Apache helicopter Afghanistan

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were recently called “grifters” by a Spotify executive, as you probably heard. If you pay attention to that sort of thing.

Whether that’s an accurate or fair descriptor for them is not a question I’m qualified to answer.

But Prince Harry brings up a valid point in his memoir, Spare.

“Sponge, the papers called me. But there’s a big difference between being a sponge and being prohibited from learning independence. After decades of being rigorously and systematically infantilized, I was now abruptly abandoned, and mocked for being immature? For not standing on my own two feet?”

There’s plenty of detail in Spare that shows that Prince Harry has been willing to work hard in his life. He admits that he was never one for book learning, but his physical feats are impressive. He has participated in treks to both the North and South Poles, he has labored in rough terrain in both Australia and Africa, and he was in the Army. He served as co-pilot and gunner in an Apache helicopter in Afghanistan.

It just goes to show that there are two sides to every story. Again, I can’t adjudicate every decision Harry and Meghan have ever made, and I wouldn’t want to. But surely there’s more to a human being than a tabloid headline. We would do well to remember that.

The overriding thought I had upon finishing Spare is that Harry’s personality doesn’t seem to fit well with the circumstances he was born into.

Have you ever felt like you weren’t born for your circumstances?