I almost passed Catherine Bennett’s article by, so fed up have I become with the outpourings of blind condemnation that have been the norm (“Prince Harry has left the zoo. So why is he being treated like a caged animal?”, Comment). It was an eye-opener to find a journalist analysing the book without a preformed judgment that one side is wholly right and the other wholly wrong. Instead, there was a straightforward look at what Harry’s book, Spare, tells about being inside the royal family. They have a life so far removed from the ordinary experience that it is incredible so many believe they truly “know” the character of individual royals and are prepared to die in a Twitter or Facebook ditch defending them.
What is most strange is that Catherine Bennett’s observations are so obvious, and should have been so to everyone. But it is as Harry says: so many people imbue the royal family with qualities and celebrity that they have done nothing to earn, except by simply being born.
Mike Wisbach
Buckingham
