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Prince Harry’s memoir Spare gets critical mauling in the UK

Prince Harry’s memoir Spare gets critical mauling in the UK

The book revealed everything from how Prince William allegedly pushed Harry to the ground in a 2019 row to how he lost his virginity and took drugs.
07 Jan, 2023

Prince Harry’s memoir Spare was on Friday mauled by British media and commentators who called it “vengeful” and “calculated”, as Buckingham Palace kept silent on the widely leaked contents.

Days before the official publication on Tuesday, disclosures from the book dominated the headlines and airwaves after a Spanish-language version of the memoir mistakenly went on sale in Spain.

Revelations such as how heir to the throne Prince William allegedly pushed Harry to the ground in a 2019 row to how he lost his virginity, took drugs and killed 25 Taliban in Afghanistan prompted both condemnation and derision.

Writer A.N. Wilson called the ghostwritten tome — the biggest royal book since Harry’s mother Princess Diana collaborated with Andrew Morton for Diana: Her True Story in 1992 — “calculated and despicable” and a work of “malice”.

‘Idiotic’

“Having made the idiotic decision to ‘go public’ about his rift with the royal family, Harry was no doubt under enormous pressure… to spew out as much poison as possible,” he wrote in the Daily Mail.

“But it has cast him in an appalling light. And whatever he intended, it makes us sympathise not with him, but the Royal Family.”

The book is the latest hostile blast from Harry and his American wife Meghan after they quit royal duties and moved to California in 2020.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are formally known, have since cashed in on their royal connections with several lucrative contracts for tell-all books and programmes.

The Spanish-language version of the book was hurriedly withdrawn from shelves after the blunder on Thursday but not before it had been purchased by media outlets, wrecking the publisher’s strict worldwide embargo.

The Sun tabloid said that while people sympathised with Harry, 38, over the trauma of losing his mother as a child and having to grieve in the public eye, “neither can justify the destructive, vengeful path he has chosen, throwing his own family under a bus for millions of dollars”.

In an editorial, it pointed to “countless discrepancies” in his claims and urged him to listen to friends who have urged him to “stop for his own good”.

Daily Mail columnist Jan Moir called the book the “sour cherry on the rancid cake” of Harry and Meghan’s other assorted programmes and interviews in which they have taken aim at his family.

The Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff said the book had moved beyond issues of “awkward public interest” into the “washing of dirty linen” in public.

The left-leaning newspaper, which has questioned the monarchy’s role in modern Britain, was the first to publish a leaked extract of the book this week in which Harry described his physical altercation with William.

“The details of the brothers’ alleged punch-up in a palace cottage are at once almost ridiculously trivial and heartbreakingly sad,” she wrote.

‘Red mist’

British network ITV and US broadcaster CBS had been given exclusive interviews with Harry to be broadcast on Sunday before Tuesday’s publication.

“I saw this red mist in him,” Harry said in a clip of his chat with ITV, talking about the altercation with William. “He wanted me to hit him back, but I chose not to”

“I want reconciliation, but first there has to be accountability,” he adds.

As the hashtag #ShutUpHarry began trending on Twitter, The Sun quoted sources close to his father King Charles III as saying he had been saddened by the book.

But there was no official palace comment.

William told a reporter the family was “very much not a racist family” while his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II famously said “recollections may vary”.

Comments

M. Saeed Jan 07, 2023 02:31pm
This is the clear demise of the British Royalty!
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Anon Jan 07, 2023 02:43pm
That's because Harry spits the truth.
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Ken Holland Jan 07, 2023 03:43pm
Prince Harry is the IK of England with a dumb IQ equivalent to that of Khan!
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Tanvir Khan Jan 07, 2023 03:46pm
King Chaarlas versus James Hewitt?
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Azzcavazz Jan 07, 2023 03:55pm
William is such a liar. His family pioneered the slave trade, and his grandfather, Phillip was racist very casually. His family have been racist for generations.
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Dr Atam Vetta Jan 07, 2023 06:23pm
British royal family(RF) is dysfunctional. I give just one example. King Charles and his queen were in love when young and wanted to marry. The royal advisors did not allow it because, if I remember correctly, her family was Catholic. They married him to a much younger girl Diana. But Charles hankered after his love and his wife Diana alleged that there were 3 in the marriage. Most people know the devastation caused in RF by "no Love" between Charles & Diana. Later the girl he really loved, divorced her husband (I think they had 3 children) and married Charles. She is now the Queen!
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Soniye Tu Auder Te La Jan 07, 2023 06:39pm
He's a racist killer, who's trying to fix himself by marrying a black woman - who happens to be equally despicable.
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Ahsan Gul Jan 07, 2023 08:02pm
Harry told the truth. Subcontinent Britain slaves must read and understand how British has been and are treating brown skin people. Our Nawaz Shrief a bagger is hiding in England!!
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TZaman Jan 07, 2023 08:45pm
Mentally disturbed and weak ladies should not marry into Royal family. Royalty is not like Hollywood movies. Princess Diana did similar things as Meghan. Harry seems to be totally foolish, selling his royal connection but wants royal respect. Brits should vote to sack both the Sussex from royalty.
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Fastforward Jan 07, 2023 08:48pm
These two are also king and queen - Of victim culture., The lady was a speck in the world before marrying Harry. Now she is a celebrity. Both of them are now money making machines.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Jan 07, 2023 09:59pm
Centuries old British royalty in big trouble.
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M. Emad Jan 07, 2023 10:04pm
One of the best memoirs.
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John Jan 08, 2023 12:21am
He should have shed some light on his Mom's tragic death!
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Johnny Jan 08, 2023 01:09am
No more royal money!
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Fastforward Jan 08, 2023 01:32am
@Dr Atam Vetta But 700 years’ history of the British royalty is the history of Parliamentary democracy in this planet earth, if anyone agrees or not. Recently there was only one recognized queen in this world - Queen Elizabeth . Harry’s wife was only a speck in this world until she married him. Now she is a celebrity- power of Royalty.
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Fastforward Jan 08, 2023 01:36am
@Ken Holland Perfect analogy
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Fastforward Jan 08, 2023 01:42am
@M. Saeed Royalty survived 800 years. Still going strong. . Still there is only one recognized King in this world- Charles . Say “King” to anyone now. Everyone one will visualize only one king even now - Charles
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Fastforward Jan 08, 2023 01:45am
British Royalty will survive another 1000 years. People like to fantasize and rightly so. Supporters and detractors will continue to talk about British Royalty.
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Fastforward Jan 08, 2023 01:52am
@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Not in your life time and not in the life time of generations of people to come.
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Fastforward Jan 08, 2023 01:54am
British Royalty survived 800 years. This memoir is only a “mosquito bite”
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Irfan Baloch Jan 08, 2023 02:15am
Prince Harry is controlled by a narcist and vengeful wife Megan. he has shamed himself and his family that welcomed his wife into the royal family.
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Ahsan Gul Jan 08, 2023 04:04am
@TZaman And your are a psychologist of the royals or a subservient? Which one are you?
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Joe Jan 08, 2023 04:32am
One word describes the royals and the raj....racist!
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Sam2uel Jan 08, 2023 04:45am
Every family has issues that should be open for other, we should not wash dirty laundry in public.
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Fareed N Jan 08, 2023 05:21am
Harry burnt all the bridges - good for him & Mehgan, give up UK 's citizenship, become an American.
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TK Jan 08, 2023 06:35am
I am totally with Harry and Meghan on this one. The day we start taking life advice from the daily mail is the day we are all doomed.
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Zenath Jan 08, 2023 08:19am
Dirty old Harry. British royal family is a joke.
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Chacha Jan 08, 2023 08:19am
The Royal family is no more Royal
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Az_Iz Jan 08, 2023 08:30am
If not for controversies, which make news, most people in the world have very little interest in this monarchy.
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TPA Jan 08, 2023 09:51am
British Royal family is a laughing stock of the world. It is more like Big Brother reality TV show with freak participants.
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