Prince Harry by Penny Junor

Author:Penny Junor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography / Royalty
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2014-09-08T16:00:00+00:00

THWARTED

“The best thing that ever happened to Prince Harry in a military sense,” says one of his team, “was his commanding officer of the Household Cavalry at Windsor, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Smyth-Osbourne, a Lifeguards officer and former member of the SAS. Ed would kill me because he’s a very self-effacing bloke, but he was brilliant, and he was turning the Household Cavalry into something really quite exciting. He was one of those paragons who got Harry and Harry got him—and William as well—and he really took Harry under his wing. His regiment was one of the few in the Army that was permanently deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq throughout his two-and-a-half-year tour as Harry’s boss; he had two Princes dropped in on him and he didn’t even break step. He dealt with them in a brilliant way and is still a father figure to them; an amazing man.”

The set-up of the regiment is quite unusual, as the team member explains. “The Household Cavalry is a combination of Blues and Royals and Lifeguards, which is based permanently at Windsor, and they have their offshoot which is the Mounted Regiment at Knightsbridge. It sort of falls between infantry soldiering—down and dirty in the hills—and being an armored regiment with tanks and things. They’re a reconnaissance regiment so they do a bit of sneaking around and checking out where the enemy lines are. I was always quite surprised that Harry chose to go into that rather than a down-and-dirty infantry regiment which would have tested his stalker skills, but it was quite a good choice because he got the best of both worlds: he could play his polo, which the Household Cavalry are the best in the Army at, and he could also do the tough bit.”

Shaun Pickford was the Regimental Corporal Major, which is the senior soldier of the other ranks, the conduit between them and the officers. It was his task to keep new young officers in check. “Some come in cocky and some don’t. Harry didn’t. He was a down-to-earth and a soldiers’ officer from day one. He was interested in the guys, in what they’d done, what they wanted to do. He wanted to lead them, that’s what really stood out with him from when he first joined the regiment. From day one Harry wanted to go to the front line.”

Harry was commissioned at the famous Passing Out ceremony, in April 2006, as a Second Lieutenant in the Household Cavalry (Blues and Royals). His grandmother took the Sovereign’s Parade in person for the first time in fifteen years, and whatever she said to him when she inspected the rows of newly commissioned officers made his face light up in a broad grin. His brother—a mere cadet for the time being—his father, stepmother, Tiggy Pettifer and Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton were all there to celebrate his success. Chelsy stayed away from the formal part of the day but joined him for the Sandhurst Ball in the evening, as did William’s girlfriend, Kate

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