Prince Harry left one thing out of his recent and candid interview with the British press, from his station at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.
And that’s an explanation for why it’s OK for us to revel in the details of his current life “protecting queen and country,” but at the same time keep our noses out of the really juicy stuff. Like for instance, his naked romp in Las Vegas last year, and all the details of his sister-in-law’s pregnancy.
“There should be a certain amount of privacy that one should expect,” Captain Wales, as he’s known by his comrades, told the British documentary film crew on location in Afghanistan.
Pity, because the younger royal spins a great story after having spent the past 20 weeks on his tour of duty and by all accounts loving himself stupid.
Describing a boy’s paradise of Apache helicopters, laser-guided missiles - oh, and taking down his fair share of the Taliban while he’s at it:
“Take a life to save a life,” he said. “That’s what we revolve around I suppose. If there’s people trying to do bad stuff to our guys then we’ll take them out of the game I suppose.”
Then there’s the bit about how he actually envied elder brother William, who got to go home to his wife, Catherine and their dog at the end of day - while he was stuck “playing PlayStation in a tent full of men.”
And the challenges he faced combining princely duties with his life as a modern solider who just wants to be accepted as one of the guys: “My father’s always trying to remind me about who I am and stuff like that. But it’s very easy to forget about who I am when I am in the army. Everyone’s wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing.”
Privilege may be a long accepted inevitability of royal life, but that has rarely ever included the right to pick and choose your privacy parameters. So if you’re willing to share the victories and bravado of military life and good happy family times, then you should expect the same curiosity when things get a bit fruitier.
Maybe Captain Wales thinks everyone has the “switch” he refers to using to jump between his work, army and public princely commitments.
“I flick it when necessary,” he said.
But unfortunately it’s just plain human nature to want to stick our noses in other people’s business - especially when they’re rich and famous.
After all, even the young prince admitted to reading newspapers against his family’s advice, because he likes to know what people say about him - even if most of it was “rubbish”.
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