By Rhyan Chastanet
Prince Harry’s memoir “Spare” (2023), which quickly became the fastest-selling work of nonfiction in history, sparked outrage in the press over his alleged ‘betrayal’ of the British Royal family.
This comes as no surprise. From the moment of his birth, Harry became an object of intense fascination and scrutiny to the world, particularly to the British media. Throughout his memoir, Harry discussed the intimate and private moments that were routinely intercepted by paparazzi, often leaving him feeling exposed and unguarded. He also recounts feeling particularly dehumanized in his youth by the many lies told and regurgitated at his expense.
One of the most notable ways the press violated Harry’s right to privacy occurred just barely a year after the horrific death of his mother, Diana: whose death was a result of running from the paparazzi. Specifically, during his time at Eton, a prestigious all-boys school that Harry was attending during the time of his mother’s death, news about a rugby accident that Harry had been involved in broke; “I’d broken a bone in my thumb playing rugby, no big deal, but the paper decided to make out that I was on life support,” he said. Boyish pranks became front-page headlines questioning his mental health and judgment, making him a subject of ridicule both at his school and nationally; Which, as a child who was already struggling with the loss of his mother due to the paparazzi, was the last thing he needed.
Unfortunately, this instance was not unique. For example, Harry cited that two people from the paparazzi, “Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber”, as he called them, aggressively pursued Harry and William, creating a sense of “omnipresence” that haunted both William and Harry for many years. This also extended into his romantic life. Every woman he dated or even associated with was plastered on the front pages as his new love interest and stories about their pasts (both true and untrue) were routinely offered as fodder for readers. Several were traumatized or scarred by the experience of being hounded by the media, often making it difficult for Harry to maintain normal relationships, resulting in several breakups.
The media’s evident disrespect of boundaries was highlighted further through their coverage of his stints in the army: which resulted in compromising the positions and safety of Harry and his fellow soldiers in numerous cases. On one particular occasion, Harry’s location while serving in Afghanistan was revealed by the press. Shortly after, on the eve of his 28th birthday, the camp was attacked by the Taliban, resulting in the death of two American soldiers. The Taliban later revealed the target of their attack was Prince Harry, where the Taliban planned to coincide the date of the attack with his birthday; He stated, “The Taliban had learned about my presence on the base, and the granular details of my tour, through the nonstop coverage that week in the British press.” Ultimately, after completing his tour at the end of 2012, his commanding officers would not let him return to Afghanistan.
This spiral of problematic coverage only worsened when Harry started dating Meghan Markle, an American divorcee who is biracial (partly black) and who had no connections to the British establishment at the time. The headlines were blatant with overt racism and classism and seemed singularly focused on finding any dirt on her. He recalls one Daily Mail headline stating “Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton, describing her home as ‘gang-scarred,’ despite Megan growing up in Los Angeles, where she attended an all-girl’s catholic private school.
It didn’t stop there. Any nugget of information elicited from her past was twisted and distorted to make her seem as undesirable a partner as possible. This was most evident when her divorce was used to malign her character and raise questions about her sexual ethics, in spite of the fact that divorce is now commonplace in Western society and that Charles had married divorcee, Camilla Parker-Bowles.
The incessant publicity over Meghan went so far that her neighbors were bribed to allow the paparazzi to place live streaming cameras aimed at her windows. Anything at all concerning Meghan was a story. Many recall the wave of stories that ensued after she said she liked avocado toast. The most ridiculous among them being – “How Meghan’s favorite snack is fuelling human rights abuses, drought and murder?”
Given the British media’s history, this begs questions about the credibility of the stories the media has published about Harry’s memoir. This is perfectly illustrated by the headline titled, “Prince Harry comparing Camilla to a ‘wicked stepmother’,” where the sentiments of Harry were clearly contradictory to the headlines messaging: He specifically said that whilst he and William shared concerns that Camillia might be such, the reality is that she was nice to them both and they were happy that she made their father happy. This was also seen with his discussion of his ‘frostbitten penis’, which was a result of a charity expedition to the Arctic and has become a central part of every story covering the book. He only mentioned this to explain the discomfort he was in at his brother William’s wedding. As evidenced by the above, the media proves to be the childish ones, unable to direct their focus to the more significant parts of his story.
Furthermore, both these headlines, along with many others, demonstrate the alarming extent to which the media is willing to abandon the search for truth for the search of piping-hot gossip they can morph into their hot-selling story. They also show the lengths to which the media will go through to intentionally undermine the meaning of his memoir. Thus, when considering claims such as by Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, who claimed Harry and Meghan “ruined the family life of the royals,” one should also consider the damage the media has caused. Additionally, given the many lies and distortions, for the rest of us mere mortals, we as the reading public need to exercise healthy skepticism, and question whether Harry really is as childish, entitled, petulant, emotionally damaged, and spoiled as he has been portrayed.
