‘My conscious is clear’, Harry says as he defends controversial memoir

The Duke of Sussex has said his “conscience is clear” after speaking out against members of the royal family as he defended his controversial memoir Spare.

Speaking to the Guardian during a visit to Kyiv, which followed several days in the UK, Harry told the newspaper his autobiography, published in 2023, was a “series of corrections to stories already out there”.

Following his visit to the UK, which saw the duke reunited with his father the King in their first face-to-to face meeting for more than year, he said he would like to spend more time in the country and that the past week had “definitely brought that closer”.

His Kyiv visit was with a team from his Invictus Games Foundation after an invitation from the Ukrainian government and Olga Rudneva, chief executive of the Superhumans Centre, an orthopaedic clinic and rehabilitation centre for adults and children affected by the war in Ukraine.

Harry told the Guardian: “I know that (speaking out) annoys some people and it goes against the narrative. The book? It was a series of corrections to stories already out there. One point of view had been put out and it needed to be corrected.”

He added: “I don’t believe that I aired my dirty laundry in public. It was a difficult message, but I did it in the best way possible. My conscience is clear”.

“It is not about revenge, it is about accountability,” he said in the interview.

In Kyiv, the duke participated in a panel discussion at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, during which he paid tribute to “the wives and mothers who keep their loved ones on the straight and narrow, they deserve as much respect as anyone who serves”.

Asked about advice for those leaving military service and who may miss the camaraderie, Harry said: “You will feel lost at times, like you lack purpose, but however dark those days are, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

“You just need to look for it, because there will always be someone — a mother, father, sibling, friend, or comrade — there to pick you up.”

He added: “Don’t stay silent. Silence will hold you in the dark.

“Open up to your friends and family because in doing so you give them permission to do the same.”

Harry also met Ukraine’s minister for veteran affairs Natalia Kalmykova to discuss the ways the Invictus Games Foundation and the international community can improve support for wounded, injured and sick serving personnel and veterans with life-changing injuries who are returning home.

On Wednesday, the Sussexes’ charitable foundation Archewell announced it had donated 500,000 US dollars (£369,000) to projects supporting injured children from Gaza and Ukraine.

The grants will be used to help the World Health Organisation with medical evacuations and also to fund work developing prosthetics for youngsters seriously hurt in the conflicts.

On Sunday, the Duchess of Sussex shared a picture on Instagram of two glasses of rose wine from her As Ever collection with the caption “when your beau is back in town”, which could be seen as a nod to Harry’s return to the US.