He may have slipped to fifth place in line to the throne, but the Duke of Sussex at least has the consolation of being king of the misery memoir. But might even that title be wrenched from his grasp?
I ask because of the prospective publication of a compelling new work by a man who’s suffered the loss of both his sons.
Thrice-married Nicholas Monson, whose elder son perished at the hands of the Kenyan police, says his book also contains details of an old fashioned childhood – including the first time he was thrashed.
‘It was at my pre-prep school, Falkner House in Notting Hill,’ Lord Monson, 68, tells me.
‘I was five or six,’ he recalls, adding that the headmaster, who was smiling, told him to lower his shorts and pants – and then beat him with a hairbrush.
Thrice-married Nicholas Monson says his book also contains details of an old fashioned childhood – including the first time he was thrashed
The Duke of Sussex at least has the consolation of being king of the misery memoir
‘The shock was so great that I urinated all over his lap,’ says Monson, who playfully suggested to a friend that he would call his book ‘Heir’.
The friend, Francis O’Toole, then arranged a photoshoot with Hollywood snapper Rory Lewis. Monson approves this tongue-in-cheek image and assures me that his memoir will strike a very different tone from Prince Harry’s.
‘He complains about being a ‘spare’ but then, again, so is everyone who is not an eldest son,’ reflects Monson who adds that, though his childhood was not enjoyable, his adult life has been ‘wonderful’ – even though shot through with tragedy.
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