WORDS: Olivia Williams, Editor FIFTY+SA
Depending on which side of the fence you sit in the battle of the Royals versus new Hollywood Royalty (H and Meg to their friends), your take on Prince Harry’s autobiography Spare might swing one way or the other.
Harry finally takes back ownership of his own story in his polarising memoir, offering up on a silver platter all the dirty details of what happens behind the closed castle doors of the British monarchy. The most poignant pages were absolutely those penned about the incalculable loss of his beloved mother, Princess Diana, which Prince Harry had himself convinced until the age of 23 was all a ruse and that she was rather just in hiding somewhere waiting to reemerge when the time was right.
At times it feels like the controversial memoir is just the next point scored in the ongoing rally of sibling rivalry between Harry and “Willy” (as he refers to Prince William), and one has to wonder if perhaps rather than spilling his trauma in a 400+ page book, Harry could have benefitted from more intense therapy.
Although the tale of a dysfunctional family is not an unfamiliar trope, on this grand a scale it certainly makes for good reading.
RRP $59.99, Penguin
