Harry claims he had to reveal his 25 Taliban kills ‘for his own healing’

Prince Harry today justified revealing his Taliban kill-count because soldiers should discuss ‘parts of our service that haunt us’ in a glossy US magazine piece where he appears to model the necklace he claims William broke in a fight over Meghan.

The Duke of Sussex claimed in his memoirs to have killed 25 enemy fighters during two tours of Afghanistan – calling his victims ‘chess pieces’ rather than people as a means of bearing the emotional strain of taking dozens of lives.

Harry told People that he speaks openly about his time in Afghanistan – and killing insurgents – ‘for my own healing journey’ and ‘in the hopes it will help others’. 

The interview was released this afternoon, with social media users remarking on how the magazine’s photo shoot appears to have brightened his blue eyes and thickened his hair. 

One critic said pictures of Harry, which include him walking on a wooden terrace and leaning against some patio doors in an open blue shirt and dark jeans, looked like a ‘faux-fashion photo shoot’. 

Harry is also wearing a black leather cord necklace. Some claimed it is identical to the one he claims was broken by his brother William in an alleged fight at Kensington Palace during a row over Meghan’s ‘difficult’ and ‘abrasive’ behaviour in 2019.

Prince Harry has done a glossy cover piece with People magazine, one of the Sussexes’ favoured US publications 

Prince Harry is seen on Monday leaving his Manhattan hotel and heading to record an episode of Stephen Colbert’s show, accompanied by an armed guard with a Glock gun lock box

It came as Harry was accused of reducing the royals to a laughing stock ahead of an appearance on the satirical ‘The Late Show’ with Stephen Colbert, due for broadcast in the US tonight. 

It was recorded in New York yesterday with the exiled royal ushered in and out of the studio by armed bodyguards including a British former policeman carrying a Glock pistol carry case.

But critics, including senior figures in the British Army, have said his admission is a breach of the unwritten code that soldiers do not count ‘notches on their rifles’. Others said Harry had betrayed ex-comrades by risking their safety, his own and that of the Royal Family.

Justifying his decision to tell millions that he opened fire and killed 25 fighters as an Apache helicopter gunner, Harry told People, a favoured US magazine of the Sussexes’: ‘I know from my own healing journey that silence has been the least effective remedy. Expressing and detailing my experience is how I chose to deal with it, in the hopes it would help others’.

Former military commanders, pilots, aid workers and diplomats condemned the remarks, which they claimed handed the militants a propaganda victory. He also faced the ignominy of being branded a ‘big-mouth loser’ by the Taliban themselves. 

But Harry told People: ‘This is something each soldier has to confront, and in the nearly two decades of working alongside service personnel and veterans, I’ve listened to their stories and have shared mine. 

‘In these conversations, we often talk about the parts of our service that haunt us — the lives lost, the lives taken. But also the parts of our service that heal us and the lives we’ve saved.

“It’s a duty, a job, and a service to our country — and having done two tours of duty in Afghanistan for my country, I’ve done all I could to be the best soldier I was trained to be’. He added: ‘There’s truly no right or wrong way to try and navigate these feelings’.

Prince Harry and his memoirs have been ridiculed by Stephen Colbert ahead of the broadcast of their US TV interview tonight with the comedian comparing his life to Harry Potter and joking the new book is available as a royal commemorative plate.

There were gales of laughter as the Duke of Sussex was called ‘His royal Harryness’ and also seen downing tequila shots in an interview with The Late Show in New York after being swept into the studio by armed bodyguards yesterday.

Harry is at the end of his transatlantic TV blitz promoting his new memoirs Spare, which is out today. In a series of interviews in the US and UK he has shared intimate details of his life, including losing his virginity, his use of drugs and killing 25 Taliban, as well as private conversations with his family and the deepening rift over Megxit.

But even the usually supportive liberal US media is tiring of Prince Harry’s complaints. The Left-wing, anti-British New York Times, called his remarks ‘repetitive and tiresome’ and suggested the ‘tide seems to be turning’ in US attitudes towards the Sussexes.

And in a trailer for tonight’s show, Stephen Colbert appeared more focused on poking fun at the royal and his bitter rift with his brother, and scathing gags about Britain and the royals including the late Queen.

After playing a clip where Harry describes his pain at William trying to avoid him at Eton, the Late Show presenter said to roars of laughter: ‘That’s heartbreaking. To be rejected by his older brother at school even though that magic hat sorted them into the same house. What do you think? Hufflepuff? Gryffindor?’

Harry is promoting his book on US TV again – this time with Late Show host Stephen Colbert – who appears ready to lampoon the prince and his life

Mr Colbert compared Harry’s school days to Hogwarts and also poked fun at the Royal Family and Britain

In another teaser Mr Colbert said Spare is available in hardback, audiobook and ‘commemorative plate’

In another teaser Mr Colbert said Spare is available in hardback, audiobook and ‘commemorative plate’ – a joke at the expense of Harry and other royals whose weddings and anniversaries are marked with limited edition tableware and crockery.

And then in a further joke at Harry’s expense – and the expense of the Royal Family including the Queen – Colbert says: ‘Stock up on corgis and steal a priceless cultural treasure from one of your colonies because The Late Show is going imperial’.

After a series of serious TV interviews – which some critics claim failed to properly question contradictions in his book – the prince has chosen to do The Late Show, and looks set to be made a figure of fun. 

Harry’s book also contains anecdotes that also appear to poke fun at his own family including hanging a trinket likeness of the Queen on a Christmas tree.

Spare reveals that Meghan gave Harry an ornament of the Queen that she had bought from a local store in California.

Harry writes in his book that it was ‘Granny’s face to a T’ and hung it straight on the large Christmas tree in their California home.

Toddler Archie was running around and knocked the tree’s stand, which caused the ornament to fall off and smash into pieces.

Harry admitted he sought help from a medium who said she could prove she was talking to his late mother from beyond the grave because Diana was ‘giggling’ at Archie breaking the ornament.

And in the couple’s Netflix documentary, released last month, a giggling Meghan appeared to mock her own efforts at following royal protocol as she recounted the ‘surreal’ moment she first met the Queen – performing a deeply exaggerated curtsey in front of awkward-looking husband, Prince Harry.

In it, the Duchess of Sussex compared the first encounter with Her Majesty to a lowbrow themed dinner at America’s ‘Medieval Times’. Her husband, who served in the Army with the Queen being his commander in chief, looked uncomfortable throughout.