Prince Harry poked fun at interviewer Tom Bradby after the ITV journalist attempted to bring up the story of how the royal lost his virginity.
Leaked excerpts from the Duke of Sussex’s forthcoming memoir Spare included an account of how he had sex for the first time with an older woman behind a pub.
The book outlines how one of the royal family’s bodyguards, Marko, paid him a visit when he was still a pupil at Eton College in Windsor and told the Prince he had been sent to “find out the truth”.
“I suspected he was referring to my recent loss of virginity, a humiliating episode with an older woman who liked macho horses and who treated me like a young stallion,” Harry writes.
“I mounted her quickly, after which she spanked my ass and sent me away. One of my many mistakes was letting it happen in a field, just behind a very busy pub. No doubt someone had seen us.”
The book reveals that the bodyguard was actually checking up on the young prince because Charles’ press office had been informed that a newspaper had evidence of him taking drugs, which Harry said was “all lies”.
During the ITV interview, Bradby commented that there was “an awful lot” of material to unpack in Harry’s memoir, including the virginity story.
“Sensitive viewers turn away now,” he joked.
Harry then appeared to roll his eyes, commenting: “It’s four lines or something. If that.”
“Oh, I'm just scrubbing it from my memory still. But it's OK,” Bradby said.
“We can talk about you losing your virginity, if you want?” Harry teased.
“No, let's not do that, let's not go there,” Bradby said, before quickly changing the subject.
Spare is scheduled for release by Penguin Random House on 10 January.
A biographer has suggested that the memoir and Harry’s ongoing dispute with the royal family could mark “the beginning of the end of the monarchy”.
