Book: SPARE

Author: Prince Harry

Publisher: Bantam

Price: ₹1,599

Like most memoirs, Spare begins with the eponymous ‘Spare’ of the House of Windsor — Prince Harry — solemnly swearing to “raw, unflinching honesty”, thereby raising hopes of a royal tell-all. But what is revealed in the 400-plus pages is not something that a Palace enthusiast does not already know: the tragic death of the mother, an emotionally distant father, the scheming stepmother, sibling rivalry, drug addiction, skirmishes with the British press, flight from the country and so on. But even after rewashing dirty linen, Harry, mercifully, manages to dish out the details of his life engagingly.

Penned by the ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer, Spare follows the three-act structure — boyhood, youth (his time in the army) and marital life — each section beginning with a poignant, monochrome photograph of the prince in his element. Moehringer’s staccato sentences offer glimpses into Harry’s stream of consciousness; this is a blessing since the prince’s “spotty” memory often impedes his recollections.

Diana’s death hangs like a pall of gloom and Harry confesses he has struggled to come to terms with it. Harry’s troubled adolescence, the stoic exchanges with Charles, and his love-hate relationship with his brother can be attributed to this festering loss. Harry’s attention to detail and his empathy for the royal pariahs are evident. The principal antagonists — understandably — are the paparazzi: Harry holds the pesky press responsible for his various afflictions. Unsurprisingly, Harry spends an awful lot of time googling media reports on him.

For a book of revelations, Spare is marred with contradictions. His disclosures about his time in Afghanistan and the anecdote of reviving his frost-bitten “todger” with his mum’s cream — a Freudian slip? — on a trip to the North Pole are forthright. But the stiff upper lip does not let the world know what made him leave his homeland.