Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book is not what the tabloids wanted to be able to criticize. It provides context for the wildly out of context things the media puts forward. It gives grace to his family for a lot of their friction, showing an understanding of how complex different backgrounds and cultures are, and it unpacks a lot of stuff that is far overdue to be unpacked within his family (I will criticize him for still believing that monarchy can work - he still needs to unpack how monarchy is inherently dated and problematic and it's not just his family's differences.) It shows a side to him that he hasn't been able to show. He's allowed to be a primary source for one of the first times ever. It's clear how much he loves his wife and how much he loves his children. It's also clear that the most fundamental part of him is how much he loves his mother, how much he misses her, and how much her loss and the circumstances surrounding it traumatized him. Harry is a very privileged man in many ways. But you can be privileged in some ways and a victim in others. He is certainly both. If one looked at the constant formality, the coldness, the lack of physical affection within his family, how he was taught to never cry, never have deep conversations, never be anything but exactly what he was supposed to be, and placed that same scenario within a poor, underprivileged family, we'd all see it for what it was. Neglect, abuse, toxicity. That part of it doesn't go away because he's rich. As I read this I thought back to my childhood and how, while I didn't understand so much of how awful it can be to be famous, I did always know one thing (perhaps due to a children's book about Diana that I found in my elementary school library a couple years after she died): that I did not want to be famous. That I want to blend in. And if I'd not even had that choice, I don't know that I'd be alive today. This is a deeply traumatized person in many ways, including being taken advantage of by others for money and their own fame his entire life. He's taking back the power now, and while he's still a work in progress (see his opinions on the concept of monarchy) he's done a lot of work and he's determined to break that cycle. And in case this isn't already clear - I believe every word he says.