Prince Harry admitted to killing 25 people during his second tour of Afghanistan, with one of his former friends now slamming the Duke of Sussex's "bravado".
Harry was an Apache helicopter pilot during his time in the British army and opened up about the experience in his memoir, Spare. In the book, he said he flew on six missions that resulted in "the taking of human lives".
The Duke of Sussex also said that he didn't think of those he killed as people but as "chess pieces" which were taken off the board. He also described the insurgents as "baddies eliminated before they could kill goodies". One of Harry's former pals has taken issue with his attitude to the killing of 25 people.
Edward Charles Featherstone, a pseudonym chosen by Harry's former polo playing friend, said the Duke of Sussex "must have suffered PTSD" following his time in Afghanistan. Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, he added: "Writing about it, yeah, and there seems to be elements of bravado in his attitude about his victims and writing about it now is all in pieces and whatever."
Edward, who has written a new book titled The Rude Beginning, told us: "Taking that his infamous number of 25 Taliban insurgents is accurate, it's my opinion that you can't take 25 lives and be involved in the theatre of war and that not reach deep into your psyche and cause psychological disorder." He also said the memories are something that "creep up on you" later in life.
The author followed a similar career path to Harry, working as a combat helicopter pilot in the air force. He said he was "quite deeply affected" by his experiences.
"You suffer it a little bit later on as you get older, as you get married, as you have children and you remember moments in your air force, your military career. You remember those moments, just little things, just little glimpses and of course, you can't help but think that that particular person, and you may have seen the whites of his eyes or whatever the case it, was someone's son, someone's brother, maybe someone's father and that eventually, your PTSD creeps up on you," he told us.
The Rude Chronicles is the first book in Edward's memoirs, The Rude Chronicles. It tells the story of his journey from being sent to boarding school at the age of six to playing polo and eventually joining the air force as a combat helicopter pilot.
In Harry's memoir, he wrote about how he watched each "kill" when he returned to base in Afghanistan. He explained how it's not possible to kill someone "if you see them as a person", but said the army had "trained me to 'other' them and they had trained me well."
The Duke of Sussex explained how he knew his exact number of kills because of the "era of Apaches and laptops". He added: "It seemed to me essential not to be afraid of that number. So my number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me."
