‘Senior figures on the ground took the view that it simply wasn’t worth the risk of deploying the prince. They felt there was credence in the suggestion that the mere fact such a senior Royal was out there would increase attacks on British troops. Although this was not what General Dannatt wanted to hear, he had to listen to what his commanders were saying, and in fairness to him, that is exactly what he did.’
On 16 May 2007, it was announced that Harry would not be deployed to Iraq due to concerns about the number of ‘specific threats’ made against his life. General Dannatt was forced to accept that the risk to the prince and his men was ‘unacceptable’. He said in a statement: ‘There have been a number of specific threats – some reported and some not reported – which relate directly to Prince Harry as an individual. These threats expose not only him but also those around him to a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable. I have to add that a contributing factor to this increase in threat to Prince Harry has been the widespread knowledge and discussion of his deployment.’
With this statement Prince Harry’s dreams of serving his country in the front line appeared to be in tatters. It didn’t matter how good he was as an officer, or how hard he trained to convince his superiors he was ready, it seemed he would never be allowed to fight because of who he was and what he represented.
This was a hammer blow for Harry. As a prince there were very few careers open to him. A life in the Army was all he had dreamed of as a young boy. One of the appeals of being a soldier was that it satisfied his yearning to be ‘normal’. He had been told he could go and fight, but at the eleventh hour this had been ripped away from him for the very reason that he was anything but ‘normal’.
In his lifetime Harry has had to cope with very low moments but the U-turn on his deployment to Iraq was one of the lowest. He wanted to prove himself and the reality was he was very good at his job. His men respected him as an officer, not as a Royal. Despite his lack of academic ability, he had mastered the more technical elements of leading men in an infantry unit. He lived and breathed the Army, and up until the point the plug was pulled on his tour he genuinely felt he had found his purpose in life.
When the news was announced, Clarence House were quick to try and defuse speculation that Harry might carry out his threat to quit if he could not go to war. A statement was issued accepting he was ‘very disappointed’ by the decision but that he would not quit as a result. ‘He fully understands and accepts General Dannatt’s difficult decision and remains committed to his Army career. Prince Harry’s thoughts are with his troop and the rest of the battle group in Iraq.’
But it would later become clear that behind the scenes it was a different picture. Harry’s mind was in turmoil. He was furious that all the hard work, all the effort he had put in, was wasted, and he was on the brink of resigning his commission and leaving the Army for good. Had it not been for the support of three people, there is little doubt the Iraq fiasco would have marked the end of Harry’s military career.
The first person was Chelsy. Following the U-turn Harry turned to his long-term girlfriend for support. Sources close to the Zimbabwean revealed how the 22-year-old Royal confided in her. He was bitterly disappointed and angry, even telling Chelsy he was going to quit the Army as a result.
In reality, like most other halves Chelsy was relieved he would not be sent to Iraq. Six months is a very long time and if Harry had been sent to war the couple would not have seen each other for what might have seemed like forever.
Also, Chelsy was privately hoping Harry would be able to come to Cape Town in October that year when she was due to celebrate her twenty-first birthday. Had he been deployed, there was no way he would have been back in time for the party she was already planning.
A friend said: ‘Often when soldiers go to war it is actually tougher on the loved ones they leave at home. Chelsy supported Harry but privately we all knew she was relieved his tour had been shelved. Harry was clearly very frustrated and angry, but Chelsy spent a long time calming him down and convincing him not to quit. Had it not been for her level-headed advice Harry’s military career may have come to an end there and then.’
The second person Harry turned to following the U-turn was his brother William. At the time he was on a tank commander’s course, having successfully followed in Harry’s footsteps and passed out of Sandhurst.
But all was not well with William. His decision to invite Kate Middleton and her parents to his passing out parade at Sandhurst in December 2006 had caused a massive surge in speculation that he was about to get engaged. As a result Kate’s London flat was besieged by photographers and William’s heavy training schedule meant he was powerless to protect her.
In April 2007 things had got so bad that William and Kate had decided to separate. I had been aware that their relationship was in turmoil but I was amazed when the palace confirmed they had split. Clearly William had taken the view that his first real romance had run its course and he was willing to let his media team confirm the split.
When Harry confided in his brother that he was prepared to quit the Army, William was horrified. He knew more than anyone just how passionate Harry was about his military career. And until then it had been Harry who had spurred his older brother on at times when he was finding the training regime extremely tough.
Unlike Harry, William’s military career was never really going to be more than window dressing. As heir to the throne William was never likely to serve in the front line. His desire to enter the forces was far more about being able to look servicemen in the eye. In 2005, while on tour in New Zealand with the British Lions rugby squad, William had told me about why he was determined to join the Army. He said: ‘I feel it is important for me to understand the military and to be able to look soldiers in the eye with at least a tiny bit of knowledge of what they have gone through.’
Despite this motivation for becoming an officer, there was nothing easy about William’s training at Sandhurst and his subsequent tank commander’s course in Dorset. He received no special treatment just because he would one day become the head of the Armed Forces. And in some ways there was even more pressure on him to reach the grade than any other cadet on his course.
When William faced challenges at Sandhurst, it was always Harry to whom he turned. His younger brother’s support was rivalled only by Harry’s genuine passion for all things military. He would often help William with advice and guidance to make sure his older brother would get through Sandhurst without being humiliated.
So when Harry confided in William it was time for him to repay some of this support. According to a Royal source, William told Harry in no uncertain terms that he should not quit the Army. He reminded him of why he had joined up and reassured Harry that there must be a way for him to be allowed to serve in the front line. At that time the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan meant that the Army was being pushed to its limits. A young, competent infantry officer like Harry would always have opportunities to put his training to good use.
The source added: ‘William made it clear to Harry in no uncertain terms that he must not quit the Army. He reminded his brother of how hard he had worked to get through Sandhurst and complete his pre-deployment training with distinction. William was of the view that if Harry quit he would undo all that he had achieved as a young officer and send a very bad signal to everyone. He even went as far as to say quitting would look as though he was spoilt and truculent, and urged Harry to bite his lip and carry on.
‘Harry and William are very similar in many ways, but there are also ways in which they are very different. Harry wears his heart on his sleeve whereas William is more considered and cautious. But William is one of the few people Harry will really listen to.’
The final person who helped Harry through the frustration of missing the deployment was his private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton. Ever since Harry had passed out of Sandhurst, Lowther-Pinkerton had made it his personal mission to try and convince the top brass that h
e should be allowed to serve like any other soldier.
He had been brought into the household to act as a guide and mentor to both William and Harry. A softly-spoken, unassuming man, he instantly bonded with the boys. His serious nature coupled with a genuine loyalty and respect for the Royal family made him an excellent choice.
But Lowther-Pinkerton’s greatest quality, as far as Harry was concerned, was his experience as a distinguished and decorated Army officer. He had served his country and risen to the rank of major within the legendary Special Air Service. His wiry and modest appearance disguises a far tougher interior, and among those who have worked within the palace walls he is someone both the boys have unlimited respect for. When Prince George was born, William wasted no time in asking Lowther-Pinkerton to be godfather. From the minute he arrived at Clarence House, he took on a role as guide and uncle figure to William and Harry.
So when Harry was forced to swallow the decision over Iraq, he knew that Lowther-Pinkerton shared his frustration. The pair had talked at length about serving in the front line and it had been largely due to Lowther-Pinkerton that General Dannatt had even considered allowing Harry to be deployed.
Harry was now told by his private secretary to keep calm over the U-turn and not make any decisions in haste. Lowther-Pinkerton promised him that he would try and find a way that would allow him to serve in the front line. He asked Harry to trust him and let him explore other ways.
It is true to say that Harry came very close to quitting the Army in 2007 but thanks to the three major influences in his life, the young Royal calmed down and agreed to play the long game. But there was a problem. How on earth could Lowther-Pinkerton deliver on his promise to get Harry to the front line? He was determined to try, but in reality the publicity surrounding Harry’s pre-deployment training alone would only ever fuel the problems that had prevented him from going to Iraq in 2007. No matter how hard they tried, Clarence House could not think of a single way of getting the young Royal into the theatre of war.
In what must have been a sign of their desperation, I was contacted by Paddy Harverson less than a month later. Harry was back in his barracks in Windsor and his men were a month into their Iraq tour.
Harverson had a reputation as a frightening figure. Before working for the Prince of Wales, he had cut his teeth at Manchester United, managing their media operations and advising Alex Ferguson in all matters relating to the press. At times he could be very abrupt and often displayed a visible dislike and distrust of the media. Despite this he was fair, upfront and surprisingly approachable for someone who had to deal with the pressure of representing Prince Charles and his sons while maintaining a working relationship with the press.
To my surprise Harverson was trying to set up a meeting with me and the paper’s respected defence editor, Tom Newton Dunn. He wanted us to have an off-the-record discussion about Harry’s military career and more importantly hoped to bring Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton along as well. This was a very rare request. Lowther-Pinkerton was someone who simply didn’t speak to the press. His interaction with the Royal pack was limited to a polite handshake on the few occasions he found himself in the same room as us.
To have the chance to sit down and have a full and frank discussion with the princes’ private secretary was too good an opportunity to miss. It was agreed the four of us would meet at the Garrick Club in London’s West End. The reason for the meeting was to sound us out on whether or not we thought it would ever be possible for Harry to go to the front line.
So, on 14 June 2007, we met in the elegant surroundings of one of London’s foremost gentlemen’s clubs to discuss an issue that was clearly bothering Harry’s private secretary and Clarence House’s foremost media adviser.
‘We want to know if you think it will ever be possible for Harry to go to war,’ said Harverson in his characteristically abrupt manner.
Clearly the two of them had only decided to meet with us on the instruction of Harry himself. The Sun was indeed the Forces paper at the time, and we had revealed our true colours by agreeing not to run the story about insurgent threats to Harry ahead of his scheduled deployment a few weeks earlier.
‘Have you considered trying to get a media blackout on any future deployment?’ asked Newton Dunn.
Tom was a respected defence editor who had reported from the front line in both Afghanistan and Iraq. He was well aware of the behind-the-scenes compromises that were made between journalists and the Ministry of Defence. In return for getting access to troops on the front line, journalists were happy to allow sensitive parts of their dispatches to be cut for security reasons. It was a customary feature of war reporting that in return for access to the troops on the front line, journalists would accept that there would be certain things they could not report.
The best example of this was when the legendary BBC reporter Brian Hanrahan sent a dispatch back to London at the height of the Falklands War. Referring to the Harrier jump jets that had taken off from the aircraft-carrier HMS Hermes, he famously said: ‘I am not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back.’
What we were suggesting was trying to get some kind of agreement where Harry could be deployed to the front line but the media would agree in advance to keep this a secret until after he was back home.
‘Would that really work?’ asked Lowther-Pinkerton.
I replied: ‘Well, it seems to me that this is the only way Harry would ever be able to serve in the front line. If his deployment is publicized before the event, he will not be able to go. So perhaps this is the only option available.’
In reality neither I nor my colleague thought there was any chance of getting the British media to all agree to a blackout. From my own point of view I remember thinking that at the time we probably wrote two stories a week about Harry. Surely our readers would smell a rat if for weeks on end we didn’t carry a single story about him? Even if it was possible to forge an agreement with the media in Britain, it would be next to impossible to persuade foreign journalists to take part in what would only ever be a voluntary agreement.
If a media blackout was to be attempted, then the Ministry of Defence and the palace would effectively be asking the press to keep a secret that would be virtually impossible to keep. Despite this, Lowther-Pinkerton and Harverson seemed interested in the suggestion and left the Garrick Club that night with something to think about.
If ever proof was needed to show how close Harry came to quitting the Army in protest, there it was. His two senior advisers were contemplating trying to do an unprecedented deal with the British media. They would in effect be asking every major news outlet in Britain to keep a secret from their readers, viewers or listeners. By even considering this as an option, they were demonstrating the fact that as far as Harry’s military career was concerned they really had no other. It was that or nothing.
It would simply never be possible to sneak Harry out to war without telling the media. The thousands of British troops out in Afghanistan and Iraq would all recognize the prince if he turned up at their base, and in turn they would be sure to tell their loved ones back home.
Following the meeting in June, Lowther-Pinkerton, Harverson and General Dannatt got to work on their bold plan and for weeks on end they met with editors and producers to sound them out on it.
Eventually we were all invited to the Ministry of Defence for a briefing. The great and the good from almost all national TV and newspaper outlets were there. Not everyone was in agreement, and in reality there probably wasn’t a single person in the room who thought it would work. But the general consensus was that it was worth trying. If one newspaper or TV station decided to break ranks and report Harry’s deployment, they would be taking a huge risk. Not only would they suffer the wrath of all of their competitors, but they would potentially be putting Harry and his comrades’ lives in danger by drawing attention to the Royal’s presence in the theatre of war.
Through the S
ociety of Editors it was agreed that in return for their cooperation, the British media would be given pictures, footage and a series of pooled interviews with Harry out in the front line. This material would be handed over as and when he was safely back home at the end of any tour of duty.
It was a bold plan, and nothing quite like it had ever been attempted in a country with a free press. At last it seemed that Harry would be allowed to serve his country. If this plan didn’t work, his military career would be all but over.
In late November, with the media blackout in place, Harry was finally preparing to go to war. Behind the scenes it was decided his first deployment would be to Afghanistan. To the delight of the young Royal, he was on the verge of putting all his training to use – the moment he had dreamed of since being a little boy was about to arrive.
CHAPTER 7
THE FLIGHT THAT CHANGED HIS LIFE
The operation to remove Harry from the front line was as slick as it was carefully planned. So much effort had been put into forming a blueprint for getting the Royal warrior out of Afghanistan, whenever the time came, that nothing was left to chance.
Within minutes of the story breaking on the internet at the end of February 2008, a Chinook helicopter had left its base at Camp Bastion and was making its way across the Afghan desert to collect its precious cargo. On board were Harry’s Met Police back-up protection officers, who had been living at the British base for the eight weeks their principal had been in action on the front line. They were joined by a team of heavily armed SAS soldiers, who would be first off the helicopter to ensure the loading area was secure.
In Afghanistan very few low-altitude flights were made during the day. The Taliban fighters knew that downing a Chinook would score a huge victory for their side. They were a premium target for the enemy and as a result all re-supply and non-essential sorties were carried out under cover of darkness.
Prince Harry Page 9
