Prince Harry left ‘furious’ after devastating leak and only ‘two things could calm him’
He may now live a life attending glitzy Hollywood events and rubbing shoulder with the stars – but it wasn’t always the case for Prince Harry.
In fact, before he met and married wife Meghan Markle and became a full-time working royal, the Duke of Sussex had a 10-year career in the British military, which saw him serve two tours of duty in Afghanistan. It was on this day 18 years ago in 2006 that Harry officially ‘passed out’ after completing officer training at the prestigious Sandhurst Military Academy – and it wasn’t long before he received his first posting to the war-torn country.
In 2007, he was deployed to the notorious Helmand province in Afghanistan amid a media blackout that was followed by all British media, including the Mirror. But just 10 weeks into the tour, the devastating decision was made to withdraw Harry for his own and his team’s protection after a story was published overseas about his deployment.
Speaking at the time, Helmand task force commander Brigadier Andrew Mackay said: “The decision to withdraw Harry from operations was not made lightly and was given careful consideration. At the time of the decision, he was deployed in the field, conducting operations against the Taliban and we, therefore, had to consider not just the consequences for him personally but those that he was serving alongside.”
According to royal expert Duncan Larcombe, this left the Prince furious and added it proved to be one of the hardest points in Harry’s life. And he revealed that only one person – Chelsy Davy – and one place – Botswana – could calm him down.
