Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Potential spoiler alerts: This book was a fascinating glimpse into Harry’s mind. His young mother died. Not only did she die, as all mothers do, she was killed in a car accident, as happens to some mothers. Not only was she killed in a car accident, she was being chased by paparazzi, senselessly, which is unique. This was beyond young Harry’s comprehension. He was never ever able to process her death. Why, why, why? Her death plagued him, and her death still haunts him. His family was and still appears to be stoic. They aren’t a touchy feely bunch. They don’t talk about their emotions. It seems from the book they are too busy with their jobs to show their love of family through quality time. And what gifts and acts of services from family would have been meaningful to the young prince? So Harry floundered on his own without the support he needed and wanted at a critical time in his life. Had he been younger or older, perhaps he would have handled his mom’s death differently. Despite the Queen’s and his father’s reported reliance on her Christian faith, Harry said his religion was nature. This hasn’t worked out so well for Harry. Instead, he turned to alcohol and drugs. Hard to say if he has an addiction from the book. It was an eye opener to me how much alcohol and drugs he uses in his circle! (Is this what all the elite do? No wonder the world is messed up!) I guess it’s very affordable and available? He didn’t mention in the book what he does for fun. Parties seemed to be a prime hobby for him. The alcohol and drugs are of course mood altering he admits, but were they also contributing to his depression and agoraphobia? He raises lots of good questions. As far as the British paparazzi are concerned, as a not famous American, it’s hard for me to comprehend. The difference between being a famous actor and a famous prince is that an actor chose the career knowing what comes with it. Harry did not. I want to do a bit of research about British newspapers too. It’s not clear to me whether Harry was obsessed with American equivalents of the New York Times or the National Enquirer. Are all newspapers in Britain like the National Enquirer? And obsessed he was and is, based on his own words. I am on the internet a lot. I have to use a search engine to find articles about Harry. I am not bombarded with Harry articles. I go to the American grocery store. I see magazines. I also see (trash type) newspapers. I haven’t done research, I don’t have data, but don’t people by the trash type newspapers for fun? “Elvis Presley seen walking at Graceland on his birthday” Does anyone believe this stuff? So I’m trying to figure out what kind of newspapers these British papers are. Some kind of cross between a legitimate newspaper and a trash newspaper? Before reading this book, you may want to do some research first on newspapers in England. For whatever reason, Harry put a lot of value-too much value- on the crap he read about himself. It mattered a lot about what people he didn’t know thought about him. The book also makes the people of England look very stupid (which I hope they aren’t) because Harry feels that the majority of people believe and are influenced by the junk that’s published about him. I guess to some extent, a bunch of people must buy the nonsense, and therefore support the publishers. And his dad and the Queen were right about one thing: today, what is the monarchy without the “media”. If the monarchy did all of their services without the benefit of the publicity, would enough people from the commonwealth know about their good works and want to continue to support the monarchy? (If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it make a sound?) To persist, the monarchy needs publicity (bad publicity probably works as well as good publicity) like any other organization or business. From Harry’s perspective, I drew the conclusion that his relatives seem to think it’s beneath them to do legitimate interviews with legitimate news media on a regular basis. Perhaps they want to maintain an aloofness and mystique? And they spend a lot of time crafting “leaks” to the media. Why are “leaks” needed? Why are “leaks” to the press ever needed? Perhaps they want deniability? The normal sibling rivalry was reinforced and magnified hundredfold by Harry’s mom, dad, the queen, the monarchy… The two brothers would need a lot of joint counseling by someone to overcome the damage done but who has experience counseling heir/spare relationships? The book makes it seem like the family was all business unless you were part of a couple. The Queen and her husband, William and Kate, Charles and Camilla, within a small circle of two, the couples seem to relate to each other as family as well as business partners. Outside each circle, the book read like it was all business. And they all have egos to be fed. Unlike other successful family businesses, this monarchy business appears to focus more on the individual, than on the company as a whole. Unlike a sports team, it’s not about team monarchy, it’s about each super player on the team, including Harry. Just the way the company is structured is odd. The leadership of team monarchy wasn’t portrayed in the book as bringing the team together, growing each member of the team, capitalizing on strengths and overcoming weaknesses… the normal stuff a good team leader does. For instance, if it’s one company, why are their multiple PR groups sending mixed messages to the press? If I was queen haha there would be one PR group. If I found out about leaks, you would be “fired”. And if it is the way Harry described, if I was queen, I wouldn’t tolerate competitive PR teams! What a power trip those sides must be on! One person is the heir, others are spares, but until the heir becomes the next leader, why the preferential treatment within the company? Oh wait! Because the heir doesn’t have to earn the right to be king or queen, it’s given to him from the day he is born. Yes, absolutely fascinating group dynamics going on here in this unique company! A couple words about Meghan. She had a huge internet following on her own site, right? She was an influencer. And yet Harry said she didn’t google him and didn’t know anything about him or his family, and it was so refreshing. Harry also said after they hooked up, she was bombarded by the media negativity about Harry and herself, suicidal even. She didn’t pay attention before they hooked up but afterwards she paid so much attention she was suicidal? Anyway it was a very interesting read!