'Leaked' extract from Prince Harry's memoir about bowling duped royal fans
Did you fall for this?
Fans of Prince Harry were left red-faced after taking a joke about bowling ‘saving his life’ at face value ahead of the release of his memoir.
The misunderstanding on some supporters’ parts came as rumours swept the internet about what secrets may be spilled before Spare was published in January 2023.
One post shared on Twitter at the time purporting to contain an extract from the book that went viral contained a bizarre claim about the Duke of Sussex’s fondness for smashing strikes. And it seems the cheeky gag, although debunked, fooled enough people to generate fact check articles letting anyone who may be confused as to what the truth of the situation is.
Did Prince Harry say ‘bowling saved his life’?
In October 2022, Twitter user Carlos Greaves – who has since locked his account – posted two images. One showed promotional material relating to Spare. And the other was a screengrab of text making out as if it was written by Prince Harry.
The faux ‘Prince Harry’ recalled how he was prevented from considering ending his life due to the game involving pins.
The false passage read: “Megan and I had just decided to leave the royal family and it was a really dark time for us. One day, I was wandering down the streets of LA, a 40oz in one hand and a revolver in the other, ready to end it all, when I saw a building with a bright neon sign that said Hollywood Star Lanes. So I decided ‘[blank] it’ and went in.
“Inside, they were playing this game I’d never heard of called ‘Bowling.’ I guess it’s pretty popular in America. You grab a big heavy ball and roll it towards a group of pins that you’re trying to knock over. When you’re in the bowling alley, everything else fades away. There’s just the sound of balls rolling down lanes and pins falling over. It’s like yoga but for cool tough guys. Needless to say I was hooked.
“Bowling saved my life that day.”
‘Purely satire’
Mr Greaves, a writer for satirical site The Onion, later clarified his post was not genuine.
He also explained to Newsweek that his tweet contained enough clues to indicate it was not meant to mislead anyone.
“The tweet was written purely as satire,” he said at the time.
Read more: Prince Philip ‘couldn’t bring himself to see’ Prince Harry at Sandringham Summit
“The story about Prince Harry bowling is a play on words based on the title of the memoir. A ‘spare’ is also a type of score in 10-pin bowling.
I did not intend for the tweet to be misleading or to be interpreted as an actual leak from the book.
“I included details like spelling Meghan Markle’s name wrong and using the name of the bowling alley from The Big Lebowski to make it clear it was a joke. I did not intend for the tweet to be misleading or to be interpreted as an actual leak from the book.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HI52nXTLmb8?si=fN3yRwPnLRgF6wE3
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