Prince Harry's Painful Military Snub

Prince Harry has been left out of a book sold by the U.K. military academy where he received training, with a former British commander suggesting this may be linked to revelations in his book Spare.

Prince William wrote a foreword for the book They Also Served: 200 People Who Trained At Sandhurst, which is sold by The Sandhurst Trust, the charity arm of the academy where the brothers trained to be officers.

However, Harry has not been included, The Sun reported, leading to speculation he may have been left out over allegations he has made against his family and his account of killing Afghan fighters in his memoir.

Richard Kemp, who commanded the British forces in Afghanistan in 2003, told Newsweek: "Its of note that a man of his standing is not included. He's not a historic figure, he's a current figure of prominence. It's slightly surprising but I can understand the reasons why."

A Sandhurst spokesperson said in a statement to Newsweek: "They Also Served highlights the breadth of accomplishments and experiences across Sandhurst graduates rather than just focusing on the most well-known. It showcases a small and carefully selected cross-section of more than 40,000 British and 5,500 international officers who have trained at the Academy since 1947."

King Charles III, as head of state, is commander-in-chief of the British armed forces while William continues to hold several honorary military titles, including Colonel-in-Chief of The Army Air Corps, Colonel-in-Chief of The Mercian Regiment and Royal Honorary Air Commodore of RAF Valley.

However, Prince Harry's service record includes two tours of Afghanistan, including one in which he was the co-pilot gunner of an Apache helicopter and fired on Taliban positions.

Kemp believes that Harry may have burned some bridges following the publication of his memoir at the beginning of 2023.

"He was highly respected in the armed forces for his decision to deploy to Afghanistan against a lot of opposition and put himself in danger and he was also highly respected for the work he did for wounded veterans of Afghanistan in things like the Invictus Games," Kemp said. "That dissipated a lot, I think he lost a great deal of his support and respect among the armed forces, when he published that book, which was seen as being pretty negative as far the armed forces were concerned.

"Within the armed forces there's a lot of loyalty to the queen. In some of his interviews and so on he seemed to be trying to undermine the royal family which doesn't go down too well.

"One point that came out particularly to me and others though is that he said he was taught in his training to regard the enemy in Afghanistan as less than human which is not true.

"It's a sensationalist fabrication I think. Its not the way that soldiers are trained."

In contrast, to some press coverage, Kemp said Harry's account of killing 25 Taliban fighters was not the key problem.

"I don't think that's too bad," Kemp said. "I didn't think that's bad at all actually, but saying they regarded the enemy as less than human is likely to cause anger and potentially incite, not necessarily violence, but hatred against the British armed forces."

In his memoir, Harry wrote: "While in the heat and fog of combat, I didn't think of those twenty-five as people. You can't kill people if you think of them as people.

"You can't really harm people if you think of them as people. They were chess pieces removed from the board, Bads taken away before they could kill Goods. I'd been trained to 'other-ize' them, trained well.

"On some level I recognized this learned detachment as problematic. But I also saw it as an unavoidable part of soldiering. Another reality that couldn't be changed."

Update 01/08/24, 12:15 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from a Sandhurst spokesperson.

Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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