The Duke of Sussex was keen to talk about his military service during the media interviews to promote his ghost-written memoir this week. He is not the first ex-soldier who only spent a short time in the British Army to indicate that this was the most meaningful time of his life, but he has crossed a line with his boasts about how many kills he has notched on his belt.
It all smacks of someone who is desperate for the limelight and shows no respect for his comrades-in-arms. From a historical perspective, there are so many similarities to the life of the Duke of Windsor, who was described as a “Traitor King” in a book last year. However, there is an important difference in that Edward was not born as a “Spare”, as Harry identifies himself. To my mind, this shows that it is not what fate bequeaths to you, but the path you choose that marks out what sort of man you are.
There is another lesson that I draw from the similarities. In his memoir, the Duke of Windsor wrote about travelling to London when Queen Elizabeth II was on the throne and walking down St James’s Street without being recognised. He felt deflated as it was the moment he realised that he was irrelevant in Britain. Perhaps this is Harry’s greatest fear and is what has driven him to a life of hypocrisy and delusion.
We Three Kings
Rupert Wieloch 