“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” So said Leo Tolstoy in the opening sentence of Anna Karenina, that Russian tragedy and tale of woe.
That sentence resonated with me recently as I perused the news feed on my phone and was yet again confronted by the antics of the royal family, specifically the Prince Harry bombshells unleashed in his ghost-written book Spare and the associated television interviews.
He is obviously an unhappy man and unhappy with his birth family. It’s sad that he took his dirty linen to the airing cupboard of mainstream media.
I confess I did not watch any of those angst-ridden accounts nor have I read his book or even snippets of it. I saw second-hand accounts in my news feed, a poor way really of ascertaining the truth, yet I am not searching for the truth. I am just gobsmacked at how ordinary some of his claims seemed to be.
Read: Prince Harry – victim of the ‘heir and a spare’ rite?
It appears he had a recent fight with his brother. So what? Sibling rivalry and antagonisms run in most families and certainly men tend to use physical force to convey their anger or frustration.
It didn’t appear to have been an all-out brawl, more likely a push-and-shove affair. Why reveal this at all? Is it because he wants to score points against the future king of England? A role, of course, that Harry will never have despite once being the ‘spare’. Or is it just a bid for sympathy and understanding for the young downtrodden prince?
He claims that there were harsh words and inappropriate comments made about his fiancée now wife Meghan. Who has not regretted a slip of the tongue and a poor choice of words, perhaps uttered in anger or under duress?
All of this of course relies on the accuracy of our memories, which any first-year psychology student or policeman will tell you are highly suspect and generally unreliable. Even the late Queen made that point in one of her last speeches.
Harry also says he was angry at his father for marrying his long-time lover Camilla.
To me, that is not news at all. I would expect that he and William would have difficulty with that aspect of their father’s life.
Read: ‘I feel sorry for King Charles’
It’s a story repeated daily across the globe. Children, grown up or not, have to contend with parents making decisions that are highly personal, complex and not always moral, depending on your moral compass. Nothing new to see here.
There is certainly something missing though in all of Harry’s accounts. It is forgiveness.
He seems to want to be understood – though who of us are? But he has perhaps forgotten that the people who can care for us the most, and forgive us the most, are also our family members, those who have nurtured us through our scrapes and failures and foibles.
I know this can be seen as idealistic and not all families, as Tolstoy revealed, live up to this ideal. But I am left with an overwhelming sense of sadness for Prince Harry. Hopefully, he has thrown the last of his hand grenades into the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Do you feel sorry for Prince Harry? Has he been poorly guided? Why not share your thoughts in the comments section below?
I have read the book, with an open mind. I didn’t find too many hand grenades between the covers, and nothing that I would call “dirty linen”. It certainly didn’t come through to me as a whinge fest. He obviously loves his family of origin, even if he doesn’t agree with all of their rules and habits. But his great disappointment was with their lack of support for his chosen partner in life. The press went to town on her in a very big way, and much of the ammunition they used could only have been invented or come from within the palace itself. That is not to say that the royal family members were supplying material, but it is a known fact that individual households each have their own staff whose function is to present their “principal” in the best possible light even if it means giving negative titbits against someone else. What he wants understood, and the reason for the book and various interviews, is his reason for leaving the UK. He wanted to protect his own family from the toxic effects of the shockingly negative media and the resulting threats coming from extremist elements in the community. His departure was labelled by the press as treason, which is pretty extreme, and he is simply presenting his side of the story as is his right.
Thank you Jenny for a considered opinion unlike the writer of the article who admits she never read what she’s commenting on. As a consequence the entire article is pure fluff … read close to nonsense. Let’s hope Your Life Choices chooses more informed commentary in the future.
Couldn’t disagree with you more having had the labour of reading it.. It was an absolute whinge fest that should be classified under “Fiction”. It is a a rather unfortunate personality that constantly seeks sympathy from perceived victimhood when there is no evidence for such victimhood from corroboration. (Yes I am a psychiatrist). To me it was a mixture of embellishment , paranoid and overvalued thinking, probable delusions in part and fantasies mixed with falsehoods. There is no evidence of lack of support for his partner, only his report of confected memory. “Recollections may vary”. But what a vicious projection… where was his support for his family, and no mention of his continued leaking to the press. That was his methods( and his mothers) much less so the royal family. Yes individual households on the royal family have staff to represent their principals…as did his, giving negative tidbits. In so called protecting of his family (he merely wanted money and media exposure…talk about you 40 pieces of silver), he has imply made them a arget, and the royal family. What wise judgement and character…not. There was no press labelling of treason anywhere, judged as there was no negative media about meghan in the media that was race based. there were reports of her bullying, narcissism, demanding behaviour etc…. non of which has been countered. Harry and M could provide any examples of negative media, apart from P Morgan who has removed from his position. I think that goes against any media bias.
I wish I could write a story about my family and earn millions from the book and subsequent interviews. My goodness I could write a book each year!
I wonder which family does not have issues as I actually don’t personally know any.
I am also sick to death of hearing or reading about Harry and his woes. Not to mention about poor old Megan the manipulator.
Why does the media give them so much coverage?
Enough is enough and it is boring. Whinge whinge is all I read and hear. Really how many different ways can you tell the same stories?
Over both of them –
Narcissistic, entitled and very rich.
One other thing. Shame shame shame on all the people that purchased the book making those idiots richer than they already are. You should have donated the money to a worthy charity. Shame shame shame.
Agree completely. I won’t read the book even if I was given a copy as I feel that H&M are just trying to keep themselves relevant to be able to earn the big bucks. They wanted privacy, but they are doing the complete opposite – so what does that say about this pair. Unfortunately, I think we’re just going to keep hearing things for the next few years until they run out of “stories” to tell.