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Prince Charles ‘involved in Harry’s army removal’ says expert
Harry has issued a series of verbal attacks on the Royal Family in recent months, more than a year after he officially left his life within the monarchy behind. Speaking to Oprah Winfrey during their new joint Apple TV+ documentary series, The Me You Can’t See, he explained how happy he had been when serving in the military. He said his decade in the Army was the “happiest time of my life”, explaining: “I got to wear the same uniform as everybody else. “I had to do all the same training as everybody else. I started from the bottom like everybody else.
“There was no special treatment because of who I was.”
However, Harry’s recent claim of “no special treatment” does not align with Angela Levin’s biography, ‘Harry: Conversations with the Prince’.
In April 2007, Harry was expected to be deployed to Iraq, only for the opposition to announce their intention to target the royal — his deployment was subsequently cancelled out of fears for his safety.
Harry then hit back, and even considered quitting the Army after years of training.
He said: “Well, if I’m going to cause this much chaos to people then maybe I should just, well, bow out and not just for my own sake, for everyone else’s sake.”
Ms Levin described this as “threat rather than a promise”, and so Harry’s commanding officer Edward Smythe-Osbourne stepped in and promised to help him to get to Afghanistan along with General Sir Richard Dannatt, then Chief of the General Staff.
Ms Levin noted: “An ordinary cadet would not have stood a chance of such high-ranking commanders trying to help him fulfil a wish nurtured since childhood.
Harry’s claim he had ‘no special treatment’ in Army challenged after Queen pulled strings (Image: Getty)
Harry served in the military for a decade, and undertook two tours of Afghanistan (Image: Getty)
“As a senior royal Harry was different and on top of this, despite being academically weak, he had the capacity to be an outstanding soldier.
“There was also concern that if he didn’t go to war he could go off the rails in a major way.”
Despite their best efforts, it was ultimately up to the Queen to decide whether or not Harry should be deployed to Afghanistan as she is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and could organise an overseas posting.
But Harry’s grandmother was keen to fulfil his wishes.
The Queen ended up meeting with General Dannatt to organise Harry’s future several times, with a “great deal of planning and effort”.
Very few knew about his impending Afghanistan deployment — even the ambassador in Kabul was kept in the dark as the Palace tried to organise a media blackout surrounding the royal’s whereabouts.
Ms Levin continued: “General Dannatt, the Queen and Prince Charles knew for Harry’s sake they had to try.
“It’s hard to imagine anyone else being so indulged by top brass.”
READ MORE: William undermined Harry’s childhood claims repeatedly during tour
Harry has since described his time on the frontline as the “happiest” period of his life (Image: Getty)
These efforts even went against a warning from then Defence Secretary, Des Browne, who told the organisers: “You’ll never get away with it.”
But, Harry’s tour went ahead, and he was posted to an area the foreign media were not expected to be interested in — but a blackout with news outlets outside of the UK was not negotiated.
Ms Levin noted: “It was a risk and a sign perhaps of how determined high-ranking military personnel were to give Harry what he wished for.”
Harry’s whereabouts ended up being published in an Australian’s women’s magazine.
The news quickly made headlines around the world, and Harry was urgently removed from his camp base by six heavily armed SAS soldiers.
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Harry was pulled from his Afghanistan deployment in 2008 over safety concerns (Image: Getty)
The Queen smiling at Harry during a military ceremony (Image: Getty)
He was devastated at having to return to the UK after being separated from his troops — but he was then given the opportunity to retrain as an Apache helicopter pilot for several years.
But, even after the extra training, his desperation to return to the frontline led Harry to threaten once again to leave the Army unless he could go back to Afghanistan on US TV.
He said: “You can’t train someone and then not put them in the role they need to play.”
He was re-deployed in 2012, but this time without a media blackout as he was flying a helicopter and so would be spending most of his time away from the opposition forces.
Still, his camp was soon attacked by the Taliban — although Harry was quickly whisked to safety.
Princess Anne awarding Harry during a military ceremony (Image: Getty)
Then Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said that as soon as the insurgents approached, Harry was moved to a guarded location while Nato said the royal “was never in any danger”.
Harry was allegedly furious at being given this special treatment, and wanted to stay with his peers, but it appears he had a safety net around him throughout his time in the Army.
He also resented how he was perceived as “Prince Harry and not as Captain Wales” during this second tour by his fellow soldiers, with some even trying to snap photos with him while he was off-duty.
Harry quit the Army in 2015 to take up more royal duties, but decided to officially leave the monarchy last March.
‘Harry: Conversations with the Prince’ by Angela Levin was published in 2018 by John Blake and is available here.
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