ALL THE DETAILS OF PRINCE HARRY’S MILITARY CAREER
For Prince Harry, military service was an act of compassion that echoed the life philosophy of his mother, Princess Diana. Mixed in was a smattering of escapism and rebellion. And now that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have a new Netflix docuseries detailing their split from the Royal Family, people are hungry for more insight into the power couple, like the details of Prince Harry’s military service. With the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan out now, discover everything there is to know about Prince Harry’s military career. Read next:Buckingham Palace: Queen Elizabeth II Has Passed at 96
Was Prince Harry in the Military?
served in the British Royal Army for ten years and did two tours in Afghanistan. He retired from the army in 2015. Prince Harry has described his ten years in the army as “the happiest time of my life.”
Prince Harry in Afghanistan
In the third episode of the new Netflix docuseries, Harry discusses his military service: “Two tours in Afghanistan, flying Apache helicopters on a military base, means that you grow up pretty fast. Jeez, I went to war twice.” For Prince Harry, Afghanistan was likely very similar as it was for other troops. Both Harry and the Royal Family were insistent that he receive no special treatment. Harry served two tours in Afghanistan that began in secret. Prince Harry’s military career began with a 44-week officer cadet training course at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. There he was known as Officer Cadet Wales. Afterward, he received his commission as an army officer and joined the Blues and Royals. Soon after, in 2006, Prince Harry was scheduled for a deployment to Iraq. He was ultimately shielded from the war in Iraq by the Ministry of Defense. There were rumors circulating at the time that Harry was a high-profile target that enemy combatants were actively eager to engage with. Harry publicly stated that he would leave the army altogether if he was afforded special treatment and forced to stay home while his unit went to war. With Prince Harry in the army, though, there were bound to be groups on the ground who were willing to risk everything to cause him harm. Ultimately, because of the threats circulating about his safety, Prince Harry was held back from an Iraq deployment. Prince Harry never hid his disappointment with the decision to keep him from harm’s way. The next year, he was stationed in Canada to train alongside forces at CFB Suffield in order to prepare for a potential deployment to Afghanistan. Not long after training at the base near Alberta, it was revealed through a media leak that Prince Harry had been secretly deployed to Afghanistan, where he’d been serving for ten weeks prior to the public revelation. Harry’s two tours in Afghanistan took place from 2007-2008 and 2012-2013. During his first tour, he served patrol duties in hostile areas and even helped to fend off Taliban insurgents.
Prince Harry, Helicopter Pilot
What Are Prince Harry’s Military Medals?
You can see Prince Harry’s military medals in many pictures of him in ceremonial dress. Harry has the Afghanistan Service Medal, along with the Golden, Diamond, and Platinum Jubilee medals. Harry also wears the KCVO Star. This medal represents the Royal Victorian Order and showcases personal service to the monarch of the British Commonwealth.
Prince Harry at the Invictus Games
In 2014, Prince Harry founded a Paralympic-inspired sporting event for wounded service members called the Invictus Games. Harry was open about how inspired he’d been by injured service members and wanted to create something where he could give back. The Invictus Games have been held in multiple cities over the years, with the first event occurring in London on September 8-14 of 2014.
Why Can’t Prince Harry Wear His Military Uniform?
And why was Prince Harry stripped of his military titles? All of this happened because of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s split from the Royal Family. While Prince Harry in military dress is a site to behold, he forfeited the right to be seen in uniform by stepping away from the palace. Their decision in 2020 to step down from official royal duties classified them both as non-working royals. In September of 2022, Prince Harry was allowed to wear his medals at his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, but the question remained about whether he would be permitted to wear his military uniform. Ultimately, the Royal Family opted not to have anyone appear in military uniforms at all, but “morning coat with medals or day dress,” according to the palace’s official statement on the matter.
Royal Family Military Service
Imperial War Museum collection, TR 2832[/caption] Prince Harry’s father, King Charles III of England, served in both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy in the 1970s. He flew helicopters from the HMS Hermes and later became commander of the HMS Bronington. King Charles is now the official commander in chief of the British military. While Prince Harry’s parents had military connections, his mother did not actually serve. Princess Diana, while she was married to then Prince Charles, possessed honorary military titles such as the Colonel-in-Chief of the Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment and Honorary Air Commodore at RAF Wittering. Later in her life, she became active in the campaign against the use of landmines. Diana visited the country of Angola to meet with landmine victims and eventually helped pave the way for treaties that forbid their use. The late Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry’s grandmother, also served in the British military. At 18 in 1944, she voluntarily joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The ATS was the women’s branch of the British Army. Queen Elizabeth trained as a mechanic in the ATS, becoming the first female member of the Royal Family to serve in active duty full-time.
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, Royal Family Split
As the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan details, there were many charged scenarios and circumstances that led the royal couple to step down from their official duties and distance themselves from Buckingham Palace. Prince Harry, 38, lives with his wife, actress Meghan Markle, and their two children in Southern California. “She sacrificed everything that she knew to join me in my world,” Harry says of Meghan in the docuseries. “Then pretty soon after that I ended up sacrificing everything I knew to join her in her world.” Together, the pair run a foundation, Archwell Inc., and openly advocate for the destigmatization of mental health and mental healthcare. Though he isn’t currently allowed to don the uniform, Prince Harry’s military career was defined by distinguished service and heroism in the face of public threats to his safety. He retired with the rank of captain and received military medals during his time with the British Army and British Royal Air Force. Whatever the public makes of the circumstances of his departure from active duty in the Royal Family, Prince Harry’s active duty in Afghanistan was more than admirable. Never asking for special treatment, sneaking off to ensure he did his time behind enemy lines, and giving back to those service members who came home with injuries, for Prince Harry, military service meant more to him than simply curating an image. It meant following in his mother’s footsteps as a humanitarian… and a bit of a rebel. Suggested read:Ashley Cain and More Big Names To Star in Season 4 of Celebrity SAS
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