Harry

He's a soldier, not a diplomat. He was asked a stupid question which should never be put to a serving soldier and he answered like a soldier, not a diplomat or a politician. Why wasn't he given some support in the interview? And it's also relevant, I think, that the interview took place over a period of time, not one session in a studio, while he was on active service. No wonder he and his brother don't like the media!

Exactly Lilygran.

Who actually cares what this tiresome, puerile and massively privileged young man says, does or thinks?

thats harsh Absent, I can still remember seeing him follow his mother`s coffin down the Mall. It was a very young age to lose his Mum.

He may have priviledges he can` t help being born a prince! I find it interesting as he always looks such fun.

well Mishap my son was in Army for 10 years but you would have to be quite naieve not to realise they do Kill PEOPLE IN THE ARMY!!!!!

SORRY Mean`t to say why should he have lied?

diplomacy can be carried too far.

Leave the lad alone .

He should have been advised better .

He is just back from Afganistan , so glad it was not my DS who was out there.

Yeah, he's just back from Afghanistan – together with lots of other soldiers who came home to find that they are about to be made redundant.

Absent , you have me puzzled ?

I believe the official word was that no-one currently serving in Afghanistan or recently returned will be on this list of redundancies. Small comfort I know.
Anyway Harry's job will be safe (bless him I know he needs the money) as can you imagine being the person to break that news???

Off with his head !!!!

I don't think he should have lied celebgran just that he should have refused to answer the question.

Come on he must be used to getting all kinds of questions thrown at him and he should know better.

celebgran - we all know soldiers kill people.

The issue in question here is how a member of the royal family should express themselves on the subject in order to avoid making a volatile situation worse.

IMO the interview should not have taken place at all; and, if it did take place, that Harry should have had some guidance from his seniors on how to express himself over these sensitive matters.

He is a young man from a difficult background who has endured a great deal in his life, albeit in a financially privileged setting. He does not have the maturity to know how best to express himself in such a sensitive area.

As I said before: the bottom line is to ask whether his comments and the way they were expressed have improved the safety of his colleagues and of potential terrorist victims or worsened it.

He has been poorly advised; and he will be finding the cricicism hard. He should never have been placed in this position - permission for the interview should have been refused. It serves no-one's interests.

gillybob I think only those actually serving in Afghanistan when the redundancy notices are issued will be exempt. I nearly typed Vietnam – there's a Freudian slip if ever there was one.

At least he didn't come home with a rose between his teeth like Uncle Andy.

Exactly Mishap he should have refused the question.

Sorry I can't agree he is a young man from a difficult background though.

Well, I can agree he is a young man !

I think the interview was used to serve the interest of the royal family who really want us to believe they are just like any "normal" family. They probably used Harry to help their ratings.

Well there are so many similarities the "slip" almost went un-noticed Absent

merlotgran

celebgran I think that making those boys walk behind their mother's coffin was disgustingly harsh.

Did I hear that they were asked whether they wanted to? I think I did.

Elegran , I think they were asked .

Even though they were so young , it somehow did not seem WRONG

If they were given a free choice (not the "You do want to don't you?" kind of choice) and they wished to honour their mother that way, then OK. They were old enough to act in a manly way.

I'll never forget it and they've had a place in my heart ever since, especially William.

The advice from the usual unnamed government sources of the time was that if Princes William and Harry walked behind their mother's coffin, they would provide protection for their father whose unpopularity was at its height at the time. I think that they were only 15 and 13 and to force them to undergo such an experience in a public show for all those hysterical crowds when their loss was a genuine and painful one was pure cruelty.

absent, hear , hear.

Very cruel indeed, just for the sake of the royal road show.

The wreath - was it white roses? - on the coffin with the word MUMMY on it gave it all away really. The press of the whole wide world kept zooming in on it.
Very clever P.R.

That excursion probably scarred them for life.

I can't help but like them both very much though.

nonu so am I, i had to go through 2 spells of my son in Iraq and it is mental torture, I am a lucky one whose son came home, living close to garrison town of Colchester I am only too well aware how many dont.

Mishap I do not think it will make a jot of difference to the atrocitites carried out in Afghanistan, and in some ways do feel Harry is being selfish in wanting the thrill of war in his position.

Yes agree he probably lacks maturity to answer that question and unlike his brother he is more impulsive.

Leave the poor bloke alone, he is in a goldfish bowl and to lose your mother at that young age left them both scarred for life.