'The line between memory and fact is blurry': Harry's ghost-writer defends Duke ... trends now
Prince Harry's ghostwriter has defended their book from claims of inaccuracy, insisting that it was normal for recollections to vary and emphasizing that Harry himself at times said he was unsure of the details.
J.R. Moehringer, who has also authored autobiographies for Andre Agassi and Nike co-founder Phil Knight, came to the defense of his latest collaborator on Wednesday.
Harry has been accused of a litany of factual errors, including claiming that he was descended from King Henry VI, saying he was given an XBox before they were manufactured, and stating that Meghan Markle's father was bought a Mexico-London flight ticket on Air New Zealand, which does not fly that route.
Moehringer, however, stood by the work.
Prince Harry's bombshell memoir is full of startling claims - and some have questioned the historical accuracy of the facts presented
J.R. Moehringer, Harry's ghostwriter, on Wednesday defended the book
He tweeted a quote from Mary Karr, author of The Art of Memoir, which said: 'The line between memory and fact is blurry, between interpretation and fact.
'There are inadvertent mistakes of those kind out of the wazoo.'
Another Karr quote he tweeted read: 'Neurologist Jonathan Mink, MD, explained to me that with such intense memories as David's, we often record the emotion alone, all detail blurred into unreadable smear.'
The duke claimed he was gifted an Xbox by his aunt, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, for his 13th birthday in 1997 - despite the fact the best-selling device was first released in the United States four years later in 2001.
He writes: 'I tore at the wrapping paper, the ribbon. I peered inside... It was an Xbox. I was pleased. I loved video games.
'That's the story, anyway. It's appeared in many accounts of my life, as gospel, and I have no idea if it's true. Pa said Mummy hurt her head, but perhaps I was the one with brain damage?'
Prince Harry's tell-all autobiography Spare was officially launched on Tuesday
Moehringer, in response to criticism, retweeted a commentator saying: 'It's worth noting that IN THE BOOK when Harry talks about the XBox (which hadn't been released yet in 1997) he explicitly states that he has no idea if this particular memory is true and explains that his mother's death messed with his memories.'
Moehringer also retweeted a commentator saying: 'It's right there he says he doesn't know if it's true. Read it again.'
The New York-born author pointed out that Harry himself admitted his recollections were at times hazy.
'Landscape, geography, architecture, that's how my memory rolls,' Harry said.
'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.'
Moehringer then tweets another passage from the book, in which Harry states: 'Whatever the cause, my memory is my memory, it does what it does, gathers and curates as it sees fit, and there's just as much truth in what I remember and how I remember it as there is in so-called objective facts.
'Things like chronology and cause-and-effect are often just fables we tell ourselves about the past.'
Several of the specific claims Moehringer does not address.
Harry wrote
