In his online fireside chat on Saturday, Prince Harry said he considers his book “an act of service.” But to access that chat, I had to spend $37.15 on a ticket and a copy of “Spare,” whether I wanted the book or not.
How greedy and cynical can you get? The book is already a gonzo bestseller. Chances are, everyone who joined this chat already has their copy. But Harry needs to make more money and guarantee more time on the bestseller list, damn it.
This set the tone for the discussion that followed: nearsightedly narcissistic, intellectually stupid, and above all, hypocritical. This is Harry’s true brand – not as a mental health leader or a humanitarian or a fighter against institutional racism in the royal family – oops, he walked that back a few weeks ago after winning a Kennedy award – but first class hypocritical.
Harry claimed to have worked in mental health for two decades, but his actual experience with therapy seems sporadic: his regular schedule, he said, was once every two weeks and then once every few months.
That’s hardly deep therapy, and it hardly makes him an expert. But this is Harry’s post-royal identity, a for-profit mental health expert who speaks Oprah-ees while endlessly skinning his kinsmen.
Can you be a victim and be a hero at the same time? Can you be a model of kindness and virtue while insulting your family and exposing their personal pain? Can you reveal their secrets and still demand privacy for yourself and your wife?
Prince Harry, master of persuasive thinking.
Dr. Gabor Maté, who led this lecture, would certainly tell a great deal about himself. He noted that he was not too impressed with all things royal and dismissed the huge portion of Harry’s memoirs as “royal melodrama” which did not interest him.
Together with Dr. Gabor Maté, the “trauma expert” and proponent of both Hamas and hallucinogenic drugs, the whole thing felt like a session on adult subscription site OnlyFans.
Please. Even Harry’s harshest critics, and I count myself among them, must admit: his royal life and recent defection is the most interesting thing about him. It seems that Maté has mastered the H&M tactic of belittling others in order to elevate himself.
There was a lot of talk here about ‘unpacking’ – unpacking your emotions, life experiences, boxes and luggage when you’ve been kicked out of your cabin (just kidding). Authentic living was another big theme, as well as a kind of Mad-Libs philosophy: “strength in vulnerability” and “vulnerability in strength” or something like that.
I’ll give Harry this: He gave us an authentic moment, roaring as Dr. Mate went off-script and diagnosed Harry with multiple disorders. Helpfully, the good doctor had written them all down and presented a list.
Harry was angry – rightly so. This was a total violation of psychiatric ethics, diagnosing a stranger, still a public figure, based on his book. Harry’s anger, barely masked by politeness – that royal training has its perks, it seems – was satisfying.
“I can see this long list of how you diagnosed me,” Harry said. Free session. Beautiful.’
Oh, was it elegantly bitchy. Just perfect straight delivery.
That said, what did Harry expect? This is the natural by-product of commodifying your innermost thoughts and feelings, of making your wounded inner child and familial rage. books.
Anyway, back to Harry the depressed, Harry the neglected, Harry the emotional drifter. “When I read your book,” Maté said, “it’s a story of hardship.”
Ha! Yes, ‘Waaagh’, as it will forever be known, is the story of a prince who was given everything, who was given access to a top education he threw away, who had access to anything and anyone he wanted, was assisted by the best PR and crisis managers in the Western Hemisphere, but who was stripped of so much that he had to run for his safety and privacy.
Isn’t that what these public tantrums are about? Security and privacy?
Back to some other familiar topics: Charles wasn’t much of a hugger.
“The father,” Maté continued, “who obviously loves his children, cannot help but be emotionally distant. . .’
“We only know what we know,” said Harry. A tautology for all ages. “We do our best as parents.”
In his online fireside chat on Saturday, Prince Harry said he considers his book “an act of service.” But to access that chat, I had to spend $37.15 on a ticket and a copy of “Spare,” whether I wanted the book or not.
Of the memoir we had to buy, “I want this to be an act of service,” said Harry. ‘It has to be like this. . . how to save a life.’
‘Waaagh’: saving lives, one petulant complaint at a time.
Mate didn’t address the cruel parts of Harry’s book: mocking the handicapped teacher. Bragging about his kills in Afghanistan. The sheer lack of gratitude for a privileged life few in history have ever known.
Instead, Maté gave this advice: “None of us are victims if we choose not to be.”
Excuse me? Does Mate know who he is talking to?
Harry overcame that hilarity with his thoughts on therapy. “I would always encourage people,” he said, “not to wait until they’re in a fetal position on the kitchen floor.”
Like his wife? Harry wrote that after Meghan had a text argument with Kate about bridesmaid dresses, he came home to find his wife “sobbing on the floor.”
About Meghan: “People have said my wife saved me,” Harry said. “She’s an extraordinary person.” He talked about a time when he lost his temper while they were dating, and Meghan asked him if “he grew up like that” – men who spoke to women that way thought it was acceptable.
It was, Harry said, “a lightbulb moment.”
Well, Harry has given King Charles and Prince William another moment of his own – he’s now fine with suggesting that the men in his family are verbally abusive to their wives.
That invitation to the coronation is stuck in the mail.
