Rupert Everett is challenging a claim made by Prince Harry in his memoir, Spare.
The Duke of Sussex’s book, released worldwide on Jan. 10, was full of personal revelations — including the story of how he lost his virginity. Though Harry wrote that he lost his virginity “in a grassy field behind a busy pub” around 2001, Everett alleged in a new interview with The Telegraph that things happened differently.
According to the British newspaper, the 63-year-old actor gave the interview on the same day that Spare was published. When the bombshell book came up in conversation, the star of My Best Friend’s Wedding countered Prince Harry’s story.
“By the way. I know who the woman he lost his virginity to is. And it wasn’t behind a pub. And it wasn’t in this country,” Everett said “with a twinkle in his eye,” The Telegraph reported Thursday. “I’m just putting it out there that I know.
A source close to Prince Harry told the outlet, “Amazing that he would know such a personal detail better than Prince Harry himself.”
In a much-discussed passage, the Duke of Sussex wrote in Spare about losing his virginity. The royal said that towards the end of 2001 when he was 17, royal aide Mark Dyer came to visit him at Eton. Meeting up for lunch at a café in town, Prince Harry said he was surprised when “Marko” arrived “looking grim” and said he came to learn the truth.
“I suspected he was referring to my recent loss of virginity. Inglorious episode, with an older woman. She liked horses, quite a lot, and treated me not unlike a young stallion,” Harry wrote. “Quick ride, after which she’d smacked my rump and sent me off to graze.”
“Among the many things about it that were wrong: It happened in a grassy field behind a busy pub. Obviously, someone had seen us,” he added.
Instead, Prince Harry said that Dyer was sent to ask if he had been doing drugs. A tabloid editor had contacted then-Prince Charles‘ office claiming she had proof that he was, which Harry disputed as false and defamatory.
In his exclusive interview with PEOPLE the week Spare was released, Prince Harry said that he wrote his memoir to set the record straight.
“For 38 years, countless media and others have told a distorted version of my story. I’m at a place in my life where I’m ready to share the truth about my lived experience, in my own words,” Prince Harry told PEOPLE.
“I’ve been working on this for the past two years and have poured my heart and soul into it, choosing each moment with care. It has been a privilege to be able to tell my story in my words,” he added.