New revelations as Harry says he killed 25 people in Afghanistan
Royal Editor Chris Ship reports on the claims made in a leaked extract of Prince Harry's highly anticipated autobiography
The Duke of Sussex has reportedly claimed he killed 25 people while serving as an Apache helicopter pilot in Afghanistan.
In his autobiography Spare, Harry said he did not think of them as "people" but instead as "chess pieces" that had been taken off the board.
According to multiple reports, Harry wrote that flying six missions during his second tour of duty on the front line resulted in "the taking of human lives" of which he was neither proud nor ashamed.
Describing watching a video of each "kill" when he returned to base, he wrote of Taliban fighters as "baddies" who were being eliminated before they could kill "goodies".
Elsewhere, in an extract first published by The Guardian newspaper, Harry further claimed that he was physically attacked by his brother over the younger prince’s marriage to Meghan Markle. Reports cited that Harry alleged the confrontation took place at his London home in 2019.
As Harry levels explosive allegations at the Royal Family in leaked excerpts of his new book - ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship provides analysis
William physically attacked Harry
He went on to claim the incident left him with a visible injury to his back, after the Prince of Wales grabbed his brother by the collar and ripped his necklace before knocking him to the floor.
Harry further claimed William had called the American actress "difficult", "rude" and "abrasive" - comments which the younger brother said parroted "the press narrative" about his wife.
The "extraordinary scene" is "one of many in Spare" which is due to be published on January 10.
What are the leaked claims that Prince Harry has made in Spare?
Prince Harry alleged that his brother physically attacked him in 2019.
William has been accused of calling Meghan "difficult" and "rude", during an incident at Harry’s then home in Nottingham Cottage.
The brothers had physical fights when they were younger, in which Harry said William urged him to hit back.
The Duke of Sussex said he and William had nicknames for each other: "Willy" and "Harold".
Of the alleged 2019 altercation, Harry said he told his therapist of it first before his wife.
Harry claimed that the King pleaded with his sons to stop fighting at Windsor after the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral.
Harry phoned the Prince and Princess of Wales to ask them whether he should choose a pilot’s uniform or a Nazi one for a fancy dress party he infamously attended in 2005.
Harry claimed that, after he was born, his father supposedly told Diana that his son’s arrival was wonderful and that now she had given him an heir and a spare, his work was done.
Before the King married the now Queen Consort, Camilla, Harry claimed he and his brother begged their father not to marry her.
The Duke of Sussex opened up about his use of cocaine and losing his virginity to an older woman in a field behind a pub.
Reports showed that, according to Harry, his elder brother had wanted to discuss "the whole rolling catastrophe" of their relationship and struggles with the press.
But when William arrived at Nottingham Cottage - where Harry was then living - in the grounds of Kensington Palace, the Prince of Wales was already "piping hot", Harry claims.
"After William complained about Meghan, Harry writes, Harry told him he was repeating the press narrative and that he expected better," according to The Guardian.
"But William, Harry says, was not being rational, leading to the two men shouting over each other.
"Harry then accused his brother of acting like an heir, unable to understand why his younger brother was not content to be a spare."
Insults were then exchanged between the two men, before William claimed he was trying to help, claims which Harry found incredulous, and informed his brother of such, angering William.
So much so, Harry writes, the Prince of Wales swore and stepped forwards, scaring him.
He writes: "[William] called me another name, then came at me. It all happened so fast. So very fast.
"He grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor. I landed on the dog’s bowl, which cracked under my back, the pieces cutting into me.
"I lay there for a moment, dazed, then got to my feet and told him to get out."
Harry writes that William urged him to hit back but he refused. Shortly afterwards though, the elder brother apologised.
William had then allegedly told his brother not to tell Meghan about the confrontation, resulting in Harry saying: "You mean that you attacked me?", to which William responded: "I didn’t attack you, Harold."
Harry said he did not immediately tell his wife but said she had noticed "scrapes and bruises" on his back.
Buckingham Palace has not commented on the claims.
Earlier in the memoir, the duke reportedly elaborates on the story behind the book’s title, Spare. According to The Guardian, he recounts what the King said to Diana, Princess of Wales on the day of his birth.
His father, Harry claims, told the then-Princess of Wales: "Wonderful! Now you’ve given me an heir and a spare - my work is done."
The duke’s extraordinary book claims come five days before Spare is published around the world - but the book has appeared to go on sale early in Spain, with several newspapers claiming to have acquired a copy.
The Spanish version En La Sombra, which translates as 'In the Shadow', shows that Harry has dedicated his memoir "Para Meg, Archie y Lili… y, for supuesto, mi madre" - "For Meg, Archie and Lili… and, of course, my mother".
Earlier this week, Prince Harry said he wants his father and brother back in a teaser trailer from an ITV interview due to be broadcast on Sunday.
In a series of clips from the duke’s ITV conversation, Harry tells presenter Tom Bradby: "It never needed to be this way", and refers to "the leaking and the planting" before adding: "I want a family, not an institution."
He also says "they feel as though it is better to keep us somehow as the villains" and "have shown absolutely no willingness to reconcile", although it is unclear who he is referring to.
In another clip shared by ITV on Thursday, Prince Harry said "staying silent" won’t make things any better with his family and refused to commit to coming to the historic coronation of his own father, the King, later this year.
Filmed in California where the duke now lives, ITV said Harry: The Interview will go into "unprecedented depth and detail" about his life in and outside the royal family.
Mr Bradby, a former royal correspondent and current presenter of ITV News at Ten, is a friend of the Sussexes and previously interviewed them for a documentary about their 2019 Africa tour.
But in a separate interview with CBS News, set to air the same day, Harry also criticises Buckingham Palace over an alleged failure to defend him and his wife, the Duchess of Sussex, before they stepped down as senior royals.
The duke also reveals to the US broadcaster that he would not return to the institution as a full-time royal.
Both CBS and ITV have released snippets of the duke’s conversations ahead of the full interviews being televised.
Speaking with CBS’s Anderson Cooper, Harry talks of the "betrayal" by Buckingham Palace, telling the 60 Minutes programme: "Every single time I’ve tried to do it privately, there have been briefings and leakings and planting of stories against me and my wife.
"The family motto is 'never complain, never explain', but it’s just a motto.
"They [Buckingham Palace] will feed or have a conversation with a correspondent, and that correspondent will literally be spoon-fed information and write the story, and at the bottom of it, they will say they have reached out to Buckingham Palace for comment.
"But the whole story is Buckingham Palace commenting.
"So when we’re being told for the last six years, 'we can’t put a statement out to protect you', but you do it for other members of the family, there becomes a point when silence is betrayal."
It comes after the duke claimed in his Netflix documentary that William broke a promise to him never to leak stories or brief against one another after witnessing the fallout of such actions in their father’s office.
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