Updated

We’re hearing that Prince Harry’s deployment to Iraq has been delayed. He is now due to be flown out later than most of his squadron.

Rebecca English reports : “Senior Blues and Royals officers are concerned that his presence during the initial handover between units will be too disruptive. It will also give them time to put in place the measures needed to deal with having such a senior member of the Royal Family in a war zone.”

Security sources reportedly said that Harry and the troop of 11 soldiers he commands were being held back. It is the strongest proof yet that both the Army and the Ministry of Defence continue to have serious concerns about his deployment, despite an urgent review last week.

“The deployment of Harry’s squadron is, by necessity, staggered but the fact that Harry and his men are being sent over at a later date shows just how much a strain his presence will have on the squadron,” the source said.

“Everyone involved has sympathy for the Prince but it is an increasingly difficult situation and one that is changing day by day.”

Let’s hope Sir Richard Dannatt is having second thoughts.

General Sir Richard Dannatt, the Chief of Defence Staff, has decided to send Prince Harry to Iraq despite the doubts about his — and his men’s — safety.

Chelsy Davy with Prince Harry on Friday.

In a statement, the General said he was satisfied he had made the right decision : “I, as Chief of the General Staff, will take the decision and have taken the decision as to whether he should or should not deploy. He will deploy.”

That seems clear enough. The Times (London) reports :

Defence sources said that Harry, 22, who is known as Cornet Wales, would also be carrying out his normal duties as a reconnaissance troop leader with A Squadron of The Blues and Royals, part of the Household Cavalry. They said this meant that he would fulfil all the responsibilities of commanding a troop of 11 soldiers, equipped with four Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles.

Other sources say that he will go out on patrol with up to 200 soldiers, including special forces packing enormous firepower.

He may also have an intelligence role to fulfil which will keep him at his desk for many weeks collating incoming information.

Obviously, we’re not being told the exact situation of his deployment. Nor do we know what the Army thinks it will gain from this.

Royal Anecdotes believes the thinking is that a successful tour of duty by the third in line to the Throne, in the most dangerous of fighting arenas, will make up for the fiasco of the unopposed capture of 15 Royal Navy personnel by a small force of Iranian Revolutionary Guards in March.

Let’s hope this gamble pays off.

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

Updated: 11.42

Four days ago Royal Anecdotes warned that an attack on a Scimitar armoured vehicle in the Maysan Province of Iraq was a “dry run” for an attack on Prince Harry if he is deployed there.

We said : “As if on a dry run, terrorists have destroyed a British Scimitar armoured vehicle in the south of Maysan Province, where Harry will be deployed. … To offer such a high profile hostage to the enemy, like a tethered goat, is very bad strategy indeed.”

This morning the top story in The Times (London) shows that the MoD is beginning to realize this very danger. Echoing this website, the article begins :

‘Dry run’ attack forces Prince Harry Iraq retreat
Army chiefs fear that a fatal attack on two British soldiers in Iraq last week was a dry run for an attempt on Prince Harry’s life, The Times has learnt.

The attack was made on a type of vehicle that the Prince will use, and took place in a part of the country where he is due to be deployed as early as next month. The two died when their Scimitar reconnaissance vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb — the first time that British soldiers had been killed in a Scimitar as a result of enemy action.

The Army fears that extremists deliberately chose the vehicle knowing that the Prince is a troop leader for a Scimitar-equipped unit.

The Times graphically reveals yet another danger for the Prince, even if he’s given a desk job at the base : “… insurgents … have become active this month even within bases used by the British Army in southern Iraq.”

It seems British soldiers have been warned about walking around within the base in case of kidnap. Iraqi police and army units, who share the base, have become infiltrated by the various Iran-backed militias of the insurgency.

The enemy is not only at the gates but within the camp.

We understand the decision on Harry’s deployment will be taken by General Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the Army, who spoke out so bravely against the politicians and the war two months ago.

Again, we reiterate : sending Prince Harry to Iraq in any capacity would not just be shooting ourselves in the foot, but in the head and the heart.

Update : The Daily Mail has just reported : “[We have] learned the date when Harry is due to fly out to Iraq from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, but [have] agreed to keep the information secret to safeguard his security.”

However, Royal Anecdotes understands that Sir Richard Dannatt could overrule his deployment at any time. With two former Defence Secretaries, Michael Portillo and Sir John Nott, speaking out against the Prince’s involvement, the General may have serious cause to intervene.