Prince Harry faced backlash on Friday over his memoir “Spare”, with criticism from the media, commentators, army veterans and even the Taliban, while Buckingham Palace remained silent on the leaked content.
Days before the official publication on Tuesday, the disclosure of the book dominated the headlines and the airwaves after a Spanish-language version of the memoir was mistakenly sold in Spain.
Revelations, including the alleged physical attack on him by the heir to the throne of Prince William, how he lost his virginity, took drugs and killed 25 people in Afghanistan, have prompted both condemnation and derision.
Author AN Wilson called the ghostwritten book – the biggest royal tome since Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, collaborated with Andrew Morton for a 1992 biography – “calculated and despicable” and a “lazy” work.
Describing his decision to go public as “stupid”, Wilson said the book had only succeeded in making the public sympathize with the royal family, “not with them”.
‘Stupid’
The book is the latest part of Harry and his American wife, Meghan, after leaving royal duties and moving to California in 2020.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are officially known, have started making money from their royal connections with several lucrative contracts for books and programs.
The Spanish-language version of the book was quickly pulled from the shelves after Thursday’s blunder but not before it was bought by media outlets, breaking a strict embargo on publishers around the world.
The Sun tabloid said public sympathy for Harry who lost his mother at a young age could not “correct the destructive and vengeful path he has chosen, throwing his family under the bus with millions of dollars”.
In the editorial, it pointed out the “countless differences” in his statement and advised him to listen to his friends who asked him to “stop for his own good”.
The Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff said the book had moved beyond the issue of “awkward public interest” to “washing dirty linen” in public.
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The US edition of the left-leaning newspaper was the first to publish extracts from the leaked book this week, in which Harry described a physical altercation with William.
“The details of the alleged beatings in the royal cottage are almost trivial and very sad,” he wrote.
‘discarded’
Harry’s claim to have killed 25 people in Afghanistan and likened his actions to removing “chess pieces” from a board has been seen as boastful and inappropriate and has angered some veterans.
Retired colonel Tim Collins, who commanded a British battalion in Iraq in 2003, condemned the “tragic fraud”, adding: “That’s not how you operate in the army. It’s not how we think.
“Harry has now turned against another family, the military, who once embraced him, after throwing his family away,” he said.
Another senior veteran who served in Afghanistan, Colonel Richard Kemp, said the comments would “create jihadist propaganda”.
Senior Taliban official Anas Haqqani tweeted: “Mr. Harry! Those killed are not chessmen, but human beings; They have families waiting for their return.
jealous confession
As a hashtag #ShutUpHarry since trending on Twitter, The Sun quoted a source close to her father, King Charles III, as saying he was saddened by the book.
But there was no official royal comment.
In a new statement in his memoirs reported by the Daily Telegraph last Friday, Harry said his father did not want to support him and Meghan financially because he was jealous of her.
The Duke wrote that he knew Charles feared a “novel and resplendent” royal would “dominate” the spotlight after the current king became worried about the monarchy supporting the couple monetarily after their wedding in 2018.
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“He’s been through it before and he doesn’t want to let it happen again,” Harry wrote, referring to Diana, the Telegraph said.
Craig Prescott, a constitutional expert at Bangor University in north Wales, told AFP the “scale” and “ferocity” of the current royal split was unprecedented, but the royal family could “see this”.
But steps to remove Harry and Meghan’s royal titles will require political intervention and new legislation.
The royal family may consider it “adding fuel to the fire” as they want to focus on Charles’ coronation on May 6, he said.