Prince Harry almost vomited when head was shoved inside stag carcass in hunt ritual

Prince Harry has detailed the moment he “couldn’t breathe” after a brutal hunting ritual at Balmoral.

The Duke of Sussex has told how he almost vomited when his head was rammed into the carcass of the first stag he killed in a bloody hunt ritual.

In an unsparing account of royal life detailed in his book Spare, Prince Harry reveals his guide Sandy pushed his head into the shot animal’s carcass forcing him to gag in a traditional custom marking his first big hunt kill.

In excerpts not for the faint-hearted and seen by News Corp ahead of the book’s worldwide publication, the Duke says of the bloody rite at Balmoral Estate in Scotland, “I thought we were going to pray...”

“While hunting in Balmoral in the early morning with a guide called Sandy, I was relieved when we reached the stag.

“Its eyes were already cloudy. The worry was always that there’d be flesh wound and the stag would dash into the woods to suffer alone for hours.

Prince Harry smiles triumphantly and crouches beside the carcass of a recently killed water buffalo.

“Its eyes turned more and more opaque, Sandy took out his gleaming knife and slit open the belly.

“He told me to kneel down. I thought we were going to pray. Sandy snapped at me to get closer. I got close enough to smell Sandy‘s armpits.

“He placed a hand gently behind my neck and now I thought he was going to hug me to congratulate me.

“Instead he put my head inside the carcass. I tried to pull away, I was shocked by his insane strength,” he continues.

“And the infernal smell. My breakfast jumped up from my stomach. Please, please do not let me vomit inside a stag carcass.

“After a minute I couldn’t smell anything because I couldn’t breathe. My nose and mouth were full of blood, guts, and a deep upsetting warmth.

“Well, I thought, so this is death. I went limp.

Prince Harry in 2016 while he worked in Malawi with African Parks as part of an initiative involving moving 500 elephants over 350 kilometers across Malawi. Picture: Getty.

“Sandy pulled me out. I filled my lungs with fresh morning air and I started to wipe my face which was dripping but Sandy grabbed my hand and said ‘let it dry, lad, let it dry.’”

PRINCE HARRY’S TALIBAN KILLS:‘MY NUMBER IS 25’

Prince Harry has revealed he killed 25 people during his time fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Writing in his autobiography Spare, the Duke of Sussex says he is neither proud nor ashamed of “taking human lives” because that was the life of a soldier.

“My number is 25. It’s not a number that fills me with satisfaction, but nor does it embarrass me,” he wrote.

The exact body count is known because cameras on his chopper recorded the kills after each mission and he would view the footage when he got back to base.

Prince Harry wearing his monocle gun sight as he sits in the front seat of his Apache Helicopter at the British controlled flight-line at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan's Helmand Province. Picture: AFP

He did not think of the 25 as “people” but rather “chess pieces” that had to be taken off the board - and candidly describes the insurgents he killed as “baddies eliminated before they could kill goodies”.

At the time, he justified his actions because of his memory of the horrific September 11 attacks in the United States, and after meeting families of the victims.

“We take a life to save a life,” he said of the killings of the Taliban fighters.

Those responsible and their sympathisers were “enemies of humanity” and fighting them was an act of vengeance for a crime against humanity, he said.

Prince Harry sitting in the cockpit of an Apache Helicopter. Picture: AFP

The Duke of Sussex served two tours of duty against the Taliban, first as a forward air controller calling in air strikes in 2007-2008, then flying the attack helicopter in 2012-2013.

He was “very proud” to serve there for more than two months before his location was leaked.

His first tour was conducted under a strict news blackout for security reasons, which was agreed by British media outlets. He was forced to return home when a foreign publication broke the embargo.

He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant with the Household Cavalry on in April 2008 then retrained as a helicopter pilot in the Army Air Corps.

Harry returned to Afghanistan in 2012 as a co-pilot and gunner at Camp Bastion for 20 weeks before leaving the military in March 2015.

All up he served for 10 years in the British Army, rising to the rank of captain,

Prince Harry has raised concerns about his security since his departure as a working royal, because of his time fighting Islamist extremists.

Prince Harry’s comments have not gone down well with some British military veterans. Picture: AFP

His war admissions have not gone down well with some military veterans who want him

Former Royal Marine Ben McBean, who lost an arm and a leg in a bomb blast during the war, and once called the prince a “hero” urged the Duke to “shut up”.

Mr McBean tweeted today: ‘Love you #PrinceHarry but you need to shut up! Makes you wonder the people he’s hanging around with. If it was good people somebody by now would have told him to stop.’

Originally published as Prince Harry almost vomited when head was shoved inside stag carcass in hunt ritual