Heroic, hell-raising and 'bally funny as well'
It has been described as being like a scene from the Battle of Britain – only this time, the third in line to the British throne is playing a key role in the drama, sipping a cuppa (or something similar) while waiting to be called into action, and a potentially deadly engagement, at just a moment’s notice.
For Prince Harry – or Captain Wales, as he is known in the military – is ‘in the very thick of it’ in Afghanistan, where he is serving a fourmonth tour as a co-pilot gunner in an Apache, a helicopter gunship Harry himself has described as ‘awesome’.
‘Think World War Two Spitfire pilot and the Battle of Britain,’ a military source recently told The Sun newspaper. ‘He can sit in a deckchair for hours then be scrambled immediately.’
Information about Harry’s role in the conflict is, quite rightly, being kept to an absolute minimum. But it has been revealed that he has already had ‘multiple engagements’ with the enemy while serving with 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps. Reportedly, he is part of a fourman team that is on standby 24 hours a day. Their £40m Apache gun ships provide critical support for medical evacuations, as well as being tasked with destroying enemy targets.
He is based in Camp Bastion, Britain’s main military base in Afghanistan, which was attacked recently by 15 Taliban fighters, who killed two US Marines and injured nine more. In fact, on 15 September, he even celebrated his 28th birthday there.
‘He’s risking his life in a war zone because he loves the army and his country,’ the military source added. Even those thrown into a tizzy by his recent Las Vegas shenanigans, which saw him photographed partying naked in a hotel room, must now accept that Prince Harry is a brave – and deeply committed – young man.
Long known as the ‘daredevil prince’, he has yearned to return to the frontline ever since his 2008 tour of Afghanistan was cut short after a news blackout was broken by an Australian magazine. That, too, was a deployment that put him right in harm’s way.
‘I was asked if I was prepared to take the risk that Prince Harry might get killed or captured on my watch. I said yes,’ his commanding officer at the time, Major-General (then Brigadier) Andrew Mackay, said in a recent Daily Telegraph interview. ‘The risk of being killed was higher but that was the same as for anyone else.
‘That was how he was coming to us. The individual himself just wanted to be Lieutenant Wales and do his job. We sent him out to his unit with no special favours or protection.
‘He was a forward air controller… There’s not much margin for error when you’re bringing down missiles and bombs on to enemy forces. Out by 100 metres and you could obliterate someone’s home. Out by 500 metres and you could obliterate your own forces.’
The fact that he has now undergone 16 months of gruelling training to fly Apaches only confirms his commitment to serving with the armed forces. Harry certainly sees it as a great honour.
‘To be honest, I think it will be one of the biggest challenges in my life so far,’ the Prince has said.
But then Harry consistently shows himself to be down-to-earth, ready to muck in – and charismatic. As Major- General Mackay said after seeing him joking around with Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, over the summer, ‘What a fantastic representative. Bloody funny as well.’
But while being ‘one of the boys’ serves him on the Afghanistan frontline, it can also, on occasion, book him an unwelcome slot on the front cover of a tabloid or two.
There was Vegas, of course – an escapade that has since netted the Nevada city an estimated $23m (£14m) worth of free publicity – and the many romances. There was the day he ill-advisedly wore a Nazi uniform to a fancy-dress party. And who can forget the 2011 pictures of him dancing with wild abandon in notorious Croatian nightclub, Veneranda – before diving, fully-clothed, into the swimming pool.
Then again, isn’t his sillier, less guarded side part of the reason why we love him so? And besides, isn’t such behaviour what most of us expect of a spirited young man – especially one who was driving Land Rovers at speed around Balmoral by the time he was 12?
His critics may dismiss him as a playboy prince in the making – and, yes, he is a regular at swanky London nightspots such as Raffles and Maggie’s. But there’s far more to Harry than his late-night exploits.
He was recently named Tatler’s Man Of The Year and as well as his increasingly notable army career and many public engagements, he also works hard supporting 18 charities, including his own, Sentebale, which he founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help vulnerable young people in the southern African country.
And he knows how to charm the crowds. He must have made a million fans when he toured the Canine Partners National Training Centre and was pictured delightedly clutching an eight-week-old Labrador puppy, named Veyron.
In 2011, he even joined one group of injured servicemen on a leg of their gruelling charity hike to the North Pole – a potentially dangerous adventure he reportedly kept secret from his grandmother.
‘My father obviously knew I was coming out here and so did my brother,’ he admitted on the BBC’s Harry’s Arctic Heroes. ‘But I kind of kept it quiet – I don’t know why it happened – so my grandparents and the rest of my family probably just found out about it and they probably think I’m completely mad.’
But whether or not his family, and the rest of the country, do think he’s ‘completely mad’ – he’s certainly a prince of whom we should all be proud. Hooray for Flash Harry!
For Prince Harry – or Captain Wales, as he is known in the military – is ‘in the very thick of it’ in Afghanistan, where he is serving a fourmonth tour as a co-pilot gunner in an Apache, a helicopter gunship Harry himself has described as ‘awesome’.
‘Think World War Two Spitfire pilot and the Battle of Britain,’ a military source recently told The Sun newspaper. ‘He can sit in a deckchair for hours then be scrambled immediately.’
Information about Harry’s role in the conflict is, quite rightly, being kept to an absolute minimum. But it has been revealed that he has already had ‘multiple engagements’ with the enemy while serving with 662 Squadron, 3 Regiment Army Air Corps. Reportedly, he is part of a fourman team that is on standby 24 hours a day. Their £40m Apache gun ships provide critical support for medical evacuations, as well as being tasked with destroying enemy targets.
He is based in Camp Bastion, Britain’s main military base in Afghanistan, which was attacked recently by 15 Taliban fighters, who killed two US Marines and injured nine more. In fact, on 15 September, he even celebrated his 28th birthday there.
‘He’s risking his life in a war zone because he loves the army and his country,’ the military source added. Even those thrown into a tizzy by his recent Las Vegas shenanigans, which saw him photographed partying naked in a hotel room, must now accept that Prince Harry is a brave – and deeply committed – young man.
Long known as the ‘daredevil prince’, he has yearned to return to the frontline ever since his 2008 tour of Afghanistan was cut short after a news blackout was broken by an Australian magazine. That, too, was a deployment that put him right in harm’s way.
‘I was asked if I was prepared to take the risk that Prince Harry might get killed or captured on my watch. I said yes,’ his commanding officer at the time, Major-General (then Brigadier) Andrew Mackay, said in a recent Daily Telegraph interview. ‘The risk of being killed was higher but that was the same as for anyone else.
‘That was how he was coming to us. The individual himself just wanted to be Lieutenant Wales and do his job. We sent him out to his unit with no special favours or protection.
‘He was a forward air controller… There’s not much margin for error when you’re bringing down missiles and bombs on to enemy forces. Out by 100 metres and you could obliterate someone’s home. Out by 500 metres and you could obliterate your own forces.’
The fact that he has now undergone 16 months of gruelling training to fly Apaches only confirms his commitment to serving with the armed forces. Harry certainly sees it as a great honour.
‘To be honest, I think it will be one of the biggest challenges in my life so far,’ the Prince has said.
But then Harry consistently shows himself to be down-to-earth, ready to muck in – and charismatic. As Major- General Mackay said after seeing him joking around with Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt, over the summer, ‘What a fantastic representative. Bloody funny as well.’
But while being ‘one of the boys’ serves him on the Afghanistan frontline, it can also, on occasion, book him an unwelcome slot on the front cover of a tabloid or two.
There was Vegas, of course – an escapade that has since netted the Nevada city an estimated $23m (£14m) worth of free publicity – and the many romances. There was the day he ill-advisedly wore a Nazi uniform to a fancy-dress party. And who can forget the 2011 pictures of him dancing with wild abandon in notorious Croatian nightclub, Veneranda – before diving, fully-clothed, into the swimming pool.
Then again, isn’t his sillier, less guarded side part of the reason why we love him so? And besides, isn’t such behaviour what most of us expect of a spirited young man – especially one who was driving Land Rovers at speed around Balmoral by the time he was 12?
His critics may dismiss him as a playboy prince in the making – and, yes, he is a regular at swanky London nightspots such as Raffles and Maggie’s. But there’s far more to Harry than his late-night exploits.
He was recently named Tatler’s Man Of The Year and as well as his increasingly notable army career and many public engagements, he also works hard supporting 18 charities, including his own, Sentebale, which he founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho to help vulnerable young people in the southern African country.
And he knows how to charm the crowds. He must have made a million fans when he toured the Canine Partners National Training Centre and was pictured delightedly clutching an eight-week-old Labrador puppy, named Veyron.
In 2011, he even joined one group of injured servicemen on a leg of their gruelling charity hike to the North Pole – a potentially dangerous adventure he reportedly kept secret from his grandmother.
‘My father obviously knew I was coming out here and so did my brother,’ he admitted on the BBC’s Harry’s Arctic Heroes. ‘But I kind of kept it quiet – I don’t know why it happened – so my grandparents and the rest of my family probably just found out about it and they probably think I’m completely mad.’
But whether or not his family, and the rest of the country, do think he’s ‘completely mad’ – he’s certainly a prince of whom we should all be proud. Hooray for Flash Harry!