Prince Harry thinks that his book is ‘essential for historical fact'

Prince Harry has been speaking about his new book, claiming that it's “essential for historical fact” in his latest interview.

The Duke of Sussex spoke with ITV's Tom Bradby on Sunday night in a 90-minute chat and he wasn't afraid to overstate the significance of his new autobiography Spare.

The book had already caused a stir, after extracts were revealed which saw Harry claim that Prince William pushed him to the ground during a confrontation over Harry’s wife Meghan Markle in 2019.

It also features a story about Harry’s teenage drug use, with the duke admitting to taking cocaine when he was 17 years old and reportedly reveals how the duke lost his virginity aged 17 in a field behind a “very busy pub”.

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Speaking in the interview on Sunday, Harry stated that the book and the Netflix series are recording “historical fact”.

When asked by Bradby whether he was ‘looking back too much’, Harry replied: “We always knew that these two projects, both the Netflix documentary and the book, one being our story and one very much being my story, they were look-back projects.”

He added: “They were necessary, they were essential for historical fact and significance. I don't want my kids or other people of that age growing up thinking 'Oh wow, this is what happens', like no that's not what happened. This is what happened.”

The duke went on to say: “There are two sides to every story, so it's been… it's been a painful process, cathartic at times, but going back over old ground to be able to get these projects right has taken a lot of energy, and there's a lot of relief now that both these projects have been complete.

“Now we can focus on looking forward and I'm excited about that. So no, I'm not stuck in the past and I will never be stuck in the past.”

It comes after sections from the book Spare were quoted by the UK press after the memoir was accidentally put on sale on 5 January in Spain. The book was officially supposed to be released on Tuesday (10 January).

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