Harry is going spare. So is the rest of the country.

The State of Cognitive Dissonance

I’ve held my fire on the whole Harry saga. Spare. Overshare. It has been done to death. And it is, indeed, a book about death in so many ways. The dust never settles, it just hangs in the air.

I watched the Netflix Harry & Meghan series during a bout of insomnia, and it was a triumph in a certain sense – after 20 minutes or so of watching Meghan emoting in neutral colours and Harry feeding the chickens, I’d find myself passing out. Then, when Harry’s book came out, I had jet-lag, so it all seemed rather disorientating. 

Yes, I am talking about me, me, me – for I am the real victim of all this. My disturbed sleep patterns are clearly the most important issue here!

Of course they’re not, but Spare is written as though every thought or feeling Harry has ever had is significant. So why shouldn’t it be the same for me? Because, thanks to an accident of birth, I am not a royal – that’s why. 

But nor am I a royalist, and I will never ever bow down to these people. If others want to enslave themselves, that’s their business, and many clearly do. But not me.

And now the Queen is dead. The monarchy knows that this means it will have to make compromises and downsize itself. Many Commonwealth countries will go their own way. Charles will never be as popular as his mother. He is a weak man who has carelessly damaged the lives of those closest to him. Rumours abound about William’s fidelity to Kate, the Daily Mail’s idea of the perfect woman, ever thinner, ever more compliant. All the royals are less popular than ever. 

Good.