‘Put a price on his head’: Prince Harry’s ‘unwise’ drive to tell the truth made him a ‘potential target’ and put his family in danger

Prince Harry didn’t do himself any favor by talking about the number of Taliban fighters he killed in his memoir Spare, putting not just himself but his family in danger with the risky revelation.

The Duke of Sussex served in the British Army for 10 years and did two tours of Afghanistan. In his book, which came out in January last year, he revealed that he killed 25 Taliban fighters as an Apache helicopter pilot and likened their deaths to “chess pieces removed from the board.”

He wrote: “Every kill was on video. The Apache saw all. The camera in its nose recorded all. So, after every mission, there would be a careful review of that video…I could always say precisely how many enemy combatants I’d killed. And I felt it vital never to shy away from that number. Among the many things I learned in the Army, accountability was near the top of the list. So, my number: Twenty-five. ”

His revelation sparked a flurry of reactions from fury to aghast while others criticized him for apparently boasting about his killings. Although he wrote that no civilians were involved so his conscience is clear, these comments would have been better left unsaid.

Dai Davies, a former Head of Royal Protection and a Divisional Commander in the Metropolitan Police, was among those who vocally lashed out at the Duke. Speaking on the German documentary Harry – The Lost Prince, he said: “In his book, Spare, for him to disclose, as he did, that he had killed a number of Taliban was, in my opinion, totally unwise, because I was aware, as indeed he was, that the Taliban and various groups had put a price on his head.”

Davies added: “And really, I think that price still remains, which could form a basis for him saying, well, I need security. If you open your big mouth, as he has collectively, that book, not just on that, but given away all kinds of secrets, then it’s not surprising that some people might regard you as a potential target.”

This could be an added factor as to why Harry is fighting tooth and nail to have his security reinstated during visits to the U.K. He’s in a legal fight with the Home Office to allow him to personally fund his and his family’s police protection in the country. Aside from his safety, he also needs to ensure his wife, Meghan Markle is safe after it was revealed last year that she received real death threats in the country, with Anil Kanti “Neil” Basu, the former head of counter-terrorism for the Metropolitan Police in London, revealing that she received “disgusting and very real threats” that mostly came from right-wing extremists.

He said: “If you’d seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it — the kind of rhetoric that’s online — if you don’t know what I know, you would feel under threat all of the time” adding that people “have been prosecuted for those threats” following an investigation.

Despite all the criticisms, Harry said writing Spare was a “cathartic” experience and belied claims that he boasted about the killings. He explained: “…My words are not dangerous – but the spin of my words are very dangerous to my family. That is a choice they’ve made…My whole goal and my attempt with sharing that detail is to reduce the number of (veteran) suicides.”