Headlines broke the world in January 2020, when Prince Harry made the announcement he would be leaving the Royal Family in order to protect his own family and secure their safety. 

 Harry recently released his autobiography Spare that shares his side of the story and how he had to escape the royal lifestyle. He also included moments from his childhood and military career as well. Overall, the book was divided into three different parts of his life.

The book started off with the first 150 pages dedicated to his life as a child. Harry explained how he was treated differently because he was not in line for the throne. Often referring to himself as the “spare”, which is where the title came from. 

This term, “spare,” Harry explained, meant he was just an extra to the family and not the focus due to being the second son and not the first. Harry explains he was excluded and did not receive as much love as his brother Prince William. As an outsider looking in, this was a new point of view to see that the Royal’s focus more on the crown than a family lifestyle.

The monarch is the entire lives of the Royal Family members. Spare tells us how they had maids and nannies to take care of the children. King Charles III was described as a distant father, who used his time for his job rather than being a dad. On the other hand, his mother was described as being wonderful and loving.

When reading these chapters, I kept waiting to hear more about Princess Diana’s passing and how it impacted his life, but he did not give much detail. Harry gives a description of how he found out the news and how he grieved. Yet there wasn’t enough information. Reading about his experiences when his mother passed was interesting and exciting but it was like readers were cut off from being able to see the whole picture. 

The next section in the book focuses on this career path in the British Army. This was the longest of all the sections. Prince Harry explains he felt like he had no purpose in life or a reason to stay in the world. When he found the option of fighting to defend his country, he felt like it was his calling.

 He gives an in depth description of what it was like as the target of the Taliban. From the perspective of the reader,  it felt like he was telling us so much that would be a trigger for any soldier in combat. Yet he was able to openly speak on this. It was confusing how he was able to open up so easily on the explosions and deaths he experienced on the battlefield. Almost as if he really didn’t take it to heart what he saw and did in the deserts of Afghanistan. 

Wrapping up his military career, we learn how he went up in ranks reaching the level of Captain and receiving the Apache Flying Badge. He now realized he had seen the world and wanted to settle down.

The last section Harry speaks on in his biography is his life after coming home from war. He talks about how he gave back to wounded soldiers’ foundations. Yet we also see a slight side of being a party boy, until he comes to meet Meghan Markle who would be his future wife. 

This section really brings in the points of why they had to step away from the Royal Family. The press and social media was crashing down with horrific stories that made Meghen lose her mind. For the safety and mental health of Meghan they decided it was time to take a different path outside of England. 

They chose for the best of their family to move across the globe to Vancouver Island in Canada. However, if Harry was looking for sympathy from the public he doesn’t really get much.  Sure they were harassed and the treatment of Meghan Markle was and continues to be unfair, but they seem to be doing ok.  How sorry can you feel for a millionaire who made an adult decision? 

Overall Prince Harry’s autobiography was intriguing to the readers. At some points though in his story he left you hanging wanting more. At other times he left you with way too much information. None of us wanted to know about his horrific frost bite in a place we didn’t even know was possible.