Janek Mäggi: Prince Harry had no mercy on himself – and became a hero!

Harry must be glad that his grandmother passed away – if she was still alive, she would do what every normal grandmother does and spank the boy with her cane for his shenanigans, so he’d remember it for the rest of his life.

Price Harry has done exactly what people expect of him: talked about things that shouldn’t be talked about; done things he should be ashamed of; offered people the chance to support him financially. Millions want to read the confessions of the unhappiest person in the world. Especially when this unhappiest person is a member of one of the world’s most powerful families, and certainly not a spare, but something much more important.

“Spare” is not a book, it’s an event that sets an example – how to become rich and famous, how to trade your life for success. Harry’s bland brother must settle for the things left to him by the previous generations, but Harry is earning money himself – he works and gets a fair compensation.

Most members of European royal families are leading incredibly boring and dull lives, or at least that’s how they make it look like. Well, they also have sex with random people; kill those who would like to kill them; humiliate their younger brothers and sisters by sticking their noses in dog bowls, but they don’t want or dare to speak about it in public – because this might cost them their privileges. Harry knows that his price is higher than it seems to his mean father and arrogant brother.

Harry must be glad that his grandmother passed away – if she was still alive, she would do what every normal grandmother does and spank the boy with her cane for his shenanigans, so he’d remember it for the rest of his life. His grandmother lived to keep the throne standing. Harry doesn’t think about that, it’s not his problem. His problem is the spare syndrome – he doesn’t want to put up with and tolerate this. He wants to be the King and he’s already become one – the king of entertainment.

Why do people want to know who celebrities have sex with and when, who they cheat on or beat up, who they insult or even taunt, and why they do it all? Because the lives of most people are far from perfect. Harry describes the ordinary life of an ordinary man and surprises the world by showing that it doesn’t matter how rich, famous or powerful you are, you’re followed everywhere by death, disappointment and a lot of bad people who keep pissing you off.

There is no doubt that Harry is a PR genius, a person who already matters more to people than the entire royal family put together. Every word he utters is gold. None of the heroes in his book can do anything to protect themselves. Nobody cares what they have to say.

The puppets Harry plays with are lifeless – when Harry pulls the strings, his father lifts his arms, his brother nods his head, his sister-in-law dances and twirls. Harry is the only one who’s alive in this show, he’s the actor and the director, he decides when someone can say or do something. He’s hardworking and believable.

Harry’s father would like to belt him, disinherit him or never have anything to do with hum, but he can’t. That’s the fate of parents, they always want the best for their children when they’re born, but they don’t know that their children themselves will choose what’s the best for them.

Despite all efforts, children may fall in love with people considered wrong by their parents, they can have mediocre or even bad friends, they can destroy everything held dear by their parents even if the parents have never done them any harm. The genes of children may come from the blackest sheep of the family and there are sheep like these in every family.

Commenters have said that the bestseller ‘Spare’ is revealing. However, at first glance it seems that Harry failed to surprise the world within anything other than his willingness to sell the secrets of the royal family under his name (for a decent amount of money). It’s content was predictable and not at all shocking: poor family relationships, the pressure of being in the top league, cheap (start to) sex life, addiction to fame, lust for money – these are things that characterise the lives of most people in the world, and also the things that they’re ashamed of but still put up with.

It’s certainly great that Harry published his book, although with some outside help and a marketing campaign that was slightly over the top. This day and age, films, shows and books that end with everyone finding happiness are considered lousy. The unhappier the ending, the happier the viewers, listeners and readers become. They don’t care about the fate of the characters. Harry had no mercy on himself and that’s why he is a hero to the whole world.