Spare

These chapters continue to highlight Harry’s sense of abandonment after his mother’s death. It emerges in his conflicted feelings about Tiggy, whom he treats as a surrogate mother while feeling guilty about what his mother’s reaction would be. In Chapter 23, Harry’s sighting of a leopard on safari is the first of several incidents when he encounters a wild creature and interprets it as a sign of his mother’s presence. Further bereavements echo the effects of Princess Diana’s death. Harry and his brother repeat the dreaded walk to Westminster Abbey at the Queen Mother’s funeral. When Harry’s childhood friend Henners is killed, the accident bears tragic similarities to his mother’s death.

The memoir highlights the ongoing theme of Royal Family Dynamics and Conflict when Harry observes that hugging his grandmother is “[o]ut of the question (78) because of her role as monarch. This physical distance creates an emotional distance that’s difficult to bridge. Harry recalls his family’s time at Inchnabobart so fondly because it frees them from the formalities of Palace life. With everyone gathered in the hunting lodge, their emotional distance closes, and they seem like a “normal” family.

This section reveals the beginnings of Prince Harry’s sense of alienation from his family and trajectory away from the monarchy’s restrictions. Increasingly, he begins to align himself with his mother’s values. He understands why Princess Diana, who disliked the rigidity of royal protocol, felt the need to break away from the royal family—and he wants to follow in her footsteps by supporting the charitable causes she favored. Prince William’s minder, Marko, presents Harry with an alternative role model to his father.

Another formative feature of Harry’s development in this section is his first experience of South Africa. Harry considers Botswana his spiritual home, and he continues to return to the area as an adult when he feels in need of spiritual sustenance. In Africa, Harry feels released from royal restrictions and closer to other people, reflecting that “distance dissolved. All creatures mingled freely” (54). The sensation sharply contrasts with Harry’s life at Eton, where the police officers who patrol to protect him make him “feel caged.” Throughout the memoir, Harry seeks to recapture the sense of freedom he experiences in Africa, searching for a geographical space where he can be himself.

The theme of The Consequences of Press Harassment and Misinformation reappears when the newspapers publish stories about his alleged drug abuse. While admitting in his memoir to casual drug use, he describes how one journalist deliberately misleads the public by publishing a photo of him outside a rehab center. The journalist responsible for this story was News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks. Prince Harry conveys his contempt for her by refusing to refer to use her real name, instead using the anagram “Rehabber Kooks.” In his memoir, she embodies the amorality of popular media. The persuasive power of press misinformation on the public is apparent when Prince Charles’s friend is convinced she can smell marijuana in Club H. In addition, Harry becomes uncomfortably aware of the royal family’s symbiotic relationship with the press in this section of the memoir, echoing the theme of The Monarchy as an Institution and Machine. For example, their skiing trip at Klosters involves an agreement to face a “Wall” of photographers in exchange for privacy for the rest of the holiday. Harry also becomes convinced that his father’s office endorses stories about his drug taking to evoke sympathy for Prince Charles and boost his popularity. Throughout the memoir, Harry objects to this tacit relationship between the Palace and the press.

This section marks the emergence of Harry’s search for purpose beyond his identity as a prince. Challenging the assumption that royals have no ambition, he suggests that his role as “Spare” motivates him to undertake meaningful work. He anticipates finding fulfillment in the Army because the job will effectively remove him from public scrutiny.