Caller insists there’s ‘nothing shocking’ in Prince Harry’s new memoir

6 January 2023, 16:47

By Ellen Morgan

This LBC caller said he couldn’t believe that the world had been “sucked into the PR machine” that surrounds the royal family after Prince Harry’s memoir was released yesterday in Spain.

Insisting that Prince Harry's memoir is only a publicity stunt, Martin in Fulham said he wouldn't be surprised "if William and Harry are talking on a daily basis, laughing all the way to the bank!"

He asked Shelagh Fogarty “where in this book is there anything shocking? There’s nothing that doesn’t happen to every single family every single day in every corner of the world”.

The caller even said he wouldn't be surprised "if William and Harry are talking on a daily basis, laughing all the way to the bank!"

But while Shelagh agreed that the book contained some universal experiences that are part of “life’s rich tapestry,” she thought it had brought the Royals down to Earth.

“They are pawns as well,” she reminded Martin, telling him that the royal family were built up by a “system that curates their image very, very carefully.”

Shelagh recalled Princess Diana’s panorama interview, which was “deeply explosive” at the time it was broadcast and said that, in the same way, it redefined Prince Charles’s image, a similar shift was happening now for Prince William.

“I wouldn’t want a relationship with anyone who is that false and harmful,” Shelagh said, referencing Prince Harry’s allegations that his brother attacked him and was verbally abusive to his wife.

Martin conceded that “you can’t live a normal existence in this institution,” and recognised that “when it comes to the surface that they’re human, we can’t get our heads around it!”

He still maintained that the revelations in Prince Harry’s memoir “are not shocking,” but bet the woman Prince Harry lost his virginity to in a field behind a pub will “be on I’m a Celebrity by the end of the year”.

The caller continued to insist that the book would boost the royal family's image, saying they “thrive on this sort of thing,” and “there’s no such thing as bad publicity”.

Shelagh concluded by asking whether Martin was shocked after Diana’s interview was broadcast, to which he replied he was, but Prince Harry’s memoir was not on the same scale.

“They have their strengths and their weaknesses, but I can’t believe this has blown everything off the front pages.”