I was not going to read this book. And then I changed my mind. Why? Well, selective reporting of some of the contents in the media had me wondering about context. I was curious about what Prince Harry had to say. I borrowed the book from my local library.
Yes, there is more to this book than the salacious bits reported in the media. I found it a mixture of perceptive observations by Prince Harry about growing up in the British Royal Family, and of trying to make his own way and to find his own place in the world.
‘It occurred to me that identity is a hierarchy. We are primarily one thing, and then we’re primarily another and then another, and so on, until death – in succession.’
The loss of his mother overshadows this memoir: her hounding by the media is seen as the direct cause of her death and this drives Prince Harry in his quest to keep his own family safe.
I also admire the work he has done as the Patron of the Invictus Games Foundation and with veterans after leaving the British Army.
‘Who are you when you can no longer be the thing you’ve always been, the thing you’ve learned to be?’
I admit that I was somewhat cynical when I started reading this memoir but by the end, I simply hoped everything works out okay for Prince Harry and his family.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
Book 6 in my 2023 Nonfiction Reader Challenge. I’ve entered as a ‘Nonfiction Grazer’ and this book should be included under the heading of ‘Biography’.
Tasmanian Bibliophile @Large 