ninme

After publishing the pictures and feeding off all the attention to the Harry-in-Afghanistan story, the cranks are coming out. I guess they couldn’t stand the good vibes, or at least not after the money’d been made and the first flurry had passed.

Telegraph (Saturday) - Prince Harry fought for us all - even Jon Snow, by Charles Moore

The Royal Family should try to be with the nation for the difficult bits. The Queen understood this so strongly 25 years ago that she made sure her own son risked his life.

By Prince Harry’s account this week, she did the same with her grandson (not that either needed her urging). When the monarchy fulfils this unwritten contract with the nation, people – particularly soldiers themselves – feel proud.

And no, it would not be the same if the Prince were to “do banking”. Looking at the film of Prince Harry in Afghanistan, most people will surely feel touched, not huffy.

This is the nearest, in modern conditions, that a prince can get to the scene in Henry V when the King moves among his men in disguise on the eve of battle, sharing, talking, listening – “a little touch of Harry in the night”.

I found it particularly moving that he was serving with Gurkhas, and to hear that age-old, slangy, gruff-comic banter (“Terry Taliban and his mates”).

Some may argue that this is a very controversial war, and therefore it is dangerous for the Royal Family to be associated with it.

Prince Charles is alleged to have had anxieties about his son being in a conflict in which he might have to kill a Muslim. I am sure it is partly for this reason that Jon Snow – a polemical opponent of any Western military action against anything in the Muslim world – is so hysterical.

But it is all the more important to stand by the Army when the politics are rough. The Army is not fighting a crusade in Afghanistan. It is fighting terrorists who threaten peace.

It is doing its job, and that is always a princely task.

Then there are people like The Daily Mail who are being cranky about it mostly because they just don’t like the royal family. And anything that makes the royals look good is obviously going to be a “lovely PR stunt” and “aimless hedonism” and whatnot.