God Save The Prince: British royals serve as our U.S. elite does not

[Doondoo]

The British are not like Americans. Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, will serve a combat tour in Iraq starting in a few months.

The British royal family -- as Americans will be reminded again in the Academy Award consideration of "The Queen," a story from the life of Queen Elizabeth II -- spends a certain amount of time in military dress gear, on horses, frequently in red uniforms with lots of medals.

What is less well known is that generally at least the men have had formal military training, and some of them have experience in combat, most recently Prince Andrew in the British-Argentine Falklands war. Queen Elizabeth herself as a princess served as an ambulance driver and mechanic in London during World War II, when the Germans were raining bombs and rockets on the British capital.

Now, Prince Harry, or, more exactly, Cornet (second lieutenant equivalent) Henry Charles Albert David Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince of Wales, will go to Iraq as an officer of the Blues and Royals Regiment of the Household Cavalry, in command of an armored reconnaissance unit. His unit uses lightly armored vehicles, obviously vulnerable to improvised explosive devices and explosively formed projectiles, so this is the real thing.

The contrast with the military record (or nonrecord) of the American president and vice president and their offspring is hard to miss.


http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07056/764602-192.stm

[YellowRubberDuckie]

1. Prince Harry has earned his title.

From what I've heard he's highly respected by his men and isn't afraid to do the job himself. It's refreshing to actually have a royal who isn't a whiny little turd(his uncle Andrew, for one, who I think is the one who is the other royal to serve in a war zone. The only reason he went is because they wouldn't give him special treatment when he asked for it.
I think Harry definitely has his mother's stubborn streak in him. He's a good kid, no matter what the tabloids would have you think about him boozing and sleeping around.
Duckie

[Cassandra]

4. Actually, Andrew didn't want special treatment.

Thatcher was trying to protect him and he insisted on being in the war zone. There was quite a bit written up in the British press at the time and I was following it in those papers.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. Hmmm...

I just read this the other day. I'm not sure where it was. Thanks for the correction though. STupid American Media!
Duckie

[Glorfindel]

7. Aw, come on...what's wrong with "boozing and sleeping around?"

He's a young man with normal appetites. I know I boozed and slept around whenever possible at that age. (And, considering the era, both were almost always possible, even encouraged.) But seriously, all honor and best wishes to Prince Harry. It's refreshing, in a cynical world, to find someone who takes duty seriously - in stark contrast to our current occup0ant of the Oval Office, who smirks and winks his way through life while sending others to their deaths.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

8. There's nothing wrong with it...

But the media wanted us to think he was a terrible kid for it.
Duckie

[frogcycle]

2. a lot of British tradition seems goofy, but

this points out some pretty admirable ones

it would be pretty easy to duck away from this, bend the rules a bit, but this kid has what it takes.

We have plenty like him, just not in our current administration. The kid who was killed from my neighborhood Feb 2 was from an affluent suburb, had a degree from Purdue, was a 1Lt in the 10th Mtn Division because he volunteered out of a sense of duty and patriotism. Another killed more recently was a high school grad from Virginia who wwas accepted at several colleges, had scholarship offers, but said he felt he should go fight alongside his countrymen before going to college.

THESE are the kind of people we need in government. John Kerry is a good example. Jim Webb is another.
Jack Murtha. Max Cleland. Tammy Duckworth. John Laesch. Chuck Hagel.

(there was a time I would have included John McCain, but I feel that time has passed)

These are people who believe in America, are willing to put their lives on the line for what they feel is right, and also willing to stand up and be counted when they feel something is wrong.

Three cheers for Prince Harry, and may he come back whole.

[Cassandra]

3. Primogenitor

Traditionally, second and third sons of the aristocracy got nothing and had to go into the army or the church to make a living. That still lingers, somewhat.

[MasonJar]

5. I would seriously like to live on the "nothing" of second and third sons.

The British royals have a strong sense of community and public service. Noblesse oblige. They are not the monsters that some here paint. Good luck to Prince Harry.