One of the pettiest moves in the history of the Petty Windsors will forever be Prince Harry being stripped of his military titles and honors. All because he married a biracial American woman and he wanted to protect her from abuse and harassment. That’s it. That’s why the Queen made Harry give up all of his military positions and honors as part of the Sussexit negotiations. At the time, Harry reportedly told friends that he was “devastated” to step down from those positions. I’m devastated on his behalf, still, to this day. Especially since, and I will holler about this all the time, Prince Andrew didn’t have to give up HIS military appointments even though HE LIED ABOUT RAPING A VICTIM OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING. Prince Andrew is still an HRH, a duke and he has all of his military positions still, to this day. Apparently, Harry and Meghan were both incredibly emotional about all of this on Harry’s last event with the Royal Marines. From Finding Freedom:
The most demoralizing aspect of the new deal was his being stripped of the honorary military appointments that had been awarded to him as a senior royal. As a retired serviceman, Harry would always be able to wear his medals, but no longer could he wear uniform as Captain General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Force Commandant of the Royal Air Force Base Honington, and honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Navy’s Small Ships and Diving Operations. Those roles had come to an end. “That’s been a tough pill to swallow, and one that has been most painful to Meghan witness him go through,” a source close to the couple said. “It’s the one that made Harry emotional.”
“It was so unnecessary,” Meghan later told a friend of the decision to strip Harry of his military honors. “And it’s not just taking something away from him; it’s also that entire military veteran community. You can see how much he means to them, too. So why? The powers [of the institution] are unfortunately greater than me.”
Though the evening served as a poignant tribute to Britain’s Armed Forces, it also became a moment to thank the much-loved prince for his contributions to the military community. Usually reserved for the end of the performance, guests at the Royal Albert Hall rose to a standing ovation as Harry and Meghan entered the royal box. As they stood, listening to the rapturous farewell and obvious affection, the couple both did their best to hold back tears as they gripped each other’s hands.
[From Finding Freedom: Harry, Meghan, and the Making of a Modern Royal Family]
That was probably one of those “we’re never coming back” moments. Harry served in combat! He created a whole new thing, the Invictus Games, for wounded warriors. He loved being a soldier. He loved being around his comrades. But Petty Betty wanted to punish him for leaving. And I strongly suspect that Petty Willy was also pretty jealous of Harry’s actual military service, especially considering William’s RAF service mostly consisted of hiding in the Welsh countryside and refusing to work.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red, Backgrid.
Am I the only one imagining a Oh Captain My Captain moment with the standing ovation.
Why should this even be allowed to happen?Unless you are dishonourably dishcharged how can they take away something you have already achieved away?
They didn’t (couldn’t) take the rank he’d earned. However it’s traditional for members of the Royal Family to be given honorary senior positions. Those are in the gift of the Monarch and could be removed. It’s the same for Andrew – the Queen *could* strip him of various honorary positions – she just doesn’t want to.
I understand the various regiments have politely suggested Andrew may want to decline invitations to regimental dinners etc.
My brothers unit did a military exchange with UK last fall. The Queen was supposed to visit and “inspect” the exchange but the last minute canceled and Andrew was going to fill in. As my brother puts it, even the Trumpite 18yo enlisted kids in his unit, and everyone in the british host unit, said “the rapist Epstein one? Noooo thanks!” They declined the royal family, which apparently never happens.
If the RF think that Andrew can simply ride out this scandal, then they are in for a rude awakening.
He may never face formal charges but his reputation is permanently tainted. He will forever be the Rapist Prince.
@ib, that checks out. People and organizations are dropping Andrew left right and center. Even if he hadn’t stepped back, the sheer lack of work he’d be facing would have forced him to anyway. People don’t want to come near him with a 10 ft pole, esp after that disastrous interview.
Harry should partner with wounded warriors in his new home country.
This. He made a handful of stops to Ft Belvoir and Walter Reed in the early days of Invictus Games and was welcomed with open arms. Military families was always one of Mrs Obama’s projects as first lady so it’s be great to see them team up again, like they did at Belvoir. Plus it’s piss off Will and Trump.
Be still my heart. Mrs Obama and Prince Harry, together again? I would love that. Their little totally appropriate flirtation and work together was wonderful.
He’s done it before. A treck to the north pole I believe. I wouldn’t be surprised if he does it again.
I think this was truly a surprising move, I think they had prepared themselves for being fully denied, but never expected it.
I said this months ago : Betty took it personally. She could not see- or did not care- Harry as wanting to defend his family . All she saw was Harry not wanting to do his Duty- and she punished him for it .
The way I imagined it went: William wanted Harry punished, so he asked him not to use the HRH and the royalsussex handle; Betty wanted Harry punished, so she took away his military titles; Charles wanted Harry to come back, so he insisted on the one year review and to pay for security.
I agree with you, Priscilla. And she should take it personally, because to all intents and purposes, as the “Head” of that family, the buck (Pound? Euro?) stops with her. She didn’t lift a finger much less support and/or defend her grandson and his new wife against the toepeckers in the family, or stop the shenanigans from Harry’s and Meghan’s detractors: the media in general and the gutter press in particular, whom they seem to sometimes whine about but get into bed with when it suits them. Harry found out that hard way that you can choose your friends but not your family. As if he hasn’t lost enough, now they are just showing their arses as to how vindictive and petty they can be. Mock! Mock them all, I say!
Apparently he CAN choose his family: the Royals just didn’t like the family he chose.
It was so petty and hurtful on the part of the queen. And unnecessary.
And Andrew is still referred to as HRH, and still has his honorary titles – the pettiness, ugh.
Heck I noticed the royal family twitter account referred to Beatrice as HRH on her birthday, which made me roll my eyes.
For Andrew to still have any honorary military titles just shows how despicable these people are. Andrew must be forced to relinquish the titles because what he is alleged to do is criminal and not even close to the same thing as wanting to earn your own money. He is a stain that will tarnish the BRF and his beneficial treatment will be remembered and part of why the monarchy will eventually be dismantled once the Queen dies. And who knows maybe sooner if the Brexit recession gets bad enough.
The lost of honorary military titles was the worst, so FF is the start of karma coming on the House of Windsor. Andrew is going to be the one that brings it down.
This was intended to hurt him – there’s no other way to interpret it. And by this pettiness, maybe Harry’s family have actually done him a favour: it will be easier not to be pushed into a reconciliation with a family that punished you in this way when you needed support. He’ll always remember their actions.
Also, any honour that’s also extended to Andrew loses meaning. I could see Harry enjoying being “one of the guys” when he does events in support of vets (I don’t even know his rank – corporal?). He might actually enjoy not having all of those privileges that set him apart.
Harry achieved the rank of Captain.
Thanks, @Edna!
Agree. JMO but I think Harry was told “if you leave, you’ll lose your military honors” as a bid to get him to stay. The fact that he said, “no, I’m still leaving” shows quiet clearly that he will never be back.
On another news his rapist uncle is still a royal…
To me, they threatened to take his honorary military appointments away to make him stay. And he choose his wife and son.
This to me was more William. I have heard he was always jealous of his military work and how much they respect him.
I truly think William is the driver behind most of this crap and I think that Elizabeth and Charles just go along to appease him. How can they not see that pleasing him hasn’t worked so far, and that doing so going forward won’t either?
The Duke of York is a straight up sex offender.
That the British Royal Family continues to treat him with kid gloves while throwing Harry under the bus and cutting him out precisely illustrates why Harry made the right decision. Because as long as the queen is alive, she will protect Andrew at all costs.
There is absolutely no question where the priorities lie for this family. They will paper over a known pedophile while casting out the one who has done so much for so many in the service of his queen.
Truly shameful.
It’s a disgrace and they will pay for this eventually.
Prince Andrew is a straight up rapist pedophile.
There was no reason to take his honorary titles other than being mean and vindictive. He and the Queen seem fine so I see William( probably William) or Charles pushing for him to be stripped of those. If they actually gave a damn about the military he would’ve been able to keep them.
This had William written all over it. That QE agreed proves she’s incompetent. The fact she could see how this would appear to the military community and the public at large shows how incredibly shortsighted she is. I hope Harry finds a vet group here to become involved with. They’d welcome him.
This comes across as unnecessary, mean and petty. So in other words, completely in keeping with RF protocol. It’s gotten to a point where all of this is just so boring,. Harry’s made his choice and is hopefully going to have and extremely happy and fulfilling life with his wife and child in their new home. He doesn’t need honorary titles. He can start accomplishing things on his own and the RF can go cry in their tea that he’s chosen to leave that toxic cesspool behind him.
Petty Betty and Willnot are two incredibly cruel people. Everyone keeps saying how petulant Will is and how hard they struggle to contain him… but IMHO he Fits right in with this nasty mean group of people. The queen is equally mean and Charles is a straight up coward.
I think both TQ and Charles are cowards when it comes to William. I think TQ is certainly petty, but she’s insulated by her staff (clearly), old and has never been good about the bigger picture. I think she and Charles have gone along with just about whatever William has asked to punish his brother because that’s what they do with the spare and they’re trying desperately to get William to play along and do his job.
They’re so afraid of another abdication and it’s like, who cares? Let William abdicate!! He’s uninterested in any of it (except the wealth and trappings) so why pretend he’s willing to do the ceremonial stuff?
That’s a good point – I often wonder how much of the Queen’s decision-making is based on avoiding another abdication, which threw her own family into disarray and – if some sources are to be believed- she may believe that the extra stress of ascending to the throne shortened her own father’s life. Certainly the queen mum said as much.
What’s ironic is the Queen’s father, as second son, seems to have been much better at executing his duties (granted, the bar was low at “not being a Nazi appeaser”).
I am still devastated on his behalf. Out of all it, this was the worst.
This was always the biggest clue for me about how toxic M&H’s experience with his family must have been, that he was well and truly done with them. There was no purpose to it other than as a punitive measure, it was so incredibly petty; the family that let Edward parade around with his fake military honours for years stripping the guy who actually served active duty of his titles was so low.
The details in the book about Harry’s combat service were the most illuminating. I didn’t know the full story there. I didn’t know that he’d wanted to serve in Iraq, but the insurgents had threatened to return him to the Queen “without ears.” I didn’t know he served a full 10 out of 14 weeks in Afghanistan, and then decided to figure out a way to go back, and served a full five months there.
This is a man who was 3rd in line to the British throne, who repeatedly chose to put his life on the line, for his Queen and country. A Queen who happens to be his grandma. Who else in the Queen’s immediate family (aside from Andrew’s stint at the Falklands) can say they’ve done as much, with so much at stake? And this is what they do to him, in turn? Wow. Just wow.
Yep, that’s why it was very clear that stripping him of those titles was about punishing him. This is a man committed to service. Meanwhile, years later they try to plant articles about how Will really wanted to go to the front but someone leaked he was going…yeah right.