Mystery 'older woman' who took Prince Harry's virginity speaks out after 'surprise' mention in his tell-all memoir

5 February 2023, 10:16

A woman who claims she is the person Prince Harry lost his virginity to has told of her surprise that he included the detail in his book.

Digger driver, Sasha Walpole, 40, said she was the "older woman" Harry lost his virginity to "in a field, just behind a very busy pub".

In his controversial memoir Spare, Harry recounted the experience but Ms Walpole insists she is now telling the story in her own words.

She said she was only going public, having kept it a secret for two decades, because Harry wrote about the episode.

"I've kept this a secret for 21 years. I would never have said anything if he hadn't have put it in his book," she told the Mail on Sunday.

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Describing Harry as a "good friend" at the time and someone who was "a laugh", she said they had shared an interest in horses and her first job as a groom had been at Highgrove.

Ms Walpole, now a digger driver, said a lot of people at the time in their circle of friends would have been aware of what had happened.

"I'm surprised Harry put it in his book. It was such a long time ago, we were teenagers," she said.

"It just doesn't really seem a big deal to me because I've obviously known for so long.

"Nobody from back then would be surprised that it was me and Harry. A lot of people knew about it."

She added: "Our lives have gone in different directions since then. If I seen (sic) him in the street I would like to think that we could go for a drink. We were really good friends back then and I wish him all the best."

In the book, Harry described the event of losing his virginity as an "inglorious episode".

He said one of the royal family's bodyguards, Marko, paid him a visit at the end of 2001 when he was still a pupil at Eton College in Windsor, aged 16 or 17, and told the prince he had been sent to "find out the truth".

"I suspected he was referring to my recent loss of virginity," he explained.

"Inglorious episode, with an older woman. She liked horses, quite a lot, and treated me not unlike a young stallion.

"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."

The book went on to reveal that the bodyguard was actually checking up on the young prince because his father, the then-Prince of Wales's press office had been informed that a newspaper had evidence of him taking drugs, which Harry described as "all lies".