The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s team at Archewell have posted a statement on Prince Harry memoir, Spare. The team used the message to congratulate Prince Harry on the success of the book after it sold more than 1.4 million copies worldwide on the day it officially went on sale.
They wrote: “A huge congratulations to Prince Harry on the release of his memoir, Spare. As your team, we are proud to stand beside you and celebrate you as the world finally hears your story in your words.
“Thank you for your courage, honesty, humor, and light. You’ve inspired us all.”
The message, signed by the team at Archewell and the Sussexes’ private office, ends with the sign off “with admiration”.
Spare sold 400,000 copies in the United Kingdom in hardback, e-book and audio formats on its first day.
Ms Walpole said a lot of people at the time in their circle of friends would have been aware of what had happened.
She said: “I’m surprised Harry put it in his book. It was such a long time ago, we were teenagers. It just doesn’t really seem a big deal to me because I’ve obviously known for so long.
“Nobody from back then would be surprised that it was me and Harry. A lot of people knew about it.”
In the book, Harry described the event of losing his virginity as an “inglorious episode”.
He recounted how one of the Royal Family’s bodyguards, Marko, paid him a visit at the end of 2001 when he was still a pupil at Eton College in Windsor, aged 16 or 17, and told the prince he had been sent to “find out the truth”.
Harry wrote: “I suspected he was referring to my recent loss of virginity. Inglorious episode, with an older woman. She liked horses, quite a lot, and treated me not unlike a young stallion.
“Quick ride, after which she’d smacked my rump and sent me off to graze.”
Meanwhile, Harry was the butt of a joke made by Grammys host Trevor Noah, who alluded to the Duke of Sussex in a quip made while introducing James Corden on stage at the music event.
The former host of The Daily Show, who did not name the royal, said Corden is “living proof that a man can move from London to LA and not tell everyone about his frostbitten penis”.
In a passage from Harry’s recent memoir Spare, he described how during a trip to Antarctica, prior to the now Prince of Wales’s wedding to the Princess of Wales, his genitals had been “frostnipped”.
Noah, 38, said: “James Corden is a 12-time Emmy winner and the host of The Late Late Show.
“He’s also living proof that a man can move from London to LA and not tell everyone about his frostbitten penis.”
The Duke of Sussex moved to Montecito, California, from the UK after he and Meghan stepped down from royal duties in 2020.
