Prince Harry: Brother, Soldier, Son

by Penny Junor Narrated by Penny Junor

Overview

The authoritative biography of Prince Harry by noted royal family biographer Penny Junor, author of Prince William: The Man Who Will Be King and The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor.

Prince Harry, one of the most popular members of the British royal family, has had a colorful life. After losing his mother at 12 years old, he spent his teenage years making questionable choices under intense international media scrutiny, becoming known for his mischevious grin, shock of red hair, and the occassional not-so-royal indiscretion. As he's grown, he has distinguished himself through military service, flying helicopters for the RAF. He served in Afghanistan and continues to devote himself to his military career. He also follows in his mother's footsteps with charity work--he is the founder of Sentebale, a charity to help orphans in Lesotho, and works with many other charitable organziations to help young people in society and to conserve natural resources. As he reaches his thirtieth birthday, Prince Harry is proving himself a prince of the people.

With unprecedented access to the most important figures in his life, Penny Junor is able get the truth about who this mercurial and fascinating royal son really is. A modern biography of a modern prince, this book offers an insider's look at the life of the man who is fourth in line to Britain's throne.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

07/28/2014
Royalty biographer Junor (The Firm: The Troubled Life of the House of Windsor) profiles the “spare” prince in this well-researched, if rose-tinted account of his first 30 years. Junor sympathetically recounts the royal family’s controversies—the affairs, leaked phone conversations, and various betrayals—and speculates on 12-year-old Harry’s feelings about his mother’s death. There are Harry’s own scandals, most of which Junor glosses over or denies, like his underage drinking, his Nazi masquerade-party costume, and the leaked nude photos taken in a Las Vegas hotel room. She documents Harry’s military career from the “tough, brutal, relentless” drilling at Sandhurst to flight training at Shawbury and his establishment as an Apache copilot gunner. Harry’s philanthropic activities, covered somewhat exhaustively by Junor, find him visiting orphaned children in Lesotho—for whom he later established a charitable foundation—and organizing the inaugural U.K. Warrior games, an athletic event for wounded veterans. Fans of royalty will appreciate Junor’s details of the interior of Kensington Palace and Highgrove, the ins and outs of Eton College, and descriptions of William and Kate’s wedding and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Despite its flaws, Junor’s account is a fuller picture of the prince than can be discerned from his tabloid hijinks and a humanizing depiction of a devoted son and brother, a skilled soldier, and natural leader. (Sept.)

Library Journal

04/15/2014
English journalist Junor, who has already written about Diana, Charles, and William, offers a biography of the man fourth in line to the British throne.

Kirkus Reviews

2014-08-13
A look at how the rascally fourth in line to the British throne has been forgiven youthful indiscretions but faces serious career decisions at age 30. English journalist and royal biographer Junor (Prince William, 2012, etc.) certainly knows her way around the royal PR office; she's written about the rest of the family, so why not Prince Harry? In approaching this second Windsor son—beloved yet mischievous, a somewhat reckless rugby player and thrill-seeking Apache pilot—the author tries to establish her journalistic objectivity in the first paragraph by addressing his recent fall from grace, when he was caught on camera playing strip billiards with a bunch of young ladies in a Las Vegas hotel room. "It was probably a classic example of me probably being too much Army and not enough prince," he remarked wryly. Yet Junor is sympathetic to this strawberry-blond athlete of charming mien and winning ways: He's "impulsive, unpredictable and dangerous," she says, but that's his "genius." Genius or not, he didn't attend university like his older brother, William, but opted for Sandhurst military academy after Eton, having become enamored as a child by soldier play and spectacle at the annual Royal Tournament with his mother, Princess Diana. His early life with Diana was both deliciously magical and weirdly unnatural, since the Wales' marriage went sour early on; Junor squarely blames Diana for the emotional turmoil in the house(s) and the comings and goings of various male visitors she did not hide. Recently, Harry has moved out of his brother's shadow, embracing some good causes approved of by his father. For instance, in 2006 he helped establish Sentebale, which helps the "forgotten children" of AIDs-ravaged Lesotho, where he spent his gap year, and in 2012, he did energetic work as ambassador for his country at the London Olympics. A premature biography that will interest devoted royal watchers.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169974478
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	09/09/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	983,451

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