Former soldier tells of how Prince Harry stood up against homophobia

Former solider and gay writer James Wharton has told of how Prince Harry stood up to homophobic behaviour during his time in the Army.

Eva Rinaldi https://www.flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography/17211060238/
Wharton worked in the army for a decade, and spent six weeks with Prince Harry in 2008, who was then a Lieutenant. He had got close to a soldier from another regiment whilst drinking in the bar. The following morning, the ‘story’ had gotten around the ranks.

Harry, who has just left the Army after a decade of service, reportedly told a group of soldiers ‘back the f**k off’ and leave Wharton alone: a group of sergeants from the other soldier’s regiment were unhappy because Wharton was gay.

Taken from Wharton’s article for Huffington Post, he wrote:

‘Harry caught wind of the situation and confronted the older non commissioned officers, and made quite clear, that they would be for the high jump if they gave me another second’s hassle over the issue – my sexuality.

‘I remember watching him put these much older, much more experienced soldiers firmly in their place and the group walked away, visibly, with their tails between their legs. He returned to me and said, unassumingly, “you won’t hear from that lot again”.’

Captain Wales has been praised further by Wharton, saying ‘the Army has yesterday lost from its day-to-day ranks one its best young leaders’.

Feature photo: Eva Rinaldi

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