Prince Harry has detailed the depths of his despair when the head of the Army called off his deployment when he was fighting in Afghanistan.
Prince Harry turned to vodka and red bull for ‘comfort’
Prince Harry has detailed the depths of his despair in his bombshell memoir, Spare, when the head of the Army called off his deployment when he was fighting in Afghanistan.
The Duke of Sussex revealed he hit a low point during this time, and it came after the head of the Army, General Dannatt, called off his deployment saying he was a target for bullets because of his royal status.
In his memoir, Spare, he wrote: “I pondered quitting the Army. What was the point of staying if I couldn’t actually be a soldier?”
Harry then sought comfort in drink. He explained: “Not getting comfort from any quarter, I looked for it in vodka and Red Bull. And gin and tonic. I was photographed around this time going into or coming out of multiple pubs, clubs, house parties, at wee hours.”
Harry also delved into a conversation he had with his elder brother, Prince William, suggesting that there might have been an undercurrent of sibling rivalry at play, reports the Mirror.
He reflected: “Most of the time Willy and I didn’t have any truck with all that Heir-Spare nonsense. But now and then I’d be brought up short and realize that on some level it really did matter to him. Professionally, personally, he cared where I stood, what I was doing.”
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Harry also delved into a conversation he had with his elder brother
Harry has also revealed the sense of abandonment he’s felt since becoming a published author. He’s had his fair share of disputes over his contentious book Spare.
One of his closest pals has made an ‘unthinkable’ move in a Meghan Markle snub and appears to have deserted him. There’s rumour of a rift with Hugh van Cutsem after he worked alongside Meghan Markle’s nemesis, Jeremy Clarkson.
The former Top Gear presenter made headlines in 2022 when he penned a column for The Sun newspaper, where he harshly expressed his disdain for the Duchess of Sussex. In the piece, Clarkson voiced his wish for the Duchess of Sussex to be publicly humiliated – a sentiment later deemed sexist by the press regulator.
Hugh van Cutsem, who has been acquainted with both Harry and Prince William since their childhood, was spotted deer stalking in episode seven of the show alongside Jeremy, suggesting that the 49-year-old is yet another friend who has fallen out with the prince.
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Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in 2020
Richard Eden from The Daily Mail was also taken aback. Eden commented: “Anyone who doubts the depth of Harry’s rift with some of his oldest and once upon a time closest friends need look no further than the new series of Clarkson’s Farm on Amazon Prime, in which columnist and presenter Jeremy Clarkson at-tempts to run his 1,000-acre Diddly Squat farm in Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire.”
He further commented: “Yet who should appear in a recent episode of Clarkson’s Farm, but another of Harry’s oldest friends! Hugh van Cutsem, referred to simply as ‘Hugh’ on screen, is seen stalking deer with Clarkson in the Cotswolds countryside – an appearance that would have been unthinkable were he still close to Harry.”
Prince Harry has voiced his feelings about the abandonment by some of his oldest friends following his Oprah Winfrey interview. The Duke of Sussex expressed how his closest friends criticised him for revealing details about the Royal Family.
In Spare, Prince Harry also wrote: “Several close mates and beloved figures in my life, including one of Hugh and Emilie’s sons, Emilie herself, and even Tiggy, had chastised me for Oprah, How could you reveal such things? About your family?”
Harry and Meghan both stepped down as senior working royals in 2020 and have relocated to Montecito, California in the US where they live with their two children, Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three.