This army vet called for Prince Harry’s security to be reinstated after he ‘risked his life to protect his country’ in a moving speech. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have claimed their security detail was withdrawn by the royal family in their tell-all US interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The Prince took exception to this move, telling Winfrey, “I was born into this position. I inherited this risk.” Instead the prince will pay for personal security for himself and his family with inheritance from his mother Diana. Army vet Michael called for this decision to be reversed: “Here’s a royal who fought to protect his country and is now having his protection withdrawn. The irony is gob-smacking.”
The Vet : Royal family should reinstate prince harry’s military honours and they should honor and respect whatever whatever path they choose to take and now the qualification that I give behind my reasoning is that i’m a veteran and as prince harry was i served in afghanistan on the ground uh did two tours just the same as prince harry and actually one of the tools that he was on um overlapped with one of mine now any yeah anyone that anyone that served will tell you that the iraq and afghan conflict no matter your political view it was horrendous um the you know the toll on your mental health the toll on those who didn’t come back the families you know life and limb now prince harry let’s not forget he did too he did two of those tours so i believe he’s paid his kind of his debt to his country and if you look all throughout history um the physical security of the nation and its citizens have been guaranteed by young men and women who have been willing to go put their lives at risk and pay the ultimate price which he has
done so before anything else I do urge people to never forget that and to remember
The Journalist: Are you surprised by how easily and how quickly that has been overlooked?
The Vet : Absolutely I lost like so another similarity with prince harry is that i lost my mom at a young age so I understand what it feels like and the statements that um they’re kind of blaming this on prince harry not taking it well uh not taking his mother’s loss i think that’s a real slap in the face to a man who’s who served on the ground you know he was a platoon commander he led he led men in action on men and women were on his first tour and then on his second tour was an apache pilot so the thought that everyone blaming megan and you know saying that a man who has done such incredible things under the intense kind of the intensity of combat cannot make up make his own decisions as ludicrous.
The Journalist: Can i can i ask you a tricky question and if you if you if you don’t have an answer to it then don’t be embarrassed to say so um how because i think a lot of us with no military service which is of course almost all of us and then when you expand that to include people who didn’t do a tour in afghanistan or iraq it’s a it’s almost everybody how insulated was he by dint of his status from some of the dangers and realities that you for
example would have been exposed to?
The Vet : I can’t i can’t like that’s like to be honest i can’t i can’t speak i can’t really i can’t give you an accurate answer because i didn’t you know it was it was a very well kept his safety was guaranteed but he was not insulated i don’t believe he was insulated well i mean an ied or a missile attack upon a military base in afghanistan it is not going to be able to work out who’s who’s a member of the royal family and who isn’t is it absolutely so uh in my in my view i’d say no he wasn’t shielded he was on the ground patrolling it was just that the only shielding he had that was that the press weren’t able to let anyone know otherwise obviously he would be a massive target now on the second tour just
The Journalist: Let me pause you there because obviously he would be a massive target and that just puts a completely different complexion on their complaints about not being afforded royal protection on sydney street doesn’t it why would he be more of a target in a theater of war than he would be outside a theater of war he’s a target for the same reason isn’t he?
The Vet : yeah so can i just just touch on this point i i thought about the irony um of the fact that here is a royal who fought for his country and risked his life to protect his country is who is now having his own protection
withdrawn from him
Prince Harry is also set to lose several honorary military titles, including Captain General of the Royal Marines and Commodore-in-Chief, Small Ships and Diving in the Royal Navy, as the Sussexes officially step back as senior royals.