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