Sir Richard,

You have won enormous respect from many in Britain for your courageous stand against the war in Iraq, despite being Chief of the General Staff.

Your call for a quick withdrawal was sensible given the state of the British Army as deployed and its woeful equipment. Its presence, as you implied, is now doing more harm than good. The debacle of the unopposed capture of Royal Navy personnel by Iran illustrates the point perfectly.

We understand that the deployment of Prince Harry to Maysan Province is now in your hands. May we respectfully make this point?

Being a soldier is one thing, but that one young man should have to take on not only a whole tribe of insurgents plotting to capture and cut him up on the internet, but that his own men may suffer from who he is, is just too much to expect, even from a British Army officer.

This is too heavy a burden to place on one new, untried officer in a war which doesn’t threaten mainland Britain.

Whatever the Prince’s views — and they are gallant — it is imperative, as two former Secretaries of State for Defence said yesterday, to relieve him of a mission which is far beyond the call of duty.

We at Royal Anecdotes trust you will make the right decision in this very special case.

Sincerely,
John Evans