Prince Harry: Brother, Soldier, Son

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. [em](Sept.) [/em]