Prince Harry, or Captain Wales, as he was known in the Army, in 2012
(Picture: PA Archive)A former defence minister has said Prince Harry’s admission he killed 25 people in Afghanistan could pose security risks for the Invictus Games.
The Duke of Sussex makes the revelation about his time serving as an Apache helicopter pilot in his memoir Spare, copies of which have been seen by the press ahead of its official release date on Tuesday.
According to the The Telegraph, which obtained a Spanish language copy of the memoir from a bookshop in Spain, Harry said he did not think of the people he killed as “people” but instead as “chess pieces” that had been taken off the board.
But Tory MP Tobias Ellwood, a senior backbencher and chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, has described his revelation - which sparked a protest in Afghanistan over the weekend - as “ill-advised”.
“I do worry that this is going to have security implications,” he told Sky News on Monday.
He recalled working with the Duke at the Invictus Games, an annual multinational sporting event for wounded and unwell servicemen and women founded by Prince Harry in 2014.
Describing the Games as an “incredible effort”, Mr Ellwood added: “This was his design, this was his creation.
“And I’m now concerned that something which has been so important to veterans to help rehabilitation will now suffer because there could be security implications of him participating in that.”
According to The Telegraph, Prince 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”.
“So, my number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,” he wrote.
The Duke of Sussex, patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, announced that the sixth Games will be hosted in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Having been delayed due to the pandemic, it will take place between September 9 and 16 this year.
Prince Harry first went to war in 2007 on a 10-week tour of duty fighting the Taliban in dangerous Helmand Province, operating as a battlefield air controller behind enemy lines.
He later retrained and qualified as an Apache helicopter pilot after rigorous training in Britain and America, before returning to Afghanistan in September 2012.
The 20-week stint gave him the chance to use his Apache flying skills and head out on operations in his role as co-pilot gunner.
But he was criticised on his return to the UK for frank comments that he took the enemy “out of the game”, and soldiers “take a life to save a life”.
As a gunner in Apache attack helicopters, the royal, who was then 28, flew on scores of missions with his fingers on the triggers of deadly rockets, missiles and a 30mm cannon.
“Take a life to save a life,” he shrugged and said during an interview in 2013. “That’s what we revolve around, I suppose.
“If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we’ll take them out of the game, I suppose.”
The revelation he killed 25 people while on tour is one of many extraordinary claims that have come to light in the lead-up to Spare’s official release.
The Duke also says he was once knocked to the floor by his old brother, Prince William, during an argument; admits to having taken cocaine; and said a woman with “powers” relayed a message from his mum to him, according too news outlets that have allegedly seen copies.
According to The Guardian an altercation between the royal brothers culminated with Prince William grabbing Harry by the collar and throwing him to the floor, shattering a dog bowl with his back.
Prince Harry also reportedly claims Prince William and his sister-in-law Kate were behind his infamously dressing up in a Nazi costume in 2005.
The Duke caused outrage when he was pictured wearing the soldier’s uniform complete with a swastika armband for a fancy dress party, aged 20.
But in Spare, he reportedly blames his older brother and sister-in-law for coming up with the idea, adding they “howled with laughter” when they saw him wearing it.
In a segment of the book obtained by Page Six, Harry reportedly writes about choosing the outfit, saying it was a toss-up between a pilot uniform or a Nazi uniform.
“I phoned Willy and Kate, asked what they thought. Nazi uniform, they said,” says Harry in the book, according to Page Six.
