Prince Harry Spare memoir: Royal reveals how he was trained to "obliterate" the Yorkshire Dales as part of his army career

Prince Harry has revealed his thoughts on the scenery of the Yorkshire Dales in his explosive memoir, Spare.

Harry spent time living in near the Dales while undergoing helicopter pilot training at RAF Leeming.

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His training – which eventually saw him fly Apache helicopters – led to him completing a second tour of Afghanistan in 2012.

The prince explained in the book that his training meant he had to imagine obliterating the countryside of the national park during an Art of Destruction course.

Harry spent time living in near the Dales while undergoing helicopter pilot training at RAF Leeming.Harry spent time living in near the Dales while undergoing helicopter pilot training at RAF Leeming.
Harry spent time living in near the Dales while undergoing helicopter pilot training at RAF Leeming.

Writing frankly about the experience, Harry said the Yorkshire Dales aren’t “quite so famous as the nearby Lake District” but he still found them “breathtaking.”

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Harry wrote: “Drystone walls, patchworld fields, sheep snacking on grassy slopes. In every direction another beautiful moor.

"It felt like sacrilege to be standing on a cliff above this place and trying to obliterate it.”

He described his imaginings of destroying the Dales as a “smoking hellscape.”