It’s no question that the royal family has been subject to many controversies in recent years, but the most recent certainly takes the cake. 

No, I don’t mean the February ordeal which exposed Prince Andrew’s involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, and I don’t mean the multiple issues sparked at the funeral of the iconic Queen Elizabeth II. I mean the contents of Prince Harry’s memoir, appropriately titled Spare, and the backlash he has received in response.

In this book, there have been countless claims and points made by the prince, many of which have caused anger and worry among readers. The royal family as a whole has had a considerable amount of scandals throughout its whole existence. Recently, the most prominent in the media have been those surrounding Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as well as their family, through their journey out of the royal family.

In Spare, the Duke of Sussex particularly targets his brother, William, Prince of Wales. 

Perhaps one of the more problematic—and slightly amusing—things Harry has said in his book about William is that his hair loss is “alarming,” as well as that he had attacked Harry in 2019 after a comment made about Meghan.

For context, William had allegedly called Meghan “difficult, rude, and abrasive,” and an argument had ensued. One thing led to another, and William is said to have grabbed Harry by the collar and thrown him to the floor. Harry details multiple instances in which his brother offends the family that Harry had created and the choices he’s made, but every story has two sides.

The royal family members must follow a strict set of rules in order to be welcomed and accepted into the family. This was made evident when Diana, Princess of Wales, continuously defied these rules through her fashion sense and expression in order to make her point that she could be royalty, too. 

Although William has likely done and said some things of his own volition to upset his brother, many of these actions may have been done under royal law. Certain things simply aren’t permitted in the royal family, and I truly believe that William is only trying to do his duty as Prince of Wales as best he can in this respect. 

Of everything mentioned in the book, these family issues are the more widely-known and sometimes almost laughable feuds, but the memoir highlights much more serious and dark matters, too: Harry’s actions against the Taliban in Afghanistan. 

For a decade, Prince Harry served in the British army and eventually obtained the rank of captain. He served two tours in Afghanistan as a forward air controller and an attack helicopter pilot. 

Now for the intensely-controversial piece: in his memoir, Harry shares that he killed 25 Taliban members. Not only is this a poor judgment call, but also dangerous to anybody involved. 

Understandably, this has caused backlash the prince has likely never seen from people including his ex-commander and even a senior Taliban leader. 

All of this information snowballs into something larger than I think Harry had ever considered. Frankly, I like to believe that he meant well in his actions. I just think that, simply, it was executed in the wrong way.

According to the prince, all he wishes is to reconcile with his family, but I’m not too sure that writing a tell-all is the bridge to achieving that.