It’s very hard to justify a Royal Family member criticizing a close ally’s foreign policy at any time. But when that country is the U.S. and he is about to travel the Southern states on a trade mission promoting British exports, it looks a lot like carelessness.

The Duke of York — Britain’s Special Trade Ambassador

The Duke of York will be meeting Southern business leaders who are mostly Republican politically and overwhelmingly support the policies of President Bush.

In an interview with the Herald Tribune newspaper, Andrew’s point was that the White House should have listened and learned more from Britain’s experiences of Empire and of similar insurgencies around the world.

He believes that the consequences of the Iraq war have led to a “healthy scepticism” toward Washington and a feeling of “why didn’t anyone listen to what was said and the advice that was given?”.

He reaffirmed that the U.S. is Britain’s number one ally but thought there were “occasions when people in the UK would wish that those in responsible positions in the U.S. might listen and learn from our experiences”.

The Duke claimed said that because of its imperial history, Britain had experienced much of what the U.S. is currently going through on the world stage.

“If you are looking at colonialism, if you are looking at operations on an international scale, if you are looking at understanding each other’s culture, understanding how to operate in a military insurgency campaign, we have been through them all,” he said.

“We’ve won some, lost some, drawn some. The fact is there is quite a lot of experience over here which is valid and should be listened to.”

This begs the question of how much experience of Empire is to be found among members of the current Labour Government, an anti-colonial, anti-military party, which refuses properly to equip our forces while sending them to fight two foreign wars without sound military objectives. Americans might rightly say, “physician heal thyself”.

Naturally, this has drawn a torrent of criticism from Republican institutes, like the Heritage Foundation, as well as from a wide spectrum of opinion. Andrew may have been fortunate that his comments were publicized on Super Tuesday, which has to some extent drowned them out. Imagine the effect on a slow news day.

Airmiles Andy seems to have morphed into Shot-Foot Andy.

More details are emerging about the on-off shambles of Prince Harry’s deployment to Iraq with the Blues and Royals.

General Sir Richard Dannatt

We are hearing that the decision has left him “devastated” and reconsidering his long-term military career. Did no one think of all this when he joined the Army in the first place, not as a training exercise like Prince William, but as a full-time career Army officer?

In fact, it’s now a distinct possibility that he will be put on a similar path as his brother. William is to leave his regiment shortly for short spells with the RAF and the Royal Navy to prepare for his future role as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. Royal sources are now hinting that Harry may accompany him.

Until then, the Prince will join William in D Squadron of the Blues and Royals, a holding unit that never fights in the field and which is made up of injured soldiers unfit to serve or those preparing to leave the regiment.

The other alternative is to put him in a UN peacekeeping force in Africa or another troublespot where he is unlikely to face kidnap and public torture. If he is deployed, it will be under conditions of absolute secrecy.

Since he now believes he has lost credibility as a professional soldier, the likelihood is that he has secretly agreed to a lesser role for a year or two, before quietly resigning from the Army.

But what then for the warrior Prince?

Apart from the Queen and Prince Philip, who are today in Washington D.C., much of the Royal Family turned out at the Badminton Horse Trials over the weekend.

The Princess Royal and Zara Phillips are regulars, of course, and occasionally competitiors.

Kate Middleton and her mother were also seen at the event, as was Prince William — though separately from Kate.

All eyes, however, were on Prince Harry and Chelsy Davy (pictured), who seemed to be having a whale of a time, despite Harry’s apparently imminent deployment to the killing fields of Iraq. The couple appeared to be as inseparable as ever.

Friends of the Prince have been talking openly about their relationship and where it’s going : “Harry doesn’t want to be subjected to the level of interest people have been taking in William and Kate. It’s his idea of hell. But he also feels very frustrated at the way people are so dismissive of him and Chelsy.

“They are always portrayed as a pair of poor little rich kids who will burn themselves out sooner rather than later.

“In Harry’s mind, there is nothing ridiculous whatsoever in the idea that one day, in the not-too-distant future, Princess Chelsy could be standing on the balcony at Buckingham Palace — even though she would probably be hiding a cigarette and a bottle of Malibu behind her back.”

Chelsy seems to have won over Harry’s family, especially Prince Charles who is not, we are told, immune to her bubbly charms. Harry continues to believe that the South African beauty has some qualities that Kate Middleton lacked.

“Harry has always been quietly very proud of the fact that Chelsy — or Chedda, as he affectionately calls her — loves him for who he is. In fact, she sees the fact that he’s Royal as more of a hindrance than a help. As the hugely popular daughter of a multi-millionaire businessman with homes in at least three different countries, she doesn’t really need to take advantage of Harry’s birthright.”

One source close to the Prince suggests that he actually sided with members of William’s circle who felt that Kate Middleton had started to take advantage of the relationship, reports the Daily Mail.

The source continued, “Harry had sympathy with those of William’s friends who felt Kate had begun to rather enjoy her fame by association a little too much — unlike his own girlfriend, who he thinks is a ‘real class act’. When she first met William, Kate had few friends of her own — but over the years, she carefully assimilated herself into his circle.

“There was a feeling among some of William’s friends that Kate had become a little too self-aware — she even had the cheek to bag herself a cut-price Audi, thanks to her Royal links — while publicly insisting that she wanted to be treated as an ordinary girl.”

It is also said that Chelsy didn’t particularly take to Kate : “It wasn’t that she disliked her — it’s just that they had nothing in common. One only has to look at them to see it. Chelsy is a lot sweeter than she looks, but she is still a very outgoing girl who likes a beer and a fag.”

As we have suggested here before, courtiers have expressed concern about the Davys’ controversial business links to Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. It seems they have been told that she is a “non-negotiable” part of Harry’s life.

“It’s far from a coincidence that when Harry does slip up — the times when he falls out of nightclubs drunk and brawls with photographers in the streets — Chelsy isn’t around,” says someone who knows them both well.

“Believe it or not, he has matured in recent years — in large part thanks to Chelsy, whom he is incredibly protective of — and really does try to keep his head down. They are so besotted with each other — like a couple of lovebirds, really — that when they are together, nothing else really matters. Their body language is so different from that of Kate and William, who always used to look more like brother and sister. The trouble is that when Chelsy isn’t around, Harry is easily led astray.”

Interestingly, “Bristol University has flatly denied rumours she plans to do a postgraduate degree there in the autumn, but friends say she is definitely planning to spend more time in England, where she has many friends from her days as a boarder at Stowe, a co-educational public school in Buckinghamshire”, writes Rebecca English.

“She has even cancelled her plans to return to Africa over the summer and will instead wait for Harry to return from Iraq on leave.”

A friend of Chelsy says, “Chelsy hates the weather here, but is desperate to be nearer to her darling Haz. She is willing to make sacrifices if it takes their relationship a step forward.”

Prince Harry has asked Chelsy to attend the memorial concert in July that he and William are organizing to mark the tenth anniversary of their mother’s death.

A Clarence House source says, “The problem is that every senior member of the Royal Family will be there, and Harry knows that taking her is tantamount to making a public statement on the future of their relationship. He doesn’t think that it’s fair on her to open the floodgates just yet.”

In the aftermath of Kate Middleton, some astute PR work is going into promoting Chelsy Davy as a future Royal bride.

William will have to buy himself some speedy skates to keep up with his younger brother.

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.