Harry: I spoke about Afghan kills to help my own healing
PRINCE Harry has justified revealing details of his Afghanistan service – including his Taliban kill count – by saying it was part of his ‘healing journey’.
He told a leading US magazine that soldiers should discuss ‘parts of our service that haunt us’.
The duke caused uproar with his memoir describing fighters he killed as ‘chess pieces’, prompting Afghans to call for him to be put on trial.
Senior British Army veterans also condemned the prince, who wrote how he had counted his 25 kills by watching nosecone videos from his Apache attack helicopter missions.
Now he has told People magazine in an interview: ‘We often talk about the parts of our service that haunt us – the lives lost, the lives taken. But also the parts of our service that heal us and the lives we’ve saved.’
Harry said of his two tours of duty in Afghanistan: ‘It’s a duty, a job, and a service to our country. I’ve done all I could to be the best soldier I was trained to be. There’s truly no right or wrong way to try and navigate these feelings, but I know from my own healing journey that silence has been the least effective remedy. Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others.’
In his memoir Spare, Harry wrote that he regarded enemy units in Afghanistan not as ‘people’ but as ‘Bads taken away before they could kill Goods’ and ‘chess pieces removed from the board’.
Taliban chiefs told the prince the men he killed all had families. In Britain, leading military figures warned the remarks handed militants a propaganda victory and put national security at risk, as well as increasing the threat to the prince, his family and his prized Invictus Games.
They accused the duke of a breach of the unwritten code that soldiers do not count ‘notches on their rifles’.
Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, accused Harry of ‘ betraying’ the military and putting serving British soldiers and the public at risk.
The revelations have been damaging for Army veterans struggling with post-traumatic stress disor-before. der, military doctors said. Harry’s magazine interview was conducted some time in advance of the book’s launch and subsequent furore, but he was asked about his decision to write about the lives he took.
The duke says in the magazine that his reason for writing Spare was ‘to turn my pain into purpose’, adding he hopes it will be rewarding ‘ if sharing my experience makes a positive difference in someone’s life’.
As in his memoir, he explains how his late mother Princess Diana is a constant presence in his life. He said: ‘The healing process has allowed me to get to a place where I now feel the presence of my mum more than ever She’s with me all the time – my guardian angel.’ He also credits his wife for opening his eyes ‘to so much I fear I otherwise would have never fully understood’.
Asked by People how his family might view his book, the duke said: ‘I don’t want to tell anyone what to think of it and that includes my family.
‘This book and its truths are in many ways a continuation of my own mental health journey. It’s a raw account of my life – the good, the bad and everything in between.’
Speaking about the chances of reconciliation, he added: ‘I’ve said before that I’ve wanted a family, not an institution.’
Harry has conducted a string of interviews with US media, but there are signs some are tiring of
‘A raw account of my life’
his tales. The New York Times yesterday called his remarks ‘repetitive and tiresome’ and suggested the ‘tide seems to be turning’ in US attitudes.
■ ITV has revealed that its Tom Bradby interview with Prince Harry has been sold to 77 territories around the globe, in deals which are understood to total a six-figure sum.
Australia, Canada and New Zealand as well as Germany, France and Italy were among the buyers of Sunday night’s 90-minute show watched by 4.1million.