ABOYNE: Britain's King Charles III made his first public appearance on Thursday since the release of his son Prince Harry's tell-all memoir and accompanying TV interviews in which he made a series of accusations against the British royal family.
In his book "Spare", Harry divulges that he had begged his father not to marry his second wife Camilla, now the queen consort. The book also delivered numerous other revelations, including that elder brother and heir to the throne William had knocked him over during a heated argument.
He also used promotional interviews to double down on his claims that some royals, including Camilla and William, and their aides had leaked damaging stories to tabloid papers about him or his American wife Meghan in order to protect themselves or enhance their reputations.
Charles chatted with well-wishers but made no immediate comment about the recent furore when he arrived for a visit to the Aboyne Community Shed in a village in Scotland to meet representatives involved with local support groups.
The low-key trip, the monarch's first public event of the year, was in stark contrast to the recent high-profile coverage of his son's book, which came a month after the release of a six-part Netflix documentary series about him and Meghan.
Later on Thursday, William and his wife Kate, who he also criticises in his book, will make their first appearances since the memoir's release.
So far, neither Buckingham Palace nor any of the royals have commented on Harry's disclosures.
HARRY HITS OUT AT PRESS
Meanwhile, Prince Harry has hit back at "hurtful" responses to his record-selling memoir, saying he was particularly upset by the "lie" he had boasted that he had killed 25 people in Afghanistan when serving as a military helicopter pilot.
In his book Harry recounts his two tours of Afghanistan, first as a forward air controller in 2007/08 and again in 2012, when he was a co-pilot gunner in Apache attack helicopters, and the number of people he had killed.
British newspapers, heavily criticized in the book, and some senior former British military figures have attacked his decision to make public the figure of those he had killed, saying it could put him and others at risk of reprisals.
Speaking to US chat show host Stephen Colbert on "The Late Show", he said the press had spun his words to take his disclosure out of context, and that he had included the material to reduce the number of suicides by military veterans.
"Without doubt the most dangerous lie that they have told is that I somehow boasted about the number of people that I killed in Afghanistan," he said.
"I made a choice to share it because having spent nearly two decades working with veterans all around the world, I think the most important thing is to be honest and be able to give space to others to be able to share their experiences without any shame."
On Tuesday, the publisher of Harry's book said it had become the UK's fastest selling non-fiction book ever and its intimate personal revelations about his life and other royals, and his accusations about how they had worked with a hostile press, have dominated the British media for days.
The English language edition of "Spare" sold more than 1.43 million units in all formats and editions in the United States, Canada and the UK on the first day of its publication.
"I'm not going to lie the last few days have been hurtful and challenging," Harry said. -- Reuters
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