Prince Harry has faced pushback from veterans over claims made in his new docuseries that the media didn't cover the challenges and traumas being faced by soldiers during the war in Afghanistan.
In the prince's Heart of Invictus series for Netflix, which debuted on August 30, Harry told audiences how his first tour of Afghanistan in 2008 was brought to a premature end when a media embargo was broken, and how the realities of the trauma faced by troops didn't set in until he came face to face with wounded soldiers on his evacuation flight home.
"To suddenly be on the way home, I was angry," he said. "But it was important for everyone around me and they're safety to remove me.
"My own experience in Afghanistan was really affected by that flight home and as we took off the curtain in front of me blew open.
"All you could see was the air hospital. Three young British soldiers all wrapped in plastic and their bodies in pieces. I saw what only people had talked about."
"That was the real trigger for...I'm now seeing the real cost of war," he said. "Not just those individuals but their families and how their lives would change forever.
"Stepping foot off the plane I was angry that this had happened to these guys, I was angry that the media weren't covering it, I was angry that I'd been pulled out but at that point it wasn't clear to me what needed to be done."
One of the soldiers being treated on the flight has since said he disagrees with Harry's claims about the media.
Former Royal Marine Ben McBean lost both legs in a roadside explosion during his tour of Afghanistan in 2008. Since meeting Harry, he has been a supporter of the prince's work with ex-servicemen and women, particularly the Invictus Games. However, he said that Harry has it "wrong" about the media not supporting troops.
"I have had his back for 15 years. I've always championed him but it doesn't mean I have to agree with everything that comes out of his mouth," McBean told The Sun after Heart of Invictus' release. "On this one the Duke of Sussex is wrong."
"I can say, hand on heart for a fact, that the British media—and especially The Sun—did cover the stories of veterans. One of the only positives post-injury was how the media supported the troops.
"They didn't write us off and told the world about us and our disabilities."
The Sun ran a number of stories and campaigns about troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, and on Thursday ran a front-page story taking aim at Harry.
"WE DID CARE HARRY…AND WE STILL DO," the headline ran.
Harry has a complicated history with the tabloid. In 2005 the paper printed photographs of the prince attending a fancy dress party dressed in a Nazi uniform with the headline "HARRY THE NAZI," for which he later apologized.
In subsequent years he attended the paper's military awards alongside Prince William and Kate Middleton.
In 2019, Harry launched a lawsuit against the tabloid's publisher News UK, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, bringing allegations of historic unlawful information gathering that included phone hacking.
In 2023, the prince received a legal blow when a judge ruled that he could not take his phone hacking claims against The Sun and the now defunct News of The World to a High Court trial. He will, however, be able to pursue claims of other unlawful information gathering.
McBean is not the only veteran to come out against Harry in the days since Heart of Invictus' release.
Ex-paratrooper and veterans' campaigner Ben Parkinson told The Sun, "I have no idea what he's talking about," before going on to add that the "media in general have been amazing to me and given incredible support to my family."
Lord Dannatt, the former chief of the general staff of the British Army said: "Being kind, I would say that Prince Harry's recollections are not as clear as they might be."
Newsweek approached representatives of Prince Harry for comment.
The Heart of Invictus series follows the stories of injured, wounded and sick veterans as they competed in the 2022 Invictus Games, the tournament founded by Harry in 2014 to provide a platform to challenge and celebrate their mental and physical strength.
The prince will travel to Europe this month to attend the 2023 games in Germany, which will be held in the city of Düsseldorf from September 9 to 16.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek's royal reporter based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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