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Usman Chishti – who has worked in social media for more than a decade – says that the “sheer number” of claims in the novel saw the Duke of Sussex constantly trending online.
And unlike when previous explosive royal biographies were published – most famously Princess Diana’s book Diana: Her True Story in 1992 – social media played a key role in how it was covered, he said.
Speaking to the Express, the SEO and social media expert said: “Harry was trending online for weeks before the book’s release – particularly when his and Meghan’s Netflix documentary came out.
“But things went into overdrive when the book was released. I think that was because there was so much new information in it.
“This allowed people to spin a narrative in whichever way they wanted.
“If they wanted to criticise Harry for what they saw as turning his back on his family and revealing embarrassing situations like the fight with William then they could do that.
“Conversely, if they wanted to support him by arguing that the Royals didn’t do enough to support Meghan before they left, then they could.
“Whatever you think about Harry, his image with the public across the world has been irrevocably changed by the book.
“Whether that is for the better or worse depends on your opinion.
“What is clear is that both camps have used social media extensively to spin their own narratives.”
One of the most damaging claims was that an unnamed senior royal queried how dark Harry’s son Archie would be before he was born.
Since the book was released on January 10, Harry has denied that he called his family racist.
However, his book does contain numerous other claims – including Harry revealing that he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his two tours of service in Afghanistan.
He said he was neither “satisfied” nor “embarrassed” by the death toll and wrote: “They were chess pieces taken off the board, bad guys eliminated before they kill good guys. They trained me to ‘other’ them and they trained me well.”
Revealing his kill count was widely criticised, including by Tory MP Tobias Ellwood who suggested it could create security risks.
Iran’s regime later said he had committed a “war crime”.
Usman Chishti said that the range of his claims has opened him up to criticism on multiple fronts.
“Normally the Royal Family stays firmly away from anything controversial,” he said.
“Harry has smashed that wide open which will make him even more of a divisive figure.
“Many of these people have aired their views of him on social media, which may help drive book sales but does nothing to endear him to people who may not have made their mind up about him.
“Instead it only reinforces people’s views of him – which social media helps to amplify.
“Whatever his end goal is, he is becoming an increasingly divisive figure online and that image will be incredibly hard to shift.”
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