Ken Wharfe, Princess Diana’s former bodyguard says Prince Harry should review his security after revealing in his new book that he had killed 25 Taliban fighters
Speaking to Camilla Tominey, Mr Wharfe said Harry’s revelation is concerning, and in his view, ill-judged.
He said: “In the last two or three days a number of leading military personnel have condemned his actions, and I think it was incredibly foolish of him.
“Let's be quite frank about this. We've already had statements from Afghanistan. And you only have to look at what happened to Salman Rushdie recently - nobody anticipated an attack like that.
“So, I think Harry and his security, wherever that might be, seriously need to reassess his own security - both to himself and to his family because we live in very dangerous times. To make that statement was an incredibly bad call.
Ken Wharfe, Princess Diana's former bodyguard has hit out at Prince Harry's Taliban claims
GB News
“Which brings us on the question of: ‘Why didn't someone really sort of advise him and go through this’. Why didn’t they identify the areas that were likely to cause the problem? That clearly didn't happen.”
Mr Wharfe said the book’s release had thrown out details which had left him shocked.
He said: “There are serious implications of that statement about the Taliban, that seem to me to have now dominated the world's media, and rightly so. It's put aside, you know, the fight in Nottingham Cottage.
"I mean we can laugh at that. But the actual implication surrounding the fact that he shot 25 Taliban was a huge mistake on his part.”
Predicting how this will impact his future relationship with his father, he said: “There has always been a lot of criticism about his father.
"But when I was working for the Princess, I found the Prince to be an extraordinarily forgiving man. And the one thing that I see now is that he would like to find a way. And it's likely Diana would be devastated by all this too.”
Reacting to the elements of the book he has seen he continued: “What I've read so far is actually rather pitiful. I am rather saddened by it for him and saddened for the royal family.
“This is an episode of a story that they didn't need. What we're hearing is an airing of his problems publicly that include his father and his brother, and other members of the royal family.
"And like any airing of anyone's problems any chance of a reconciliation seems now to be fading fast. If you're going to reconcile a problem, you need to do it privately, you don't do it like this.”
Princess Diana with her former bodyguard Ken Wharfe
Martin Keene
Recalling his experience of the Princes growing up he added: “I remember them both as two very young children. And that was a very pleasant experience. It was a privileged sibling rivalry from a young age. Harry was always the sort of the court jester, the entertainer.
"There's always going to be sibling rivalry and William, understandably, was a bit jealous of Harry's popularity. But that was then.
“I remember even at the age of five Harry was clearly under the knowledge he was never going to be King. Once I was traveling to Highgrove. Diana was driving and a nanny was refereeing a fight on the backseat.
"Then, suddenly out of nowhere, Harry sort of leaned across to William. He said you know it doesn’t matter; you'll be king one day. He was therefore saying I can do what I want.”