Despite having an almost identical military training, the sons of Carlos III had very different destinies, and, as revealed by the new documentary The Real Crown, that was a decision of their grandmother, the late Isabel II. It has been the testimony of General Sir Mike Jackson, then head of the British Army, who has shed light on this differentiation that was made between the brothers and the reason that led to ruling out the service in Afghanistan of Prince William, who did want to fulfill their military duties.
It was William's position as future king that deterred the initial idea of the queen. "My grandchildren must fulfill their duty," Jackson assures that Elizabeth II told him in a first meeting. But after pondering the decision and having detailed information about the risks faced by UK armed personnel in Afghanistan, the monarch changed her mind and decided that for William, as future heir, the risk is "too" great, while for his younger brother, the risk was "acceptable".
This testimony from Mike Jackson, which will be broadcast on British television on April 20, confirms what Prince Harry wrote in his memoirs: "Looking back, I can't help but wonder if there was something else. I was getting ready to go to the front, which was what Guillermo had been trained for, but the Crown scuttled his plans. headless if you want, but the heir, no way".
Prince William went through the Royal Sandhurst Military Academy after graduating from the university. He was commissioned as an officer in the Army in December 2006 and after that joined the Royal Air Force, the British Royal Navy and the Household Cavalry, a mounted regiment that is active in the monarch's security, but was never sent to war. .
For his part, Harry served in the British Army for ten years, rising to the rank of Captain and completing two tours of operational duty in Afghanistan, in 2007-8 and 2012-13. The first time he was posted to Helmand province as an air traffic controller during 2007, and the second time he was assigned the position of co-pilot and fire command in an Apache helicopter firing Hellfire missiles. In his memoirs, Enrique specified for the first time that he killed 20 Taliban during his time in Afghanistan.
Those confessions from the formerly nicknamed Captain Wales landed the United Kingdom in diplomatic trouble when Iran, via the country's Foreign Office's official Twitter account, accused the Duke of Sussex of committing a "war crime." This confession also earned him fierce criticism and serious threats from Al Qaeda, because in One Ummah magazine, close to the terrorist group, he called for "Islamic hands" to "do justice" against the prince.
