Harry spares a thought on rivalry with brother, pain of mum’s death
Projects a desire to be a different kind in ‘The Americanisation of Prince Harry’
From the book’s opening citation of William Faulkner, to Prince Harry’s passionate bond with his wife Meghan, you could almost call the Duke of Sussex’s memoir The Americanisation of Prince Harry.
Bereaved boy, troubled teen, wartime soldier, unhappy royal — many facets of Prince Harry are revealed in his explosive memoir, often in eyebrow-raising detail. Running throughout is Harry’s desire to be a different kind of prince — the kind who talks about his feelings, eats fast food and otherwise doesn’t hide beyond a prim facade.
From accounts of cocaine use to raw family rifts, Spare exposes deeply personal details about Harry and the wider royal family. Even Americans may flinch when he confides that a trip to the North Pole left him with frostbitten genitals that proved most irritating during his brother’s wedding to Kate.
Brotherhood
Harry’s story is dominated by his rivalry with elder brother Prince William and the death of the boys’ mother, Princess Diana, in 1997. Harry, who was 12 at the time, has never forgiven the media for Diana’s death in a car crash while being pursued by photographers.
The loss of his mother haunts the book. Harry also is tormented by his status as royal “spare” behind William, who is heir to the British throne. Harry recounts a long-standing sibling rivalry that worsened after Harry began a relationship with Meghan, the American actor whom he married in 2018.
He says that during an argument in 2019, William called Meghan “difficult” and “rude”, then grabbed him by the collar and knocked him down. Harry suffered cuts and bruises from landing on a dog bowl.
Harry says Charles implored the brothers to make up, saying after the funeral of Prince Philip in 2021: “Please, boys — don’t make my final years a misery.”
Admiration for grandparents
Harry writes with admiration and some affection about Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. He remembers Phillip’s “many passions — carriage driving, barbecuing, shooting, food beer,” and above all how he “embraced life,” as did his mother.
Meanwhile, he acknowledges being intimidated at times by his grandmother, if only because she was the Queen. She is no more helpful than anyone else in containing the media leaks, but she is often seen as sympathetic to his wishes, never more so than when she approved of his marriage of Meghan.
Wild teenage years
The memoir suggests the media’s party-boy image of Harry during his teen and young adult years was well-deserved. Harry says he took cocaine several times starting at age 17, in order to “feel different.” He also acknowledges using cannabis and magic mushrooms — which made him hallucinate that a toilet was talking to him.
Harry offers extensive memories of his decade in the British Army, serving twice in Afghanistan. He says that on his second tour, as an Apache helicopter co-pilot and gunner in 2012-2013, he killed 25 Taliban militants. Harry says he felt neither satisfaction nor shame about his actions.