LONDON — Prince Harry wanted to be “one of the lads,” an ordinary soldier sharing risk and hardship with his men. For 10 weeks, he got his wish — and that may be enough to advance his career in the military.
British defense chiefs announced Friday they were withdrawing him immediately from the combat zone in Afghanistan after his deployment, once a closely guarded secret, became public.
Still, Harry’s hopes of a long-term military career should still be boosted by his time at war — and by the assessment of his commander, Brig. Andrew Mackey, that the prince “acquitted himself with distinction.”
Harry, third in line to the throne, has spoken of his desire to be an ordinary soldier. Unlike his older brother, William, who is also in the army but whose future military role will be largely ceremonial, Harry, 23, sees the military as a career.
In a 2006 interview, he said he would not have gone through the rigors of officer training at Sandhurst military academy only to “sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country.”
Although Harry’s deployment ended prematurely, military analysts said it would nonetheless help his army career by allowing him to hold his head high among his comrades.
“It will set him apart from the people who haven’t been on active service,” said Charles Heyman, author of guidebooks to the British military. “That’s the most important thing for a soldier.”
The prince’s deployment had gone undisclosed under an agreement between the Ministry of Defense and major news organizations designed to protect Harry and his fellow soldiers.
An Australian women’s magazine reported on Harry’s deployment last month, but that report received little attention. When the news was posted on the Drudge Report Web site on Thursday, the dam burst.
The Ministry of Defense said Friday that worldwide media coverage of Harry’s posting could have risked his and his colleagues’ safety had the prince been allowed to stay in Afghanistan. It said Harry had been due to return “in a matter of weeks” before the news broke.
Media outlets were granted a series of interviews and allowed to take photos and video images of the prince, all to be distributed on a pool basis and used on his return. That material was released after the story leaked out.
Society of Editors director Bob Satchwell, who helped broker the media deal, said the arrangement should not be looked at as precedent-setting.
“But on the other hand, you should never say never,” he said. “It worked for a significant time, and it allowed Prince Harry to be deployed.”
Harry’s work in Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province involved calling in airstrikes on Taliban positions, as well as foot patrols. He spent part of his deployment at a base 500 yards from Taliban positions.
Conditions were primitive and dangerous, but Harry said the posting offered him a rare sort of freedom.
“I think this is about as normal as I’m ever going to get,” Harry said while serving at a dusty outpost called Forward Operating Base Delhi.
“It’s bizarre,” he reflected. “I’m out here now, haven’t really had a shower for four days, haven’t washed my clothes for a week and everything seems completely normal. It’s nice just to be here with all the guys and just mucking in as one of the lads.”
Harry joked in Afghanistan that he was a “bullet magnet,” a prized target for insurgents. A plan to send him to Iraq last year was canceled after British intelligence learned of threats by militants to kill him. The head of the army, Gen. Richard Dannatt, said at the time that intense media coverage of the planned deployment had made the situation worse.
He is expected back in Britain in the coming days.
Many of Harry’s royal forebears have also seen combat — most recently his uncle, Prince Andrew, who flew Royal Navy helicopters during the 1982 Falklands War. Harry’s grandfather Prince Philip served on Royal Navy battleships during World War II.
In those days, a combination of press deference, military censorship and slower-moving technology helped keep details of military operations under wraps. Times have changed — as Harry himself knows well.
Back home in Britain, the prince is stalked by the press. His frequent boozy trips to London nightclubs and his occasional gaffes — like wearing an armband with a a Nazi emblem to a costume party — are captured by paparazzi and beamed around the world.
Analysts say the combination of Harry’s celebrity status, an insatiable media and an age of instant communication makes it unlikely the prince — or anyone else with a similar profile — will serve on the front lines again.
“We live in a crazed celebrity-reporting world,” said Adam Holloway, a Conservative Party lawmaker who sits on the British parliament’s defense committee. “It’s pretty miraculous that he managed 10 weeks.”
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