The book club p®articipants were equally divided. Some felt that Prince Harry had a right to tell his side of the story. Others, that he had let down the monarchy by speaking out. The discussion was around Prince Harry’s autobiography ‘’Spare”. and the impression was that he had been needlessly vilified.
Harry returns to England on the death of his grandfather, Prince Philip. As he says, ‘My wife and I had fled the palace, in fear of our sanity and physical safety’. Prince Harry left England for the US with his wife Megan Markel, who is known for her role in the TV serial ‘Suits’.
Meenakshi Khanna who made the presentation said part of the book deals with Harry’s memory of his mother Princess Diana who died in an accident in a Paris tunnel. He compares his grandfather with his mother in ‘the way he embraced life’.
Harry is fulsome in his praise of Princess Diana; The most recognizable woman on the planet, one of the most beloved, my mother was simply indescribable, that was the plain truth. Harry went to Ludgrove School when he turned 13 and where 100 boys lived in close proximity. He did OK at school and after that he joined the army, the air force to be precise.
Sandhya Sinha who elaborated on the book stated that Harry diligently trained to be a pilot, Day by day the Apache felt less alien. Harry learnt to be alone, function alone. He learned to perform one set of skills with his hands while doing another with his feet.
Dr Gautam Vohra observed that while Harry was sent to Afghanistan, to take on the Taliban, word spread that he was there, and so became the target of the enemy. His commander said that he had no choice but to send him back. Harry faced a similar situation while posted in Iraq. Dr Vohra then elaborated on the trips Harry took to Africa and Australia [he was basically based in the farm of his friends] in order to campaign for the preservation of wildlife.
With the encouragement of his Botswana friends Teej and Milo, Harry embarked on a four- month fact-finding trip to educate himself about the truth of the ivory war in Botswana, Namibia, Tanzania and South Africa. He visited the Kruger National Park, a vast stretch of barren land the size of Israel. In the war on poachers, Kruger was the absolute front line. Its rhino populations, both black and white, were plummeting, due to armies of poaches being incentivised by Chinese and Vietnamese crime syndicates.
One rhino horn fetched an enormous sum. And for every poacher arrested, five more are ready to take his place. Mukesh Khanna, Renu Jain, Aman Banga and Suman Sahai all put forward their point of view on how effective Harry has been in his crusade to preserve Africa’s wildlife. No clear verdict was available as to whether the war against the poachers could be won. And there the matter rested.
