Spare

[Lanolin]

Well my library copy of Spare arrived and have just finished reading it.

Thoughts..Harry needed to grieve his mother but he didnt really get to. He was British, and they dont cry. They keep calm and carry on.

Actually Harry didnt keep too calm, he drank and smoked trying to forget, went to the army to be away from the paps. The army refused to take him on a frontline role. This part of the book was boring for me. Im not interested in what he got up to in the army.

Then he met Meghan and married. He didnt really prepare her for the press intrusion of her life. The paps were mean. Then they left the royal family to live in the US. I dont know what the big deal is its all quite understandable and not really any need to write a 400 page book on it.

Harrys gaffes etc well his excuse is he was stoned and wasnt thinking. Ok. Also his dads advice, dont pay any attention to the paps and press fell on deaf ears. They tried to counter every fake story and sue the press, while simultaneously making their own press. Its terribly confusing for any outsider, I mean whats this all about. its not as if his dad, and William werent humilated too, sometimes with their own behaviours reflected badly on them.

I think he shouldnt have cared so much about what people/press said of him or Meghan and grown. a thicker skin and opted for a private life, had a wedding in Botswana and given his brother a bit of space. obviously they royals have their own gossip columnists and theres nothing really stopping their staff from talking, just as in hollywood the hairdressers know everything and speculating about what they are privy to or overhear.

the whole thing is actually kind of boring. So what if Charlottes dress required another fitting or Meghan borrowed Kates lip gloss, or they had no easter gifts. It is just so NOT important in the real scheme of things. Even if Harry attended a strip poker and dressed as a nazi, who really cared, and if he was too stoned to register just why that was not a good idea then he only had himself to blame for being a bit clueless and immature.

 

[AcceptedintheBeloved]

Sorry, I am not in to tabloid content or pop culture.

I had a cousin who was a 33 Degree Free Mason, Scottish Rite I believe.

 

[Lanolin]

Theres no mention of any freemasonry in the book. The only thing is Harry went to a lot of 'clubs' whether they were nightclubs or old boys clubs is not mentioned. He went to Eton, so not sure if freemasonry is rife there.

The army part of the book is rather boring, all about bootcamps and learning how to kill. steal and destroy people. Harry wasnt book smart at all and refused to learn any history, even of his own family. In that respect he was kind of like Diana. She preferred to read romance novels to history books. He didnt go on to university, but he didnt spectacularly fail to achieve any o levels like his mother did. Its not even mentioned if he passed them or not.

His brother William did go on to university and read history, where he met Kate.

Harry met Meghan online at first, through instagram. He saw her picture and liked it. Typical prince, picked her out of the crowd for her looks and not substance. She is much more accomplished than he is though and definitely done a lot more with her life. He didnt prepare her for royal life or help her learn ancient protocol or anything but seemed to blamed his brother and wife for not doing so. They had children and were busy with royal duties so what did he expect? I think in that respect he was rather self serving and didnt think about what effect it would have on his wife, just assumed she was willing to drop everything, give up her job, friends and family to be with him. After all she married him right? it was supposed to be happy ever after

well no Harry this stuff takes work, and he didnt seem to realise he needs to play HIS part.

 

[Lanolin]

there is an etonian lodge which is run by freemasons

I am not sure if every boy that goes to Eton goes on to become a freemason. Harry did seem to frequent a lot of clubs during his teens and twenties. He even made his own club, club H in the basement of one of his palaces.

It seems every British prime minister went to Eton though. It struck me how out of touch Harry is with the British public and people in general though. His circle of friends while at Eton would have been very small, a select group of male elites. He would have been surrounded by bodyguards as servants all his life. His gap year was just a year on a farm in Australia, being a jackaroo, through friends of his parents, and his vacations in Africa would have been on safaris run by rich big game hunters. Not sure if being in the army, he would have been surrounded by men of similar status and got into positions because of his position after all the army is all about serving the crown anyway and doing whatver it takes (killing, destorying, capturing) to keep the enemy at bay...the enemy being dehumanised to such an extent it was just anyone who wasnt british. For Harry, it was more like playing a mindless video game. 23 kills!

 

[Lanolin]

The hypocrisy is that his mother walked through landmines trying to stop them but here he is joining the army and dropping bombs on people from above...as if thats any better.

 

[Lanolin]

The ongoing saga is that...Harry is attending his fathers coronation and wifey is staying at home in the US with the children.

I dont think that is anything extraordinary given that they now live in another continent and travelling with young children in tow isnt easy, but why it is made out like a HUGE deal in the 6oclock news (TV) and papers (headline front page on british tabloids) is beyond me.

I would just think well thats normal.

my church librarian was quite dismissive of Harrys memoir effort. ' He's a royal that comes with responsibilities he shouldnt be airing his dirty linen in public' But the point is hes not royal anymore. And he was never really trained to be royal or expected to be royal. (he is not the heir, and now, not even a co-heir)

In his effort to be seen as ordinary, he actually did a royal thing and publicised it. lol
Since when did royals NOT air their dirty linen in public...they had always been doing it anyway! For centuries. Maybe only on special royal occasions they get all gussied up for the cameras, but even in the Bible all the failings and foibles of the Kings of Judah and Israel are put on full display...!

The point is royals are humans like the rest of us. Just with a lot more servants and riches at their disposal.

 

[2ndTimeIsTheCharm]

I get the feeling he married Megan knowing this union would get him a lot of attention. (Because being a "spare" usually doesn't get one much attention.)

And Megan's just thrilled to be part of a royal family. And then when it was made known to her that she wasn't really welcome to said family, she was like, "Okay, I did nothing wrong to you guys, but if you're going to make me feel miserable for no reason other than because I'm not completely white, then I'm going to humiliate all y'all too!"

❧

 

[Lanolin]

mm I dont know about that, you kind of putting words into her mouth she may not have said.

But actresses are people that put themselves out there for attention for sure. Being an actress is a constant exercise in public humiliation anyway.

Harry to me reminds me of boys who act like class clown...there is always one in every class. lol

 

[Lanolin]

Princess Margaret was very much like that too and she may have used humour as a defence mechanism

Harry mentioned in his memoir that he thought he was Chandler. He was holed up in his royal cottage binge watching netflix and feeling sorry for himself and not going out to the royal pubs and clubs he was used to carousing till dawn.

It made me wonder what other career path Harry could have chosen after school instead of the army. If his mother was still alive she probably would have dissuaded him from it and said he had a promising career as a Shakespeare player instead. He could be Henry V. Then people would pay to see him and throw flowers at him. But he could always say he was playing a part that wasnt himself. Just his ancestors, and he wouldnt really have to act.

After all he likes dressing up in fancy costumes. And he is naturally photogenic and emotionally expressive, while William comes across as wooden. lol

 

[Lanolin]

mY sister, who lives in London (and went and bought the Spare book) said she started but hadnt finished it. I dont think she will. She also said most families dont have their own coronations to attend and I was like what we had one in our own family dont you remember our cat being crowned King. lol

 

[Genipher]

Then he met Meghan and married. He didnt really prepare her for the press intrusion of her life. The paps were mean. Then they left the royal family to live in the US. I dont know what the big deal is its all quite understandable and not really any need to write a 400 page book on it.

They had to write a 400 page book to stay in the limelight.
Narcissists can't stand to be ignored.
Also made them more money, though I doubt they needed it.

 

[Genipher]

mY sister, who lives in London (and went and bought the Spare book) said she started but hadnt finished it. I dont think she will. She also said most families dont have their own coronations to attend and I was like what we had one in our own family dont you remember our cat being crowned King. lol

If she's not going to read it she can always do what this guy did and transform the book into a useful item:

 

[Lanolin]

My take on it is its the royals press team themselves that were planting stories making out there were rivalries between William and Harry which exaerbated a minor problem they already had that could have just been sorted out by a brotherly punch up.

meghan and kates differences would just have been they were from different continents and had their own circle of friends so theres probably not much common ground there even if both werent royal to begin with. You dont get to choose your sister in law.

Diana and Fergie were a bit on an off though there was never any real rivalry, though it was the royals themselves saying to Diana why cant you be more like Fergie... and while Fergie had her own problems, she never did the 'woe is me' thing, I dont think she ever courted publicity like Diana did. The press were actually crueller to her than Diana calling her the 'Duchess of Pork' or frumpy, they never did that to Diana.

Diana was extremly upset that press would take photos of her at the gym working out. But when paps took pics of Fergie sucking someones toes Fergie wasnt about to sue the press for something she actually did. She just had to handle it as part of being royal (she divorced and paps dont really follow her anymore) but she learned NOT to go carousing with toyboys, while Diana actually went on and did it anyway. The press intrusion ruined her relationship with Hasnat Khan which she was able to keep discreet and secret and so her next one with Dodi was just done in full view on his multimilion dollar yachts and the Ritz, by then she didnt care that everyone was looking at her and taking photos, she WANTED them to, it was to make Hasnat jealous she was on the rebound. You can tell because she would pose for cameras while on the yacht and told others 'just watch what I do next'

anyway...I think that kind of media manipulation was not going to work and had tragic consequences. You have to be very careful of what you say and do when you in the public eye and not expect that people will turn a blind eye to you if you put a foot wrong.

 

[Lanolin]

If she's not going to read it she can always do what this guy did and transform the book into a useful item:

she doesnt have a jigsaw machine sorry. I think they all have central heating so dont need fuel for fireplace either. I am not sure what she'll do with it. I just return books to the library after I read them. When I weed books they either get recycled, donated or binned if they are in terrible condition

 

[2ndTimeIsTheCharm]

If she's not going to read it she can always do what this guy did and transform the book into a useful item:

The artisan really is good at their craft!

❧

 

[Lanolin]

The money apparently was donated to charity (or the first hundred thousand quid).
its funny when the royals make royalties from their books. They dont do it to make money obviously. The press or paps woul take pics to make money off them though.

Part of being royal is actually being out in public. It totally relies on publicity to be seen. If nobody ever saw the royals and dont know they existed then what would be the purpose of them lol.

 

[Lanolin]

Harry seems on his press vendetta, go the lawyers in etc.

Its true that tabloids muckrack and gossip and pass it off as news. They are just doing their job of course. In the olden days the royals paid for that kind of publicity, royal court reporters had to come up with so many lines of copy to keep their jobs.

I think if Harry was really keen on providing a real solution to the problem is to redeploy court reporters to a press rehab where they get more money creating Wordle and crossword puzzles instead.

its like telling prostitutes to stop their trade. well you got to provide them with alternatives. They not going to stop if its their only option and the only thing they really know how to do.

 

[ZNP]

Sorry, I am not in to tabloid content or pop culture.

I had a cousin who was a 33 Degree Free Mason, Scottish Rite I believe.

Are you sure he was 33rd degree? I am under the impression you can't get to that level without committing murder and knowingly worshipping Satan. I am also under the impression there are only a couple of people at any time that are 33rd degree.

 

[Lanolin]

Harry confessed in his memoir to killing 23 people

or '23 kills' as he called it in the line of duty. It was like a video game for him

He didnt mention anything about freemasonry in his book but he did say he belonged to several private clubs. Which is what freemasonry is pretty much.

If his grandfather belonged to it, which he did, then he was probably exposed to it through friends or family connections. Dont know about wife Meghan tho, and generally, freemasonry is kept exclusively white and male on the whole.

She wouldnt have known about his activities prior to marrying him though. Its hard to say if she was naive about his life but then shes american and lived a totally different lifestyle.

 

[Lanolin]

I feel sorry for meghan being caught up in this, the smart thing would have been NOT to marry into the royal family if you dont want drama in your life.

While Kate had it bad, anyone else, esp a non Brit would have had it much much worse.

Imagine being in a family that had people that got paid to gossip about you. Thats pretty much what the royal family is. And the gossip had to go out everyday and every week to the public.

ok we have school newsletters and church bulletins, but generally those are not run by gossipers who have nothing better to do. However now we have people that like go puff each other and boast about their accomplisments and put their personal lives on display cos its all about marketing and branding. PR they call it. Oprahs talk show and the View are pretty much like that, and most all womens magazines.