Prince Harry has said claims he boasted in his new book about killing 25 Taliban fighters while on duty in Afghanistan are a “dangerous lie”.Harry has been criticised for discussing killings in Spare, with some military figures saying it was wrong to refer to the dead as “chess pieces”.

But on US TV, Harry accused the British press of taking his words out of context and said the spin endangered his family.In a wide-ranging interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show, Harry said writing the book had been a “cathartic” experience and the “most vulnerable I have ever been in my life”, while also leaving him feeling stronger.But he added: “The last few days have been hurtful and challenging, not being able to do anything about those leaks.””Without a doubt, the most dangerous lie that they have told, is that I somehow boasted about the number of people I killed in Afghanistan,” he said.”If I heard anyone boasting about that kind of thing, I would be angry. But it’s a lie.”It’s really troubling and very disturbing that they can get away with it… My words are not dangerous – but the spin of my words are very dangerous to my family. That is a choice they’ve made.

“He said he had wanted to be honest about his experience in Afghanistan, and to give veterans the space to share theirs “without any shame”.”My whole goal and my attempt with sharing that detail is to reduce the number of [veteran] suicides,” he added.Harry also claimed Buckingham Palace attempted to undermine the stories told in his memoir, assisted by the British press.No names were mentioned but host Colbert asked if there had been attempts by the palace to undermine the book.”Of course, and mainly by the British press,” he replied, without going into more detail.