The older woman who took Prince Harry's virginity says that the incident became a "ticking time bomb" for her.
Sasha Walpole identified herself as the mystery lady who romped with the Duke of Sussex behind a pub in 2001 and felt that she had no choice but to own up after the 38-year-old royal candidly discussed the encounter in his bombshell memoir 'Spare'.
Walpole, 40, told The Sun on Sunday newspaper: "I was shocked and feel like he has brought this to my door.
"I don't understand why he went into such detail. He could have said he lost his virginity and left it at that.
"But he described how it happened - in a field behind a pub.
"That's fine if you're not the other person involved. But if you're me, then you suddenly feel as if your world is getting a little bit smaller," she said.
Walpole, who now works as a digger driver, explained that she would not have discussed her romp with Prince Harry had he not divulged the details in his book.
The mother-of-two said: "He has done this to my privacy because I was going to keep my head down and not talk about it. If it wasn't in the book none of this would be happening."
Walpole – who met the Duke of Sussex when she worked as a stable girl at the country retreat of King Charles – kept the intimate royal encounter quiet for more than two decades but felt that the "world got smaller" once the prince released his memoir last month and people started to speculate on the identity of his older woman.
She said: "I can sit quietly and hope it goes away, but then it is like a ticking time bomb and you're looking over your shoulder.
"The issue is that people know because they were part of that night or part of our original circle. Possibly, Harry could have thought about that before publishing. He could have found me if he had tried.
"I wanted to take control of this before it took control of me."
Walpole continued: "I kept it a secret for more than 21 years, because it came from a good place.
"It was just a nice, funny thing that happened when we were teenagers after a night of shots. It was literally something that just happened. And I would never have talked about it if the book hadn't been published.
"I'm not that sort of person. I don't really seek fame or fortune. If I was going to come out and talk about it, I could have done so a long time ago. When it came out, I was like, 'Just hide, it can be fine.'
"I thought it might blow over but then I gradually started hearing stories. So I had to take a degree of control and tell my story, in my words, with all the correct context and detail.
"There was talk that the woman was some kind of supermodel – I am not a supermodel, we were just friends."