The memoir,Spare,will also reveal Harry believes the late Princess Diana spoke to him from the grave via an unnamed woman,while he details the depth of division with his father,King Charles,and brother William,Prince of Wales.
The late Princess Diana and Prince Harry in 1995.AP
Early copies of the book were put on sale in Spain five days before the official release,sending reporters around the world scrambling for details of the conflict at the heart of the British monarchy.
British media outlets that claimed to have obtained copies of the manuscript on Thursday (UK time) reported revelations Harry refers to Camilla,the Queen Consort,as “the other woman”,that he wondered if she’d be an “evil stepmother” and begged his father not to marry her.
His book also reflects on how his father,King Charles,joked that he was not his biological father,referencing longstanding rumours his mother’s lover James Hewitt is his true dad. Diana claimed she met Hewitt after Harry’s birth.
Harry writes of his past drug use which he says he engaged in “to feel different”,and recounted losing his virginity at the age of 17 in a field behind a pub in Eton.
Harry also wrote that he killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving in Afghanistan and did not view them as people but as pieces on a chessboard that needed to be removed.
The book’s premature release comes as Harry has engaged in a series of promotional interviews,in the third of which he described his older brother William as his “arch nemesis”.
“There has always been this competition between us,weirdly,I think it plays into the ... heir/spare,” he said in an interview withGood Morning America.
According to leaks of the manuscript,Harry blames William and wife Catherine,the Princess of Wales,for endorsing his decision to wear a Nazi costume to a party,saying the pair howled with laughter when he tried it on.
Another report said Harry writes about a physical fight he says his brother started over a row about his wife Meghan,the Duchess of Sussex.
And in another sign of how far off any reconciliation between Harry,Charles and William might be,the UK’s ITV broadcast a clip of Harry saying he did not know whether he would attend his father’s coronation in May.
The Guardian’sUS-based reporter Martin Pengelly that Harry,grief-stricken over the death of his mother,sought out a woman “who claimed to have powers” and that he immediately felt an energy around her.
Diana died in a car crash in Paris in 1997 when Harry was aged 12.
Harry’s back with his memoir.Random House Group via AP
In his memoir,he recounts that the woman relayed the following message:“You’re living the life she couldn’t,you’re living the life she wanted for you.”
According to the report,Harry acknowledged his grief made him a ripe target for “humbuggery” but that he went to see the unnamed woman on the recommendation of trusted friends.
He said the woman answered his question for “clarity” about her credentials by mentioning a Christmas ornament.
“Your mother says … something about a Christmas ornament? Of a mother? Or a grandmother? It fell? Broke?” the woman is quoted as saying to Harry.
Harry’s book also recounts an anecdote of his son Archie accidentally breaking a Christmas tree ornament fashioned to represent his late grandmother,Queen Elizabeth II.
The woman said:“Your mother says she had a bit of a giggle about that.”
The woman told him:“Your mother is with you ... right now”,causing his neck to warm and eyes to water.
Harry agreed and told the woman:“I know. I’ve felt that of late.”
The book does not detail when this encounter happened or the identity of the woman.
In his book,Harry says he regularly drives through the tunnel in Paris where Diana’s fatal car accident occurred to try to understand what happened.
In a,Harry spoke of the likeness between Diana and his wife and that his move to the US was something his mother might have done herself had she not died.
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