Prince Harry Book Face Criticism
Prince Harry drew criticism from the media, pundits, army veterans, and even the Taliban over his memoir “Spare” on Friday, while Buckingham Palace remained silent on the widely published contents.
Days before the book’s official release on Tuesday, revelations from the book dominated headlines and airwaves after a Spanish-language edition of the memoir was erroneously sold in Spain.
Revelations ranging from the heir to the throne, Prince William, allegedly pushing Harry to the ground in a 2019 row to how he lost his virginity, did drugs, and killed 25 people in Afghanistan sparked both criticism and mockery.
The ghostwritten tome — the largest royal book since Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, cooperated with Andrew Morton on “Diana: Her True Story” in 1992 — was described as “calculated and vile” and a work of “malice” by writer A.N. Wilson.
Idiotic
“After making the stupid decision to ‘go public’ with his feud with the royal family, Harry was no doubt under great pressure… to spit out as much poison as possible,” he wrote in the Daily Mail.
“However, it has painted him in an unflattering light. And, whatever his intention, it makes us sympathize with the Royal Family rather than with him.”
The book is the latest scathing attack from Harry and his American wife Meghan, who retired from royal duties and relocated to California in 2020.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are formally known, have subsequently reaped the benefits of their royal connections with multiple lucrative contracts for tell-all books and television shows.
After the mishap on Thursday, the Spanish-language version of the book was immediately taken from shelves, but not before it had been purchased by media outlets, jeopardizing the publisher’s rigorous international embargo.
While people sympathized with Harry, 38, over the anguish of losing his mother as a youngster and having to grieve in public, “neither can explain the destructive, vindictive road he has chosen, putting his own family under the bus for millions of dollars,” according to the Sun tabloid.
It cited “countless contradictions” in his assertions and asked him to listen to those who had advised him to “quit for his own good” in an editorial.
The Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff stated the book had progressed beyond themes of “awkward public curiosity” towards the “washing of soiled linen” in public.
The left-wing newspaper’s US edition, which has questioned the monarchy’s place in modern Britain, was the first to publish a leaked excerpt from the book this week, in which Harry recalled his violent encounter with William.
“The facts of the brothers’ purported brawl in a castle cottage are almost laughably minor and yet heartbreakingly tragic,” she wrote.
#ShutUpHarry
Harry’s claim to have killed 25 people in Afghanistan, as well as comparing his targets to removing “chess pieces” from a board, has been criticized as cocky and disrespectful, infuriating some veterans.
Retired colonel Tim Collins, who led a British battalion in Iraq in 2003, described the incident as a “tragic money-making scheme,” adding, “That’s not how you behave in the army, and it’s not how we think.”
“Harry has now turned on the other family, the military, who once accepted him after trashing his biological family,” he continued.
“Mr Harry!” said senior Taliban official Anas Haqqani. “The ones you killed were not chess pieces; they had families waiting for their return.”
The Sun reported that his father, King Charles III, was saddened by the book as the hashtag #ShutUpHarry began trending on Twitter.
However, there was no formal royal response.
The only previous royal reaction to Harry and Meghan’s allegations was when they accused an anonymous member of the royal family of racism during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2021.
William told a reporter the family was “very much not a racist family” while his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II famously replied “recollections may vary”.
Craig Prescott, a constitutional specialist at Bangor University in north Wales told AFP the “magnitude” and “ferocity” of the present royal rift was unprecedented but that the royal family will probably “ride this out”.
He also ruled out any attempts to strip Harry and Meghan of their royal titles, which would necessitate political action and new laws.
He believes the royals will see it as “pouring fuel on the fire” at a time when they want to focus on Charles’ upcoming coronation on May 6.
