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Prince Harry's autobiography "Spare" goes on sale | Memoir hits shelves after days of controversy

After months of anticipation and a blanket publicity blitz, Prince Harry's autobiography "Spare" went on sale Tuesday as royal insiders hit back at his scorching revelations. The royal family led by King Charles III and his heir, Harry's elder brother William, have maintained a studied silence as painful details from the book and a round of pre-publication TV interviews have piled up.

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Prince Harrys autobiography Spare goes on sale | Memoir hits shelves after days of controversy

Harry speaks of his grief and growing up after the death of his mother Princess Diana when he was just 12, his use of cocaine and other drugs to cope, how he killed 25 Taliban fighters while serving as a soldier in Afghanistan, and even how he lost his virginity.

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Prince Harrys autobiography Spare goes on sale | Memoir hits shelves after days of controversy

He also reveals a heated row with William, the heir to the throne, saying his brother knocked him over, and how they had both begged his father not to marry Camilla, who he wed in 2005 and is now the queen consort.

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Prince Harrys autobiography Spare goes on sale | Memoir hits shelves after days of controversy

In TV interviews ahead of the book launch, Harry has doubled down on his accusations that some royals, including Camilla and William, leaked stories to tabloid papers which had damaged either him or his wife Meghan in order to protect themselves or enhance their reputations.

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Prince Harrys autobiography Spare goes on sale | Memoir hits shelves after days of controversy

"I think she (his mother Diana) would be heartbroken about the fact that William, his office, were part of these stories," he told Good Morning America (GMA).

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Prince Harrys autobiography Spare goes on sale | Memoir hits shelves after days of controversy

In another interview with CBS show 60 minutes, he said Camilla had been a tabloid "villain" and needed to rehabilitate her image, which made her "dangerous".

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Prince Harrys autobiography Spare goes on sale | Memoir hits shelves after days of controversy

"I don't regard her as an evil stepmother. I see someone who married into this institution and has done everything that she can to, you know, improve her reputation and her own image," he told GMA.

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Prince Harrys autobiography Spare goes on sale | Memoir hits shelves after days of controversy

While Harry's revelations have dominated the headlines in the British media over the last week, the interest in his disclosures is far from universal.

"I was not planning to (read the book) as it so happens, or certainly not as a early priority," business minister Grant Shapps told Times Radio on Tuesday. "I've got one or two other things to do."