Prince Harry Spare: The revelation of a physical attack by Prince William exposes a huge betrayal

William Shakespeare would have had a field day with the House of Windsor.

Old Will penetrated the depths of British history in his various plays, including the regicide of Macbeth in the 11th century and Richard III, who managed to cede the throne to the Yorkists, but just imagine what he would do with the current crop of princely mischief and mayhem.

On Thursday, Guardian the newspaper managed to get its socks and sandals for something that could not be found in the collective checkbooks of the tabloid press, namely a copy of the upcoming memoirs of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. Spare. (Someone should go and ask the guards at “secured sites around the world” where daily mail previously reported to keep copies of the book “safe” from some tricky questions.)

The headlines are dominated by the revelation that Prince William allegedly attacked Harry in 2019 during an argument at the home of Harry and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at Kensington Palace, Nottingham Cottage.

During an argument, William called the Duchess “difficult”, “rude” and “abrupt”, whom Harry called his brother a “parrot”.[ing of] press narration” about the former Suits star.

Harry writes that his brother then “put on the water, called me by another name, and then came up to me. Everything happened so fast. So very fast. He grabbed me by the collar, tore my necklace and threw me to the floor. I landed on a dog bowl that cracked under my back, the pieces piercing me. I lay there for a while, dazed, then got up and told him to get out.”

Let’s just pause here so I can clarify what should be obvious – violence is never okay. Beating someone is never, never acceptable, and in this situation there is a person who is clearly right and one is at fault. When it comes to violence, there is no gray area.

But based on what we have learned about Spare today, more broadly, it is a story of betrayal worthy of the Bard and his sharpened quills; about a son and brother determined to expose their family in the most egregious way imaginable, while at the same time diligently trying to pose as a dove force of truth and reconciliation.

All families fight, and many families break up (and hopefully come back again), but no one but our restless prince decided to use this pain and bitterness in a $29 million book deal. (A couple of those millions will go to charity.)

Harry’s decision to tell the world about William’s attack on him stands in stark contrast to the line he appears to be peddling in one of two upcoming TV interviews he gave to silence. Sparewith a trailer showing him saying to ITV’s Tom Bradby “I’d like my father back, I’d like my brother back”.

These are very pleasant conciliatory words spoken by a sincere person in a well-ironed shirt, but on Thursday this phrase acquired a truly delusional character.

How can Harry think he’ll ever “get back” his relationship with his family when he’s busy stoking bitterness and sowing such monumental division, all in exchange for a large amount of money, it should be noted. Money?

What’s even more unusual is that it’s not just his father and brother whose secrets he seemingly violated with this book.

According to Guardian: “Whether describing his memories and love for Diana, who died in a car accident in Paris in August 1997, or his similar love for his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died last year, Harry is relentless in his account of extremely personal scenes and conversations.”

Harry has protested for years against the press violating his privacy, and yet now he shows no doubt that his loved ones are allegedly being exposed to the world in exactly the same way?

The Duke may be busy sharing with smug pleasure, but what will his grandmother, the Queen, make of him “mercilessly” telling the world about intimate family discussions? Is it normal that Harry seems to bare private moments, moments that the other person involved would expect to be completely private?

Remember, Harry wrote this book when Queen Elizabeth was alive, and there have been no confirmed reports that the book has been substantially revised since her death in September.

In addition to all this, reading guardians account, I couldn’t help but think, is it him? While the assault claims cast William in a gruesome, aggressive light, it’s unlikely to be some smoking gun that will rock the monarchy or have a significant impact on public opinion.

While the book reportedly deals “extensively” with the miscarriage suffered by the Duchess of Sussex in 2020, “her suicidal thoughts and speculation about racism in royal circles”, the topic has been covered in depth.

While I don’t want to belittle the suffering of Harry or Meghan, let’s be realistic – we’ve had eight hours of TV coverage covering the subject through their 2021 interviews and their six-part Netflix series.

Rather, at this point, it’s only beginning to look like Harry is ready to squeeze every last drop of sympathy out of them and capitalize on the couple’s tumultuous 20 months from their “fairytale” wedding to a Grimm-worthy exit.

And that’s the thing – as of Monday, it will be exactly three years or 36 months since they shockingly passed away from royal life. That’s almost twice the time – those 20 months – that the Sussexes actually registered as a working royal duo.

How many more years are they going to spend mining this very limited period of time for personal and financial gain?

Today, Spare looks less like an exercise in personal catharsis than like a ploy to score points and make money.

So much of the history of Sussex is based not on whether Harry and Meghan were hurt by the royal family (which I think they were, to some extent), but how they chose to respond – turning their experience into a “global event”. as Netflix vigorously advertised its series and annoyedly appeared on screens to list the sins of the royal family.

If Harry truly sincerely wanted his father and brother to “come back”, then why isn’t he currently in a family therapist’s office in north London doing some kind of trust exercise with William (I imagine there’s an eyepatch and a soundtrack Enya). participation) instead of giving interviews 60 minutes?

Also, let’s just appreciate the irony of Harry going on primetime TV to say he wanted to build bridges after that’s exactly what Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle has done himself on numerous occasions.

Spare will be a bestseller (already ranked second on Amazon for pre-orders) and will certainly earn millions and millions of people involved; but at what cost? When will the PR bloodshed stop?

We already have three very long years of The Sad Tale of Harry and Meghan™, how much longer can the couple think that their self-perpetuating, seemingly insatiable sense of victimhood will occupy the same psychological and social space?

According to Guardian, Spare includes details of the “harrowing meeting” that took place at Windsor Castle after Prince Philip’s funeral in 2021 involving Charles, William and Harry. The current king is reported to have, Harry writes, “looked at our flushed faces” before saying, “Please, boys. Don’t make my last years misery.”

Excuse me, Your Majesty. It doesn’t look like this will happen anytime soon.

Daniela Elser is a writer and royal commentator with over 15 years of experience working with a range of leading Australian media outlets.