Ever since Prince Harry gave all of his allegations an open voice in his tell-all memoir, Spare, he has come under fire for some of his devastating claims. While most of them revolved around the Palace’s ill-treatment towards him as the Spare Prince, others constituted some self-harm confessions that led to stirring controversies over the bestseller. As he wrote in his memoir, the juvenile Prince harbored ambitions of serving in the royal military as early as in his time at Eton College. 

Manifesting the same, he started by leading classmates in a military cadet parade, forming a special guard of honor. Following his higher education, he passed on the Regular Commission’s Board, a qualification required to get past the military training in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. And that is exactly how he kick-started his career as a military servant for the United Kingdom. As dedicated as he was, the Duke found both solace and satisfaction in the work he did to serve the kingdom. 

Prince Harry, the Royal on the frontline 

As he revealed in his memoir, “I felt very resentful (against his family). Being in the Army was the best escape I’ve ever had,” claimed the Duke. “I felt as though I was really achieving something,” unlike getting a tag of royalty by birth without having done something on his own merits. He also revealed that he has a deep understanding of all sorts of people that came from different backgrounds. They made him feel like he “was one of them.” The Prince proudly added that while in the Army, “I wasn’t a Prince, I was just Harry“.

In brief, his military career saved him, he says. Having chosen his way against the typical lifestyle of royals, Prince Harry decided to go the hard way to live deliberately a normal life, unlike a sophisticated royal. Although his serving in the frontline for the Afghanistan tour was much uncertain, with his exceptional sense of duty and skills, he made it happen on his own. 

How was life as a military veteran for the Duke?

It was much later than he actually joined the Afghanistan service that it was declared publicly. Rising to the rank of Captain, the Prince undertook two tours of the wretched land. Ever since, from flying the Apache helicopters to facing the bullets on the frontline, Prince Harry did it all. 

According to his claims in Spare, he killed 25 enemy fighters during his time serving Afghanistan.  However, that has also become a matter of much controversy. As some say, the numbers vary. His exact term of serving ten years of the military in Afghanistan was from one 2007 to 2008 and from 2012 to 2013.

What is your take on Prince Harry’s military career and the respite it provided him with away from his family?