No pearl clutching here. I just find it a bit bizarre to include a juxtaposition of your junk with your brother’s wedding. But then again I’m not a big biography reader so perhaps these are the kinds of tidbits readers want and expect .
I agree. About the frozen genitals article, the additional context was helpful, but I think it made him kind of look even more dumb because who in their right mind would go to the bathroom out in the open in the arctic unprotected like that? Set up a mini tent or something and do your business in a bucket…SOME sort of protection for your nether regions from the elements.
It made him look like he had zero common sense. But hey, this is a guy who gets help from an ‘energy worker,’ so there ya go.
And the article which provided a larger book excerpt talking about killing the Taliban fighters - that, too, was helpful to read the quote in the larger context of the rest of that section of the book. BUT it made him look even worse, I think, than the smaller quote which was previously leaked to the media because the entire section ended up sounding (in my opinion) like he was justifying it all. Has what he wrote gone through the minds of other soldiers all the way around the world at some time during times of war? I’m sure it has. But he should not have included that in the book. It ended up sounding like “here’s why me killing 25 people was a good thing and I want to tell you all about it.”
If he wants validation from the general public that it was ok, well, he’s never going to get that…he should seek out a better therapist. And probably find one who’s skilled at helping veterans.
Other random thought:
I don’t think a 38 yr old person is really old enough to be writing an autobiography. Maybe when you’re 60 and you have a good extra 20 years’ worth of life experience.
This will go on for awhile, but even the Kardashians realized they needed to sell something along with just appearing at events (and the TV show). The younger ones sell makeup and clothing along with their modeling careers. The mother became an agent and manager, including for the basketball player who earned money - playing basketball.
Harry and Meghan are going to have to do something to earn money after the documentaries and books.
Didn’t they sign a multi-year contract with Netflix to produce more shows (documentaries, movies, series and children’s programming)?
The revelation that really bothers me is the using up the nitrous in the delivery room to get high,
then wife ends up with more pain. I cannot see how that revelation does anything positive for him. Frames him as stupid, immature, selfish, cruel, etc. If he included that story because he still finds it hysterically funny, now in his late 30’s, says it all about him.
So if I understand correctly, during wedding week Kate and Meghan had a disagreement ( Kate had just had a baby, and Meghan was dealing with wedding and family issues) everyone was out of sorts. Kate ends up apologizing and all is well. Yet Harry and Meghan continued to bring up the event after accepting the apologies? Going so far as to share the text messages? Wow. The point of apologizing and accepting is to move on… not continually go back and dredge up the sad event.
I can see why reconciling might be difficult.
On a blogger clip I watched last night, it seems the fight over the bridesmaid’s dress was that Meghan insisted on using her wedding dress designer (Givenchy?) who had no experience with fitting children’s dresses. There was some inference that Meghan and friends were teasing the Charlotte was fat, and her dress was huge. Kate called her designers to have the dress remade with only 3 days before the wedding. Tears everywhere.
To all of us, it seems like a big to-do over nothing. It was taken care of, Meghan and Harry got married, Charlotte was in the wedding wearing the dress (although the hem was crooked).
But what else is a 500 page book going to contain if they leave out these fascinating vignettes about tears before a wedding?
There was another post with two guys reading the most boring two pages in the book. It was really hilarious. What has become clear is that much of it was either ghost written or Harry’s writing was edited so that the facts are no longer correct. The English seem to agree that the story of his first experience with sex had the woman slapping him ‘on the ass’ and that any English person would have said ‘Bottom.’ His finding out about the Queen Mother’s death didn’t take place at Eton but while he was skiing. Little things, but all add up to a truth problem (or to me that he didn’t really write the book).
Totally.
The book was definitely ghost written
I heard that the Sussex’s parted with the ghost writer before publication.
It seems to me that the Sussex’s do this. Ghost writer, PR firm, the person who led their foundation.
There were several inconsistencies mentioned. He said that his aunt gave him an X-Box in 1997, but the X-Box didn’t come out until 2001. Also, he said that his 6th great grandfather was Henry VI. First of all, Henry VI did not have any surviving children. Second, Henry VI died in 1471 which would have been many more than 6th great grandfather if it was true. Did he really think that people would not fact-check everything that was written?
Sounds very poorly edited.
I’m glad I canceled my order.
It continues to sound like a complete hot mess and nothing positive or uplifting. Just toxic.
And yet, I continue to read every post here, and respond!
Maybe he expected the editors to fact check. Or maybe he didn’t really write much of it at all.
I don’t care about things like the X-box as those aren’t hurting any people (and it was probably a play station or some other gaming system; maybe X-box paid for product placement? And I don’t care that he wasn’t enjoying the breaking dawn at Eton when he found out the Queen Mum died. But it does make the memoir looks sloppy and makes it harder to believe his version of other stories.
I do care that in his interviews he’s blaming the rest of the family for not taking him on the place to get to the Queen before she died. He chose to do it all himself and they were scrambling to get to Scotland. Organizing with him was probably the last thing on their minds.
Imagine not remembering the exact right gaming system - age 13, a mere two weeks after your mother dies? And again, the problem with these snippets is there is no context. He continued on to say this is the story he was told - he has some memory issues from that time.
Cuz he does drugs and mushrooms.
I think we can chalk that up to sloppy editing. He likely got a video game console. I don’t remember what brand of gift I received on my 13th birthday, and I’m younger than Harry.
Or because he was grieving the sudden, violent death of his mother.
I think the problem isn’t that Prince Harry misremembered certain details.
It’s that the book had a ghost writer and I presume an editor whose job it is to fact check books. Penguin looks bad for these errors.
Not Prince Harry but the people who’s job it is to fact check the actual facts.
I’m at 98% saturation point, but continue to have random thoughts…like @123Mom123 I just can’t stop myself
Re tidbits taken out of context and misconstrued, especially by the British tabloid press: surely Prince Harry of all people would expect this? Like it or not, we live in a world of snippets and soundbites, and excerpts are chosen for click bait, or at best as a concise summary of a particular point, which may or may not give a misleading impression.
Fair or not, public figures are going to be judged and commented on–and sometimes ridiculed–based on tidbits (especially if they tell the world about their frostbitten penis). If Harry weren’t such a public figure, no one would be paying attention to his book at all. Good for him for making millions out of it, but he will be subject to bad press along with the good.
Presumably he and his PR team prepared for the inevitable, but I do wonder how long he intends to answer every claim. He’s been telling his story for ~two years now, and at some point even his supporters are going to lose interest. I assume he’ll move on to other topics, but as it appears he plans to continue a life in the public eye, he will have to manage that delicate dance with the media; he can’t expect to get only positive coverage. Or who knows, maybe he relishes the idea of a lifetime playing tit-for-tat with the tabloids.
Re the Afghanistan excerpts: nothing after reading the larger context changes my mind that it was foolish and dangerous to state how many he killed, and to liken them to chess pieces. He would have been wiser to stick to his musings about war in general.
Re the book itself: I read several reviews (thoughtful ones, not tabloid vitriol). Saw a variety of interesting opinions, from praising his courage in telling the truth about his family (author apparently accepts Harry’s version as accurate), to agreeing that publicly sharing his story is necessary for healing, to a few with mixed feelings of compassion, cringing, and wondering what he’s ultimately trying to achieve and whether it will be successful.
Re his accusations against his family: the public consensus seems to be that his life has been dominated by the trauma of losing his mother, especially so publicly. Until quite recently he’s been a very troubled and wounded man. Most people have great sympathy for that. It’s intriguing to me how his anguish leads some people to find him more believable, and others, like me, to find it harder to trust his version of things. If one describes the world as seen through a blue lens, how do we judge what was actually blue and what wasn’t?
What the media has published is on the record for all to see. What happened within his family is not. His accusations against his family may all be true, but I for one need more proof than “because he said so”. To quote the Queen, “recollections may vary”.
Re reconciliation: from Harry’s point of view, I question why he would even want to reconcile with his family, if they truly treated him and his wife the way he says. He’d be right to impose conditions on a reconciliation (apologize, change the institution), but in the end he can only change himself. I hope he realizes his book is not going to make things easier. From his family’s point of view, how could they possibly ever trust him again? And would it be worth the risk to even try? What might he publish in his next book?
Re Americans revering the monarchy, this comment puzzled me as I don’t see it. Fascination with individual royals, sure, and I hope H&M are grateful for it, because they wouldn’t be getting megabucks deals here if we weren’t. Fascination with pageantry, sure; nobody does pomp and circumstance like the British. I hope nobody is equating criticism of H&M with revering the monarchy. One needn’t choose sides; it’s quite possible to dislike them both. At any rate, at least the royal family has history as an explanation for their celebrity, which is more than the Kardashians can claim.
And with that, I will simply wish Prince Harry and his family well, and look forward to the end of this news cycle.
I wonder how his own children will judge his actions in the coming years. We may find out on TikTok.