The Duke of Sussex has written about the privilege of serving his country ahead of Remembrance Day and appealed for people to consider former service personnel who carry the “weight of war”.
In a passionate essay, Prince Harry has warned how easy it is for veterans to be forgotten “once the uniform comes off”.
Former soldier Harry, who undertook two frontline tours to Afghanistan, has paid tribute to former servicemen and women across the UK, and describes Remembrance as “not simply a minute’s silence” but “a call to collective responsibility”.
“Every November the world, for a moment, grows quieter. We pause, together, to remember.
“Remembrance has never been about glorifying war. It’s about recognising its cost: the lives changed forever and the lessons paid for, through unimaginable sacrifice. It’s also about honouring those who, knowing that cost, still choose to serve,” he wrote.
In the 647-word essay entitled The Bond, The Banter, The Bravery: What it means to be British, Harry called on people to remember “not only the fallen, but the living” who carry the “weight of war” and urged them to knock on veterans’ doors and “join them for a cuppa… or a pint” to hear their stories and “remind them their service still matters”.
He added that he was “moved” each year by Norfolk-based Scotty’s Little Soldiers charity, which supports bereaved military children.
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He also praised the “resilience” of those he met in Ukraine who had been injured in the war, and described the “courage reborn, camaraderie restored” seen at his Invictus Games competition.
It is “proof that service doesn’t end when the uniform comes off”, he wrote in the piece, released as his brother Prince William prepared to hand out awards for his Earthshot Prize in Brazil.
While recognising he is no longer a working royal in the UK, he expressed his love of the “things that make us British”.
He wrote: “Though currently, I may live in the United States, Britain is, and always will be, the country I proudly served and fought for.
“The banter of the mess, the clubhouse, the pub, the stands ridiculous as it sounds, these are the things that make us British. I make no apology for it. I love it.”
Royal correspondent
To us it may feel like an unfortunate clash. William in Brazil to talk about the environment, Harry in Canada for Remembrance, both brothers trying to draw attention to causes they’ve supported for a very long time.
Both, I suspect, wishing we’d focus on what they’re actually trying to say, rather than what we think it means that they’re both on significant trips at the same time.
I know that both sides share a frustration that the headlines will pit them against each other, it has also been suggested that Harry’s team did make royal communications aware of his Canada plans.
The release of a particularly personal article about his life in the military, his observation that it’s easy for veterans to be forgotten and an apparent longing for what he defines as Britain, is intriguing though.
Especially when you can’t help but wonder whether it really needed to be published on the same day as his brother’s Earthshot Awards.
Sometimes these things feel like an own goal when it comes to the stream of stories about brothers divided, although how much should we bear the responsibility for perpetuating that narrative?
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Harry also wrote that: “Remembrance isn’t confined to one weekend in November”.
“It’s a lifelong commitment to empathy, gratitude, and action; to be kinder, more united, and braver in protecting what those before us fought to preserve.”
