The much-anticipated memoir of Prince Harry, officially known as the Duke of Sussex, titled Spare (Random House Publishing, 2023), hit the American book market this past week. Its meteoric sales of 1.4 million copies on the first day broke the Guinness record for first-day sales and made it the fastest selling work of nonfiction of all time. In America, it surpassed the first day sales of Barack Obama’s memoir Promised Land, which set a record of 890,000 copies sold on the first day and Michelle Obama’s Becoming, which had first day sales of 725,000.
To further illustrate the public’s interest in the book, when I logged on to the Cuyahoga County Library’s website to reserve a copy, I found that there were more than 700 people ahead of me on the waiting list for the regular edition and another 500 for the large print edition. So I resorted to Amazon, which offered delivery in two days. The kicker was when I went to the library the following day, there were at least 20 copies available to check out.
Having watched the Netflix series The Crown and read tabloid accounts over the decades about Charles and Diana, and Harry’s antics as a sometimes-rebellious royal and his recent interviews and documentary, I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know anything else about a family that I already knew to be totally dysfunctional.
To my surprise, I found the book to be engaging and readable. It is a cathartic tell-all that not only tells the story of Harry’s life, trials and tribulations, but also reveals lots of interesting tidbits about the royal lifestyle and how they function or dysfunction depending on your point of view.
It is obvious that Harry received help in the preparation of this well-structured, nicely paced 400-page psychobiography. He makes a brief reference in the final acknowledgments to J. R. Moehringer. But according to the The New Yorker Magazine, Moehringer was paid a reported $20 million advance for his assistance in drafting, writing and preparation of the book. Moehringer is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter turned memoirist who assisted tennis player Andre Agassi with the publication of his very candid memoir. But with or without help, Harry bares his soul and gives an intimate account of his childhood, his military service, his struggles to re-enter the world of the royals after his return from the military, and his relationship with American-born actress and now wife, Meghan Markle.
It took me a few pages to recognize the significance of the title Spare. Over the history of royal families, it was always important to have an extra prince around in case the first one dies, or as in the case of Edward VIII, decides to ditch the throne for the “woman he loved.” Somewhere in his young life, Harry figured that out. Once the heir apparent, Prince William — always referred to in the book as “Willy” — had his own children, it became apparent to Harry that he was extra baggage, a remote sixth in the line of succession.
The iconic image of the two brothers always together and being close is clearly not the case, according to Harry. He cites numerous examples of mistreatment by his older brother, hints of jealousy and fear by William that he would be upstaged. And then there are the more recent incidences when the two basically came to blows.
No family handles the death of a parent of young children well. But as Harry describes, the royals did a particularly bad job of it. Unable to talk to his older brother or his father about his mother and her death, for years Harry lived under the belief that Diana was not dead, but merely in hiding, waiting for the date she would reenter his life. He would wake up many mornings believing that this would be the day of her return.
King Charles, always referred to as “Pa,” comes across as a cold fish. In every reference by Charles in speaking to Harry he refers to him as “my darling boy.” Queen Elizabeth — “Granny” — comes across as somewhat caring, and William and Kate, as portrayed, are anything but likable. Queen Consort Camilla could easily be cast in the role of the wicked stepmother in Cinderella.
Harry takes the reader through many of the juvenile and immature antics of his teens and twenties, antics that most young men probably experience. But because he’s a prince they made international headlines. He discusses his relationships with various women he dated, most of whom were not able to deal with his high-profile lifestyle.
There were probably too many details about his time in the military, which some in the British military say are overstated. And I really didn’t need to know about the frost bite on his penis when he went to the North Pole.
But the real villain that haunts Harry is the paparazzi — those independent photographers who spend their life chasing celebrities to take their pictures. Harry describes how he has been hunted down, followed by drones, and forced to ride in the trunk of his bodyguard’s car to escape the press. The subliminal message is that the paparazzi, who Harry constantly refers to as the “paps,” have essentially destroyed his ability to function as a normal person. When the royal family announced with no forewarning that they were pulling Harry’s security detail — his only protection for himself and his family from the very enemy that he believes killed his mother — it was the blow that put nail in the coffin of his relationship with his family.
Harry uses the final section of his book to describe his relationship with Meghan and the challenges she faced from the British press and the royal family. There are always several sides to every story, but based on Harry’s analysis and what I’ve read, Meghan has been subjected to undue attacks and simple racism. She had to flee.
To add a Cleveland connection to the story, Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland Markle was born in Cleveland but moved to California as a child.
Based on the sales figures, people around the world are enthralled with Harry’s story. I for one am also. After reading Spare, I found Harry to be a troubled young man with many emotional scars. He tried to mend them with alcohol, drugs and counseling. He is now trying to get his life in order outside of the royal family, in his new life in America with Meghan and their children. I wish him well and hope he tells the rest of the royals to go to hell. I suspect that if you read the book, you will come away with the same opinion.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
2 Responses to “BOOK REVIEW: “The Spare” Bares His Soul by C. Ellen Connally”
Mel Maurer
Thanks for this Ellen. Good insights in “Royal life” with all its pit falls and it effect on Harry as he grew up. Many Americans are interested in the royal family – maybe because they are so different from us. I’ve never seen anything about them that would make me want to be one of them.
Laura Kennelly
Nice review and glad credit was given to J. R. Moehringer. This is one I’ll skip. Most of us could write a “poor little me” book if we had a good ghost writer.