Prince Harry’s Sandhurst pal Levison Wood reacts to Duke’s Taliban ‘kill count’ claim in Spare

Army veteran and TV traveler Levison Wood has responded in Spare to Prince Harry’s controversial ‘kill count’ admission in Afghanistan – admitting he ‘wouldn’t have done that’.

Wood, 42, trained with Harry, 40, at the Royal Military College of Sandhurst in Berkshire and both men served together in Afghanistan in 2008.

In his 2023 memoir Spare, the Duke of Sussex claimed he killed 25 Taliban soldiers during his second tour of Afghanistan in 2012 – an admission that sparked widespread reaction from several members of the armed forces.

Speak with The times of Harry’s claim, Wood said: ‘Personally I wouldn’t have done that, but he’s sold a lot more books than me, hasn’t he?’

When asked about Prince Harry, whom he recently met at a charity event in London, the former paratrooper simply said: “He’s amazing.”

Wood was promoting his latest travel book, Walking the Nile, documenting his arduous 4,250km journey along the world’s longest river.

Elsewhere in the interview, the best-selling author turned TV adventurer confirmed he is still single, but did not rule out the possibility of marriage “if anyone wants me.”

Wood, one of Britain’s most eligible bachelors, added that although his mother pesters him about grandchildren, the pressure has eased somewhat since his brother “just had a baby.”

“Very thoughtful,” he joked, but declined to comment on his current relationship status after a female stalker was jailed for a three-month stalking campaign against Wood.

Prince Harry sparked fierce criticism after admitting in his controversial memoir Spare that he had killed 25 Taliban fighters, calling them “chess pieces.”

“Most soldiers can’t tell you exactly how many deaths are in their ledger,” he wrote. “But in the days of Apaches and laptops, everything I did on two combat tours was recorded and time-stamped.

“And I thought it was essential never to shy away from that number,” Harry continued. “Of the many things I learned in the military, responsibility was at the top of the list.

“So my number: twenty-five. It wasn’t a song that gave me any satisfaction. But it wasn’t a number I was ashamed of either.

“As I sat in the heat and fog of battle, I didn’t think of those twenty-five as human beings. You can’t kill people if you consider them people.

‘You can’t really hurt people if you look at them as people. It was Chessmen removed from the board, and Bads taken away before they could kill goods.

“I was trained to ‘differentiate’ them, well trained,” continued Harry, who was known in the army as ‘Captain Wales’.

Several high-profile figures – including former Defense Secretary Ben Wallace – and army veterans criticized Harry for revealing his ‘kill count’, while warning it could pose a serious security risk to the duke and his family.

Responding to Harry’s comments, Iraq veteran Colonel Tim Collins told Forces News: ‘You don’t behave like that in the army; it’s not how we think. He lowered the side badly. We do not make notches on the gun stock. We never did that.’

Wallace, 53, who also went to Sandhurst and served in the army, accused Harry of ‘bragging’ about his kill count in an interview with LBC’s Nick Ferrari.

“I honestly think that bragging about numbers or talking about numbers distorts the fact that the military is a team game. It’s a team effort. It’s not about who can shoot the most.’

Following the release of Spare, which became Britain’s fastest-selling non-fiction book, Prince Harry branded suggestions that he “bragged” about his death toll in Afghanistan a “dangerous lie” after excerpts from the book leaked online.

During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Harry said that some media had chosen to deliberately “take the context away” from his story.

“The most dangerous lie they told, without a doubt, is that I somehow bragged about the number of people I killed in Afghanistan,” he said.

‘If I heard someone bragging about things like that, I would get angry. But it’s a lie.

“It’s really disturbing and very disturbing that they can get away with it… My words are not dangerous – but the twist of my words is very dangerous to my family. That’s a choice they made.”

Prince Harry recently met Wood during his most recent visit to Britain, when the Duke attended the 2024 WellChild Awards.

The Duke has been a patron of the British charity, which supports seriously ill children and their families, since 2008.

Since Harry and his wife Meghan Markle left the royal family in 2020 – and moved to the US – he returned to Britain for the WellChild Awards in 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Speaking about meeting Harry at this year’s ceremony, Wood wrote on X: ‘Very honored to present an award at the WellChild Awards tonight and catch up with some old friends! A wonderful organization that does heroic work.’

His post was accompanied by a selfie of Wood with Prince Harry.

Wood previously defended Harry in the wake of ‘Megxit’ in January 2020, when the Sussexes announced their decision to step down as senior members of the royal family.

In a post on X/Twitter, he wrote: “Prince Harry has served this country in and out of uniform. We trained together at Sandhurst and he served with distinction in Afghan.

“He has been a champion of the Armed Forces community throughout his career.

‘It’s worth remembering this for those commenting on the service.’

He too documented his meeting in 2018 with Harry and Meghan at the Endeavor Fund Awards – which honor wounded, injured and ill veterans who have overcome sporting and adventure challenges – in a social media post.

Alongside a photo of himself shaking hands with Harry, Wood wrote on X: ‘Great to catch up with HRH Prince Harry and the whole Endeavor Fund team at the awards last night.

‘Really humbling and inspiring stories.’

The Parachute Regiment veteran was named as the Endeavor Fund’s first ambassador, with Wood presenting the 2018 awards ceremony, attended by Harry and Meghan.

The Endeavor Fund, established as part of the Royal Foundation, was transferred to the Invictus Games Foundation in June 2020.