She said Prince Harry is now 'addressing an American and global audience'
The controversial release of Prince Harry's book Spare has been highly anticipated following his decision to quit royal life and move with his wife and children to North America. However, the autobiography has already led to global debates and brought in plenty of criticism.
Plymouth-based royal expert Dr Judith Rowbotham says despite
the controversy, the Royal Family have survived many previous scandals,
including some involving people directly in line to the throne and doesn't
think there will be diminishing support for the monarchy.
On
Prince Harry's popularity, she said that it will differ greatly depending on
which community you ask. While he may be getting less support in the UK, his
book and recent interviews are "addressing an American and global
audience".
Dr Judith Rowbotham is a visiting research professor at
Plymouth University with a keen interest in the social history of the
monarchy and the royal family. About the effect the book release and new
claims will have on the royal family, she said: “If you look over the last
300 years, the institution has survived an awful lot of scandals involving
misconduct of people directly in the line of succession to the throne”.
“At
the moment, the opinion polls are indicating that there is still overall
support for the retention of the monarchy. And Harry is nowhere near the
likely line of succession. He is indeed, more than 'spare'. So from that
point of view, it may have an impact on the popularity of individuals. But
overall there seems to be a maintenance of support for the monarchy as
institution people.”
Despite the impact the autobiography will have on his
perception in the UK, Dr Rowbotham thinks Prince Harry is relatively
unbothered by this. She said: “I think it depends so much which community
you ask. I think it will not help him in the UK but I think that when he
left the UK in March 2020, he had already decided that he had no future in
the UK.”
In her opinion, Dr Rowbotham adds: “Since he left the
army, because he didn’t want a desk job, he has been looking for
opportunities to leave the UK and develop a life away from the UK anyway so
he probably will have calculated that he will have diminished his popularity
[here] but that doesn't really concern him. He has been addressing an
American and a global audience and I think in terms of the American audience
he will see his popularity go up in some constituencies.”
Dr
Rowbotham explained that Prince Harry is likely to get different reactions
in different parts of the Commonwealth, and outside of it, saying that the
book will be less likely to increase his popularity in certain areas of
Africa than it is in the Caribbean.
She added: "We cannot assume
the book will not be read and taken seriously and enhance his popularity
globally at least in quite a lot of areas. It will certainly be used by
politicians and commentators who want to be critical of the Royal
Family.”
Seemingly losing popularity closer to home, Prince Harry
has also been criticised on Twitter by a Plymouth-based Royal Marine veteran
who was praised by the Prince for his heroics. Ben McBean, who lost an arm
and a leg while serving with the Royal Marines in Afghanistan in 2008,
publicly aired his views on the book.
Taking to Twitter, Ben
wrote: "Love you Prince Harry but you need to shut up! Makes you wonder the
people he’s hanging around with. If it was good people somebody by now would
have told him to stop."
The tweet sparked a flurry of replies
with many agreeing with Ben. When asked why Harry should "shut up", Ben
responded: "I'm saying not everything he’s gone though with his family needs
to be exposed to people like me and you. If his brother kicked him in the
shin we don’t need to know."
