“Spare” by Prince Harry is a surreal and dystopian glimpse into royal life in the 21st century.  

Like many, my idea of the royal family before reading this book had been a fairy tale full of luxury, palaces and cute little corgis. “Spare” shatters this idea and brings forth a shocking depiction of life in a gilded cage.  

It’s not a puff piece of a book but rather the sad and honest narrative of a son who lost his mother too soon and a world that values entertainment over the lives of actual people.  

At one point, Harry references a biography in which the author describes the royal family as like pandas in that they “are expensive to conserve and ill-adapted to any modern environment. But aren’t they interesting? Aren’t they nice to look at?” 

This encapsulates the story Harry shares. His entire life he was harassed by the press. Portrayed as everything from a grieving son to a drug addict, a Nazi, a philanthropist, a playboy, a ne’er-do-well and more, Harry’s been through the ringer when it comes to the press. While the memoir tells the story of his military service, philanthropy, and whirlwind romance with Megan Markle, it focuses mainly on his immense grief over the tragic death of his mother, Princess Diana, and the ensuing PTSD and anxiety that resulted from this grief being coupled with paparazzi harassment.  

He lives under a microscope with the entire world watching his every action. No mistake goes unnoticed, no slip-up undocumented. In many ways his life is that of a circus animal: captive, displayed, a creature who’s enjoyed by the public as entertainment.  

He saw his mom was chased to her death by the press and was never allowed to fully grieve her loss. He was forged into a killing machine by the army and then was unable to seek therapy for fear of it being leaked to the press and facing the wrath of public opinion. He watched countless friends be driven away by the press and his own wife and children suffer heinous racism.  

This book, while sometimes funny, romantic, harrowing and admittedly biased, is above all else a plea for the public to realize the dangers of the press and irresponsible journalism. Harry is by no means a perfect person. He’s had numerous slip-ups and lapses of judgment, but his message is clear: No matter how famous a person is, a human is a human, and they deserve to be treated with dignity.