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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Miriam Burrell

Prince Harry says he was taunted about his mum’s death during army training - report

Prince Harry opened up about his time in Afghanistan in his memoir, Spare

(Picture: PA Wire)

Prince Harry claimed that he was tortured about his mother’s death during an exercise while he trained for the Army, according to reports.

The Duke of Sussex revealed in his upcoming memoir, Spare, that he killed 25 Taliban fighters while in Afghanistan, an admission that sparked criticism from Colonel Tim Collins, known for a pre-battle speech he made in Iraq.

Colonel Tim Collins said Harry’s conduct is “not how we behave in the Army”.

Prince Harry also said he was abducted and tortured as part of his combat training, during which a woman talked about his mother, according to the MailOnline, who said it has seen a Spanish copy of Spare.

“She said: ‘Your mother was pregnant when she died’”, Harry reportedly wrote in his book, with the woman adding that the child was “a Muslim baby”.

At the time of Princess Diana’s death she was in a relationship with Dodi Fayed, who was reportedly raised a Muslim.

Harry wrote that afterwards: “An instructor apologised for what they had said about my mother”, the MailOnline reports.

It is one of several extraordinary revelations in the Duke’s memoir, to be publicly released on Tuesday. Copies of the book were reportedly leaked, and some copies accidentally went on a sale in a Spanish bookshop and were subsequently seen by media outlets.

Prince Harry also claimed his brother, Prince William, physically attacked him during an argument about his wife, Meghan Markle.

Harry says the incident took place at his home in the grounds of Kensington Palace in 2019, describing how he was left with visible injuries to his back after his brother grabbed him by the collar, ripped his necklace and knocked him to the floor.

He also reveals cocaine use and losing his virginity to an older woman, aged 17, outside a pub, in his memoir.

More claims are due this weekend when two interviews — with ITV and US channel CBS — are broadcast.

The interviews and the book are the latest move by the couple since they quit their duties as working royals and mark an escalation in their very public row with the rest of the royal family, which started when they gave an interview to Oprah Winfrey that included allegations of racism against Meghan and a lack of care for her mental health.

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