Prince Harry’s ghostwriter, J.R. Moehringer, defends inaccuracies in Spare

J.R. Moehringer has responded to criticism over factual errors in the Duke’s memoir by sharing a quote: ‘the line between memory and fact is blurry’.

Spare has been found to include some factual and historical inaccuracies. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images/The Times

The ghostwriter of the Duke of Sussex’s memoir has defended him after the book was found to be littered with inaccuracies.

J.R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer prizewinning journalist, did not comment directly but shared posts on Twitter indicating his support for Harry.

They included a quote from the author of a book entitled The Art of Memoir, which says that the “line between memory and fact is blurry”.

In Spare, the duke refers to Henry VI as his “great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather”, although the monarch’s only son died without children.

In another apparent error, the Koh-i-Noor diamond is described as the “largest diamond ever seen by human eyes”. In fact, the Royal Collection Trust website describes the Cullinan Diamond, also part of the Crown Jewels, as “the largest diamond ever found”.

J.R. Moehringer was described in Spare as 'a collaborator and friend, confessor and sometimes sparring partner'. Picture: Nina Prommer/Zuma Press/The Times

Moehringer, 58, tweeted a quote by Mary Karr, author of The Art of Memoir, saying: “The line between memory and fact is blurry, between interpretation and fact. There are inadvertent mistakes of those kinds out of the wazoo.”

He shared another short passage from Karr’s book in which she says that Jonathan Mink, a neurologist, told her that sometimes “with such intense memories we often record the emotion alone, all detail blurred into unreadable smear”.

Moehringer also tweeted several quotes from Harry himself talking about how his memory works.

“Landscape, geography, architecture, that’s how my memory rolls,” Harry says in Spare. “Dates? Sorry, I’ll need to look them up. Dialogue? I’ll try my best, but make no verbatim claims, especially when it comes to the Nineties.”

One remark retweeted by Moehringer draws on a recollection that the Queen, then the Duchess of Cornwall, suggested Harry become governor-general of Bermuda. However, as a British overseas territory, it has a governor.

Doubts also had been cast on Harry’s recollection of being told that the Queen Mother, his great-grandmother, had died.

He describes being at Eton, despite photographs and witnesses suggesting he was on a skiing holiday in Klosters, Switzerland, with his father and brother at the time.

A tweet shared by Moehringer, from an unknown user, said: “Freaking hilarious that the only ‘discrepancy’ is his recollection of his great-grandmother dying.”

The Times