Prince Harry in Afghanistan

Over the past few days, the media has been full of the stories about Prince Harry secretly serving with the Army in Afghanistan. His deployment was kept secret and he was pulled out when a US website (the Drudge Report) leaked the information.

Many aren't happy about the decision to send him to war and have been completely against it since he joined the Army. Last year, it was decided that he wouldn't serve in Iraq as it was too risky. There was the fear that he'd become a target and put others in danger. Some thought that he, as a royal, was too important to send to war.

In my opinion, Harry should have been sent to war a long time ago. It's what he joined the Army for and the public speculation simply made it impossible. There's a risk of any soldier getting killed and that should be no different for Harry. You simply don't join the Army if you don't want to risk that.

The other point that irritates me is that some people seemingly believe that he should receive greater protection purely because he is a member of the Royal Family. This should not be the case - the lives of the Royals are just as important as everyone else in the country (and specifically, every soldier in the Army). If the Royal Family is to cling on to whatever shreds of legitimacy it may have left, there needs to be no debate over issues like these - Harry should have been deployed with the rest of his troops. End of.

Unfortunately, if Harry was killed or injured, the political fall out would be huge. The Conservatives, the right-wing press and a vast proportion of the people would blame the government (and more specifically Blair and Brown). Although most have said that he should serve, that statement is probably often made on the condition that he doesn't get killed or harmed.

What does scare me is how long media hysteria and the disgust of the people would continue for if anything had happened to Harry. Princess Diana died over 10 years ago and we still hear about that everyday. Her death is still regularly making the front page of the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and the other nationalist fascist newspapers. I don't think I could stand it if we had to go through that all over again.