Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex has made the bizarre and impossible claim that his mother, the late Princess Diana, somehow bought him an Xbox console in 1997. Prince Harry is currently on a press tour promoting his freshly released memoir Spare, which covers Harry's life from his time as a child to his highly publicized relationship with Meghan Markle.
Since Prince Harry's Spare memoir hit store shelves on January 10, a variety of the claims made in it have come under question. Little details provided in the book about various events in Harry's life seem to contradict previous accounts and statements from other people, but there is one especially weird claim made about an Xbox console that should have been caught relatively easy by any fact-checkers.
In his book, Prince Harry recounts that his Aunt Sarah gave him a 13th birthday gift that was supposedly purchased by Princess Diana before her death in 1997. Harry opened the present and said that he found an Xbox console inside. Harry said that he was "pleased" with the gift because he "loved video games." However, he adds that this is how the story had been recounted to him, and he had "no idea" if it was true or not. Since the original Xbox console didn't come out until 2001 and the brand didn't exist in any capacity in 1997, the story is obviously inaccurate.
While Prince Harry did not get an Xbox console for a gift in 1997, that doesn't mean he didn't get a video game console of some description for his 13th birthday. Xbox didn't exist at the time, but it's possible Prince Harry is confusing it with another console that was on the market. There were a variety of major video game consoles available to purchase in 1997, including Sony's PlayStation, the Nintendo 64, the Sega Saturn, and others. Assuming that Harry did indeed get a gaming console for his 13th birthday in 1997, smart money would be on one of those systems.
Regardless, it seems Prince Harry's opinion on video games may have shifted quite a bit since his teenage years. While he said that he "loved video games" in his book, Prince Harry's more recent interactions with the industry have not been positive ones. Four years ago, Prince Harry gave a speech where he said Fortnite shouldn't be allowed, criticizing Epic Games' popular battle royale title as addicting to children.
Source: Daily Star