Poor Prince Harry. Gone is the era of the warrior kings and princes who led their countrymen into battle. Harry, 22, who holds the rank of Cornet (equivalent to a 2nd lieutenant) in the Royal British Army, is stuck at a desk job in Alberta, Canada, while the 12-man troop unit he was supposed to lead is in Iraq.

After Harry’s six-month deployment became public earlier this year, British military chiefs in May prohibited the prince, third in line to the throne, from going to Iraq due to insurgent threats promising to kidnap him. The military chiefs cited great risk not only to Harry, but his men. Some reports said the military supported the prince’s deployment, but was forced to bow to political pressure.

The death of a prince would certainly be a public relations nightmare for Britain and a huge score for the bad guys. But what message are Britain and the Royal Family sending by not letting him go? The lives of 5,500 British servicemembers serving in Iraq are expendable — but not the prince’s?

Harry is reportedly so angry over the matter, he’s threatening to leave the Army.
“There’s no way I’m going to put myself through Sandhurst and then sit on my arse back home while my boys are out fighting for their country,” Harry said last year.
Sandhurst is Britain’s equivalent to West Point. Harry would have been the first Royal to serve in combat since his uncle, Prince Andrew, flew helicopters in the Falklands 25 years ago.

The prince’s presence would be a huge morale boost for British troops and would send a clear “stick it in your eye” message back to the insurgents. That’s the hard-hitting spirit the Brits, standing alone, demonstrated to the Nazis during the Battle of Britain 67 years ago.

In America, where fewer and fewer congressmen or their offspring serve in the military, I give a thumb’s up to Harry. Pardon the pun, but he’s no pampered prince. He’s got the toughness and spark you often find in a young man in uniform.

War is often the defining moment in many servicemembers’ lives. How sad that a future leader in the Royal Family is denied that opportunity. For himself and for his country.