Prince Harry: Many soldiers neither agreed nor disagreed with Afghan war

Duke of Sussex opens up about his time in military service and his therapy sessions

Prince Harry on patrol in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Reuters

Prince Harry has again spoken out about his time in the British military, saying “a lot of us” in the Army “didn't necessarily agree or disagree” with the war in Afghanistan.

In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry wrote about his royal life and his military service, including the number of people he killed in Afghanistan.

On Saturday, he spoke to Dr Gabor Mate, author of The Myth Of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing In A Toxic Culture, and told of how he had always felt different to rest of his family

He also talked about military service and how his book had been received.

“One of the reasons why so many people in the United Kingdom were not supportive of our troops was because they assumed that everybody that was serving was for the war,” he said

“But no, once you sign up, you do what you’re told to do.

“So there was a lot of us that didn’t necessarily agree or disagree, but you were doing what you were trained to do, you were doing what you were sent to do.”

The first copies of Prince Harry's new book Spare are unpacked during a midnight sale at a book shop in London. EPA

After months of anticipation and a sustained publicity blitz, Prince Harry's book is on sale in the UK. AFP

Photographers surround a trolley containing copies of Spare. PA

Caroline Lennon, the first customer to purchase a copy of Spare, poses for photographers at Waterstones in Piccadilly, London. PA

There is no mention of royal family members in the foreword to Spare. AP

The book reveals that Prince Harry took cocaine and magic mushrooms. Reuters

Spare also lifts the lid on the prince's relationships with the royal family. EPA

The book contains allegations of racism within the royal family and accounts of a fight with Prince William. AFP

He told Dr Mate of the concerns he had before beginning therapy sessions and of how he had worried he would lose memories of his mother Princess Diana.

“I certainly have felt throughout my life, my younger years, I felt slightly different to the rest of my family,” the prince said.

“I felt strange being in this container and I know that my mum felt the same so it makes sense to me.

“It didn't make sense at the time. I felt as though my body was in there but my head was out and sometimes it was vice versa.”

He added: “One of the things I was most scared about was losing the feelings that I had of my mum.”

“I thought that if I went to therapy it would kill me and that I would lose whatever I had left, whatever I managed to hold on to of my mother and it turns out that wasn't the case. I didn't lose that it was the opposite.

“I turned what I thought was supposed to be sadness to try to prove to her that I missed her into realising she just really wanted me to be happy, and that was a huge weight of my chest.”

The ghostwritten Spare laid bare his frustrations with his family.

Prince Harry said his father, now King Charles III, had put his own interests above his youngest son's and was jealous of Meghan (Prince Harry's wife) and Kate, Princess of Wales, and that Queen Consort Camilla sacrificed him on “her personal PR altar”.

Speaking about negative reaction to the book, Prince Harry said: “Sometimes I'm surprised and sometimes I'm not.

“It is the same group of people who react the same way when someone in a position like myself talk about their trauma.

“As we've already discussed, I'm not a victim in this, but there's almost a balancing act. The more they criticise, the more they comment, the more I feel the need to share.

“I found a way to be able to look around, and firstly ignore, the criticisms and the abuse.”

The duke, who lives in California after moving to the US in 2020, has revealed he has enough material for two books but held back because he does not think his father and brother would “ever forgive” him.

It has not yet been confirmed whether Harry will be invited to attend his father's coronation in May.