For Gran and Country.

[gridlore]

Yesterday, Harry Wales was commissioned as a Cornet (2nd Lieutenant) in the Household Cavalry.

Why should we care? Because most of us know Lt. Wales by a different name.

We call him Prince Harry

A SMILE was exchanged between the Queen and her grandson yesterday, as Prince Harry paraded in front of the monarch at his passing-out ceremony at Sandhurst. He joined 218 other officer cadets at the military college's historic Sovereign's Parade, and emerged a 2nd lieutenant destined to join the Household Cavalry.

Dressed in a navy blue uniform, white gloves and cap, the third in line to the throne stood with raised sword as the Queen inspected each line of the British Army's new officers. Like his comrades in arms, a senior military source said yesterday, it was "eminently possible" that Prince Harry, 21, could see military action in Afghanistan or Iraq within 12 months.

As a cornet - as 2nd lieutenants are referred to in the Household Cavalry's Blues and Royals - Prince Harry will serve in an armoured reconnaissance unit and train to become a troop commander, in charge of 11 men and four light tanks.

Yesterday his grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, father, the Prince of Wales, stepmother, the Duchess of Cornwall and brother, Prince William, who is also training at Sandhurst, watched as Prince Harry followed in the footsteps of the wartime prime minister Winston Churchill and Bond creator Ian Fleming by taking part in Sandhurst's passing-out parade.

There is hope for the Royal family with Wills and Harry. And I want those uniforms! Of course, Harry as a tank commander makes me think of the Ian McKellan Richard III. Which I need to add to my Netflix queue.

Comments

[caraig.livejournal.com]

I don't think the 'St. Crispin's Day' soliliquy would loose anything if spoken from an open tank hatch.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

God, no. It wouldn't.
(I can see it pretty easily.)

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

I believe you are thinking of "Henry V."

"Richard III" is "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!"

[chaotic-nipple.livejournal.com]

Hereditary Aristocracy is innately corrupt. Oliver Cromwell was a hero, dammit, whose only crime was not killing the _rest_ of the royal family. :-P

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

And who succeeded Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector? He wasn't some hero of the masses, he was setting up a new monarchy. The same old thing with shiny new titles.

And killing off everyone with a legitimate claim on the throne would be impossible. The sheer number of Stuart heirs wandering over Scotland, Flanders and France would have required near-constant military operations.

[10binary-cats.livejournal.com]

Any comparison to the current socio-political climate is left as an exercise to the student. Let's not see the same hands all the time.