Queen said it was Harry, William’s ‘duty’ to fight in Afghanistan: general
The late Queen Elizabeth said it was her grandkids Prince William and Prince Harry’s “duty” to fight in Afghanistan — because they took her “shilling.”
In the new ITVX documentary series, The Real Crown, Ex-Army General Sir Mike Jackson alleged that the monarch “was very clear” in her words, saying: “My grandsons have taken my shilling, therefore they must do their duty.”
However, Jackson noted that because William, 41, was “heir to the throne, the risk is too great” for him to go to war.
But as for Harry, 38, “the risk was acceptable” due to him being the younger — and the “Spare” — brother.
Mark Cann, who was the director of the British Forces Foundation, appeared on the show and gave more insight into William’s desire to go to combat.
“William was very keen to go. Unequivocally,” Cann pointed out, but he was barred from doing so.
“But it was complex, and some very great minds and experienced people took a view on it,” Cann continued.
Harry, the Duke of Sussex, wound up completing two tours in Afghanistan, one from 2007 to 2008 and then again from 2012 to 2013.
In 2006, William enrolled in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and completed its 44-week training course.
That same year, William became an Army officer and in 2009, he joined the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.
The docuseries also claimed that the Queen had a “deep understanding” of the Afghanistan War, which occurred from 2001 until 2014.
MI6 head Sir John Scarlett also appeared on the program and said the sovereign had clearance and access to classified information.
“She’s very, very discreet, completely reliable and completely on top of the detail,” Scarlett recalled.
“I remember thinking at the time, ‘Wow, Her Majesty knows more about this than we do,'” he went on.
Harry further discussed his military career in his recent memoir, “Spare.”
He penned that he killed 25 Taliban soldiers and that his army training made him see them as “chess pieces removed from the board.”
In a January interview on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Harry discussed the criticism he faced for writing about his war experiences in his book.
“I think one of the most dangerous lies that they have told, is that I somehow boasted about the number of people I have killed in Afghanistan,” Harry said.
He went on: “I would say that if I heard anybody else, anyone, boasting about that kind of thing, I would be angry. But it’s a lie.”
“My words are not dangerous, but the spin of my words is very dangerous to my family,” he said.
