The woman Prince Harry lost his virginity to, has reluctantly revealed herself to media citing fear of being found out and hounded by tabloids after the Duke of Sussex revealed details of their private encounter in his recently released memoir, Spare.
Labelling it a “ticking time bomb” Sasha Walpole a now 40 year-old mother of two, told UK outlet The Sun that she had kept details of that night secret for nearly 22 years but now felt she had no choice but to speak publicly, saying that upon the release of Spare she immediately felt her “world got smaller” as journalists started to dig around.
A former Highgrove groom, Walpole feared it was “only a matter of time” before she was exposed as the “older woman” who had sex with Harry in a field behind a pub.
“I was shocked and feel like he has brought this to my door,” she said.
“I don’t understand why he went into such detail. He could have said he lost his virginity and left it at that. But he described how it happened — in a field behind a pub.
“That’s fine if you’re not the other person involved. But if you’re me, then you suddenly feel as if your world is getting a little bit smaller.”
Walpole added that Harry’s revelations, in which he described their “inglorious episode” as a “quick ride” and suggested he’d been treated “not unlike a young stallion” by the young woman, had upended her “peaceful life”.
“He has done this to my privacy because I was going to keep my head down and not talk about it. If it wasn’t in the book none of this would be happening.”
Walpole is right, and Harry would know that better than anyone.
Through his long overstretched media circus including an interview with Oprah, a Netflix docu-special, and the release of Spare, Prince Harry’s principal agenda has been to tell his truth and expose the twisted machinations of the British tabloids.
Watching what happened to his mother, Princess Diana and his wife, Meghan Markle, Harry has a unique understanding of the acute cruelty and relentlessness of the UK media’s misogyny. How did he not think, when divulging his most profound and salacious secrets, that the impact would not be his alone to endure?
The irony in fact, is this: While Harry has been fighting tooth and nail for the protection of his wife and family, he put another woman’s life at risk.
And while I feel for Harry and appreciate that in normal circumstances memoirs are fair game for truth telling, his life and circumstances are anything but. He is the poster child for public opinion. So much so in fact, that Spare became the fastest selling non-fiction title on the day of its release.
Also problematic and disappointing is the fact that Walpole was never forewarned about the information. She told The Sun: “The issue is that people know because they were part of that night or part of our original social circle. Possibly, Harry could have thought about that before publishing. He could have found me if he had tried.
“No one warned me about the night being included in the book – and Harry, or his people, could have found me to tell me if they had wanted to do so.”
Walpole shared that she and Harry had been friends. They knew each other, spent time together and presumably cared about each other. He just didn’t care enough 20+ years later to send her a memo and make sure she was alright.
And while I’d never wish to tread a day in Harry’s shoes, I also can’t fathom what it would now be like to tread one in Sasha Walpole’s either.
Because she isn’t royalty. She isn’t famous. And she isn’t rolling in wealth and resources to pursue legal action should she need.
She is a digger driver living with her family in England who had an old secret that was hers to uphold. That right was swiftly robbed from her when Harry chose to open up as granularly as he did.