UK NEWS

HARRY ARRIVES BACK IN THE UK

UNHAPPY: Harry steps off the plane in the UK today

Saturday March 1,2008

By Julia White for express.co.uk

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(33)

A BITTERLY disappointed Prince Harry arrived home in the UK from Afghanistan today.

The third-in-line to the throne looked forlorn as walked down the steps of the aeroplane at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire where he was greeted by Prince Charles and Prince William this lunchtime.

The 23-year-old Household Cavalry officer, who has been secretly fighting the Taliban, arrived back on English soil at 11.29 this morning.

He had begged to stay on the frontline, where he’d been fighting for the past 10 weeks, but it was decided by the Army to remove him over fears he is now a Taliban target.

ANGRY: Harry looks gutted as he waits to fly home

Our pictures show him holding his head in his hands as he waited at the airport for his flight home last night.

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WHY HARRY WILL STRUGGLE TO RECOVER FROM THIS
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Military chiefs ordered his immediate removal from the lawless Helmland province after a news blackout deal broke down on Thursday evening following leaks about his deployment on foreign websites.

Army bosses decided to withdraw him because worldwide media coverage of his combat role could put his life and the lives of his men at risk.

Harry was picked up at a grid reference in the desert where he had been on manoeuvre with a squadron of tanks and flown to a Nato base to join his flight home.

In a statement released in the early hours of this morning, the Ministry of Defence said: “We can confirm that Prince Harry left Afghanistan earlier this evening. He is now on his way home to the United Kingdom.”

Harry, who now faces an uncertain future in the army, is said to be very angry that he is being ordered home.

An Army source said: “He is bitterly disappointed that he wasn’t able to complete his tour of duty.

“He wanted to stay but he just has to accept the decision his military commanders have made.”

But the young Prince is set to receive a hero’s welcome from the British public with tributes led by the Queen who said her grandson had performed “a good job in a very difficult climate”.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup said: “This decision has been taken primarily on the basis that the worldwide media coverage of Prince Harry in Afghanistan could impact on the security of those who are deployed there, as well as the risks to him as an individual soldier.”

LUCABRASI

03.03.08, 2:38pm

If you read back you will see that I said my husband was on guard duty at Brize on Saturday - I didnt say he was flying home with Harry et al.

There is a lot more to the role of the serving person than fighting on the front lines. Many other roles are played out daily that people have no understanding of, or forget about. Fire strikes, flood relief, search and rescue, humanitarian aid worldwide - even the everyday jobs of mail handling, cookng for several thousand troops on board a ship or routine maintenance on the fleets of aircraft. The list is endless

The roles they play overseas are mostly dictated by politics - but it is not a political statement I am making when I stand at the main gate and wave them all home again.

I will and I do show my public support any which way I can. Which is why when Harry flew in on Saturday I was there to show HIM that support.

What cost a little respect? Nothing !

• Posted by: Vikster • Report Comment

VIKSTER

02.03.08, 3:47pm

You never said you were there for your husband, you made it sound like you were there for Harry. Because my comments still stand for those who may have been.
You presume too much about my lack of loyalty & patriotism. I know I owe my freedom of speech to the brave men who waded ashore at Normandy, (my Father was in the second wave)
Even though I fought on the Falklands and my Son is on his second tour of Helmand province, I promise I wont take my so-called rudeness for granted.

• Posted by: Lucabrasi • Report Comment

LIBRA

02.03.08, 12:43am

Well said!!

What you said about Harry having anonimity was exactly my point when I pointed out he had no name on his hat, could do what he wanted and no one knew who he was.

Someone pointed out the SAS were guarding him.

So what, WHO were guarding the SAS?? I think people forget that this is a war zone. The people in Afghanistan are lunatics and every soldier there is at risk of being blown up at any second.

Because Harry (& his guards) went there, proves that he has courage.

Unlike some people slagging him off on here.

He HAS the choice to go or not to go. He chose to go to fight for his country. Personally, I don't think any of our services should be there AT ALL, but for him to want to join his men there says a lot more about him than sitting in a night club in London ever could.

Our media kept quiet about this, it is the American who released the story who should be getting the flak, not Prince Harry and not the royal family.

• Posted by: SandieL • Report Comment

TIME TO SEPARATE FORCES FROM ROYALTY

01.03.08, 11:54pm

Harry being there could put other members of the armed forces at higher risk, the time he served there was minimal and he was soon flown home when the secret got out, not quite the same as other lads left there.
OK he went to a war zone like he wanted to and I think he would have rather stayed longer but powers that be not prepared to take any risks like they do with other lads, do they all have a camera crew to keep them company I don't think so.
I believe royalty wearing officers uniform without taking same risk as others is wrong so the forces should not be connected with royalty just for the show of it and titles.

• Posted by: CAN • Report Comment

THANKS YANKS!

01.03.08, 11:48pm

Once again the Yanks have stuck the boot in! Thay do it in every war that they have dragged us into over recent years! The lad can't do right for doing wrong!! Still, no one can say he hasn't got guts! Because it takes lots of strength to go into a war zone and carry out a days work fighting the enemy, and then another and another! I am quite sure that the people of this country can be extremely proud of Harry, and yes!, he is a born leader and a very fine example to the young people of this country! If it were possible, he would still be out in the thick of it, and yes, he would die for his Queen and country because he has steel in his backbone, which is sadly lacking in the young of today! Our politicians could take a leaf out of his book! Pigs are likely to fly past my window before that happens though!

• Posted by: peterthepainter • Report Comment

FOR ROTHAYMERE

01.03.08, 11:01pm

Since my following post was put onto a thread which has now gone off the first page, just for you I am posting it again here......

I really don't need a lecture on what soldiers think and don't think. My father went to war in 1939, at the age of 19, and by 21 he was the youngest Lt. Col. in the British army. He was a career soldier, so I lived with the army all around me for the first 19 years of my life. Do you have such personal knowledge of soldiering?

The point everybody is missing, in my opinion, is that for Harry his anonymity in Afghanistan was the most wonderful experience of his life. He did not have the press around him 24/7 and the interviews were only to placate the papers and TV channels and help to keep their silence so that they could release the footage once he was out of the war zone.

Do none of you remember the 12 year old walking behind his mother's coffin through the streets of London with the eyes of the whole world on him?

How dignified the little fellow was. What terrible trauma was that for him? Does nobody want to give him an ounce of credit for anything.

The Queen's husband, son and grandson have fought for their country and how proud she must be of all of them. The Queen has served her country for sixty years, night and day, year in year out - nobody knows more about service to her country and her people than she does and I feel soooooooo sorry for her that she has to read all this garbage about her grandson.

I think she has every reason to be enormously proud of William and Harry - as does Charles - and as would Diana were she still here.

• Posted by: Libra • Report Comment