and image with complete control for probably the first time in his life. The combination of the docuseries and the book initially intended to be released a couple of years ago gives him the agency and space to address and expose everything he experienced so he can close that chapter and move forward.
Harry has made it clear that he didn’t want to see history repeat itself, and with respect to his mother, he is exposing those intricacies that the Royal Family has worked so hard to keep buttoned up in fear of the system self-imploding.