Queen Elizabeth seen by Harry (in Spare)

In the book bomb Shootthe prince Harryas well as throwing poisoned javelins at nearly every living Windsor (da William And Kate Middleton to Camillafrom Charles III to Andrew of York) also reveals some anecdote about the late queen Elizabeth II. And in the words he dedicates to his grandmother there is no trace of the hatred reserved for other august relatives. Harry’s memories go back to his childhood days, when he spent a Balmoral summer days «almost always outdoors»: «My family loved being outside, above all grandmother, who got annoyed if she couldn’t breathe fresh air for at least an hour a day». Harry of Balmoral also recalls i barbecue with the whole royal family: grandfather Filippo “dedicated himself to the grill”while “Grandma’s specialty was salad dressing: he mixed it in quantity with the help of whips. Then he would light the candles on the long table and we would all sit down on the creaky, stuffed chairs.’

In Scotland, continues the Duke of Sussex, he was a permanent presence Queen’s piper, ‘a little disheveled manwith a prominent belly on slender legs and bushy eyebrows»: «He wore a kilt and went wherever his grandmother stayed, because she loved the sound of bagpipes. When she summered at Balmoral, his grandmother asked him to ring her alarm clock and to accompany the evening meal with his music».

Harry then flies back to the summer of 2002, when the Golden Jubilee, «the fiftieth anniversary of the accession to the throne of the grandmother». The most important event was the concert of the greatest musicians of the century – including Paul McCartney – in the gardens of Buckingham Palace: «What a miracle that grandmother was so up to date, so modern as to allow, indeed to enjoy, all this modern rock. Seated immediately behind her, seeing her foot stamp and sway in time, I felt like hugging her, even though I didn’t. It was out of the question: I’ve never done thatand I could not even imagine a circumstance in which a gesture like that could be approved».

On the other hand, continues Harry, not even the now king Carlo has ever embraced The Queen: «When he was five or six years old, his grandmother left him and went on a royal tour lasting many months. Upon return, the greeting between mother and son consisted of a firm handshake». The Duke of Sussex then tells another anecdote that testifies to the allergy of the sovereign towards her physical contacts: «There was a famous story of mother who had tried to hug her grandmother. To tell the truth, it felt more like a lunge than a hug, if the witnesses are reliable; the grandmother had moved away to avoid contact, then the episode ended in general embarrassment, between looks away and whispered apologies. Every time I tried to picture the scene, I thought of a botched pickpocket or a rugby tackle.’

Harry in the book-bomb also remembers the meetings between Meghan Markle and The Queen. For example their first real trip together: «Meg returned from the trip radiant. “We bonded,” she told me. «The Queen and I really bonded! We talked about how much I wanted to be a mother and she told me the best way to induce labor is a bumpy car ride! I told her I’d remember when the time came.” THE newspapers, however, ‘declared the trip a total disaster. They portrayed Meg as overbearing, opinionated, ignorant of royal protocol, having made the inconceivable mistake of getting into the car before my grandmother.’

Among Harry’s many stories about the queen, there is also a lie. In the book, the prince writes that last September 8 – the day on which Elizabeth II died – he was not invited on the helicopter that carried all the members of the British royal family to the bedside of the sovereign at Balmoral. So he, to get there as soon as possible, took a private jet. But upon landing he received a message that his wife Meghan Markle told him that the BBC had communicated the death of the queen. However, royal sources claim that Harry, as well as the other members of the royal family, had learned of the death of Elizabeth II before any official statement given to the press. So in the book the prince would have written a lie.

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