Spare

Chapter 6 — The Longing for Peace and Home

publié le 11 oct. 2026 · 582 mots

Fifteen months after fleeing Britain with his wife and child, Harry returns to Frogmore for his grandfather's funeral and arranges a secret meeting with his father, Pa, and his older brother, Willy, in the hope of repairing their fractured relationships. Waiting alone in the gardens beside an artificial Gothic ruin, he checks his phone repeatedly, wondering why the others have not arrived. The melancholy April landscape reflects his own conflicting emotions, as the place he once imagined as his permanent home has become a symbol of loss and estrangement. The recent death of his grandfather, following a conversation in which the elderly man admitted that he could no longer pursue his passions and felt ready for the end, weighs heavily on Harry. He remembers his grandfather's robust humour, strong opinions and enthusiasm for life, as well as his affection for Harry's mother, Diana, whom he had championed long before she became a princess.

Harry reflects that his grandfather may have been instrumental in bringing his parents together, making him, indirectly, responsible for Harry's very existence.

As he waits, Harry contemplates mortality and the Royal Burial Ground, where generations of his family, including the controversial Edward and Wallis Simpson, lie buried. Their final resting places prompt questions about the afterlife, the persistence of consciousness and whether the struggles that consume people in life ultimately matter. These thoughts lead him to his mother, whose memory remains extraordinarily vivid despite his youth when she died. He recalls her smile, laughter, vulnerability and delight in ordinary pleasures, above all her intense love for her two sons. To Harry, Diana's radiance resembles that of a distant star whose light remains visible long after it may have disappeared. He feels her presence particularly strongly that afternoon, believing that her enduring commitment to peace would have made her desperate to see reconciliation between her sons, their father and the wider royal family.

Determined to honour her example, he has returned from abroad specifically for his grandfather's funeral but has also sought this private meeting to find a way through the family's increasingly public and potentially irreparable conflict.

When Pa and Willy finally approach together, their grim expressions and apparent unity make Harry feel as though he is walking towards a duel rather than a conversation. Their formal greeting is painfully cold, and they begin with small talk about the weather and the funeral before discussing the history of the royal graves. The solemn surroundings and synchronised footsteps evoke memories of Diana's funeral, intensifying Harry's anxiety. Eventually, beside a patch of daffodils near the lake, he attempts to explain his perspective, but his father and brother repeatedly interrupt him. Harry and Willy soon exchange familiar accusations, and Pa intervenes, pleading with them not to make his remaining years miserable. Hearing the frailty in his father's voice, Harry looks at Willy more carefully and recognises both their resemblance and their estrangement.

When Harry insists that Britain was meant to be their lifelong home, Willy responds that Harry chose to leave, then claims he genuinely does not understand why. Pa's expression suggests that he shares this ignorance. Shocked and increasingly isolated, Harry wonders whether his father and brother have ever truly understood him, or whether he has ever fully understood them. He realises that explaining his departure would require more time and a willingness to listen that neither man seems to possess. The meeting ends without reconciliation, leaving Harry to confront the painful possibility that, for now, he cannot make them understand.