Real Life Matters

I just finished the new Memoir, Spare, by Prince Harry. Once I picked up the book, I could not put it down. Harry’s ghostwriter, JR Moehringer, is an outstanding writer.

Before going further, let’s press pause and consider whether it matters that Prince Harry’s memoir was actually written by a ghostwriter, and not Harry:

“Spare” provides a version of Prince Harry’s story, but getting access into his soul requires it being written in his own words.

Words create reality. God created the world through words: “and God said… and it was.” We are defined by our words. Our own words.

Whether you are a master stylist or a literary lion, you can only be truly known by others from the words you choose to create your personal identity. No artificial intelligence and no ghostwriter, no matter how great, can fully convey who you really are.

Which, in the final accounting, makes you the true – and only – real author of your life. And which makes the royal memoir sweeping the globe a mere ghost of what it might have been had Prince Harry actually been the author.^[1]https://aish.com/prince-harry-didnt-write-spare/

I can only imagine the pain and grief experienced by Harry. Because of his status as a royal prince, he has not had an easy life. No one is exempt from loss and trauma. Very few people – only two, in fact – have lived to see their trauma played out in the media, fueled by the untimely death of their famous mother, relentless paparazzi, and dubious backroom courtiers with nicknames like the Bee, the Fly and the Wasp.^[2]Harry, The Duke of Sussex, Prince. Spare (p. 365). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

One of Prince Harry’s biggest beefs is the spinning of falsehoods by greedy and abusive journalists. At the top of his list is, you guessed it, Rupert Murdoch.

“It was around this time that I began to think Murdoch was evil. No, strike that. I began to know that he was. Firsthand. Once you’ve been chased by someone’s henchmen through the streets of a busy modern city you lose all doubt about where they stand on the Great Moral Continuum.” ^[3]Harry, The Duke of Sussex, Prince. Spare (p. 199). Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

After years of being harassed, I can imagine it being hugely cathartic to punch back at the paparazzi. Also, I can see Harry wanting to get his side of a very dysfunctional family story out there, setting the record straight after years of feeling stifled by his family and minders. Perhaps he is hoping that the energy behind his personal story will dissipate through publication, like air after a lightning strike. Harry will have taken back his life, and spared his beloved Meghan from a repeat of history involving a fatal car chase and the paparazzi.

It is easy to empathize with Harry. The release of Spare into the wild will, however, only stoke the fire. It’s Newton’s third law. For every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction.^[4]https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtons-laws-of-motion/#newtons-third-law-action-reaction Indeed, the King of England has now asked Harry and Meghan to vacate Frogmore Cottage. Disgraced Prince Andrew will be moving in – in case there is any doubt about where Harry and Meghan fit in the new royal pecking order.

Please don’t read this as being critical of Prince Harry. Spare seems to be a vital step in his chosen grieving process. Through the passage of time, I trust and pray that the next steps will eventually make themselves known to Harry. He may then be invited to set down his pen and sword and rest upon the higher power of grace, surrender and forgiveness.^[5]God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

I don’t pretend for even one minute to understand what turmoil Prince Harry has experienced. But I suspect that freedom and peace lie on the other side of his personal mountain of pain and grief.

“Forgive others, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.” – Jonathan Lockwood Huie