Prince Harry faces growing criticism over memoir revelations

Prince Harry faced a backlash Friday over his memoir "Spare", with criticism from the media, commentators, army veterans and even the Taliban, while Buckingham Palace kept silent on its widely leaked contents.

Days before the official publication on Tuesday, disclosures from the book dominated headlines and airwaves after a Spanish-language version of the memoir mistakenly went on sale in Spain.Revelations, including an alleged physical attack on him by heir to the throne Prince William, how he lost his virginity, took drugs and killed 25 people in Afghanistan, have prompted both condemnation and derision.

Writer A.N. Wilson called the ghostwritten tome -- the biggest royal book since Harry's mother Princess Diana collaborated with Andrew Morton for a 1992 biography -- "calculated and despicable" and a work of "malice".Describing his decision to go public "idiotic", Wilson said the book had merely succeeded in making the public sympathise with the royal family, "not with him".- 'Idiotic' -The book is the latest broadside from Harry and his American wife Meghan after they quit royal duties and moved to California in 2020.The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, as they are formally known, have since cashed in on their royal connections with several lucrative contracts for tell-all books and programmes.The Spanish-language version of the book was hurriedly withdrawn from shelves after the blunder on Thursday but not before it had been purchased by media outlets, wrecking the publisher's strict worldwide embargo.

The Sun tabloid said public sympathy for Harry over losing his mother as a child could not "justify the destructive, vengeful path he has chosen, throwing his own family under a bus for millions of dollars".In an editorial, it pointed to ...