‘Petty’: Charles blasted for not letting Harry wear his military uniform at queen’s funeral

In what’s been called a rare misstep in Charles III’s effort ensure a smooth transition, he has reportedly signed off on a controversial decision to bar Prince Harry from wearing his military uniform at the queen’s funeral because his son stepped away from royal life in 2020 and is no longer a working member of the royal family

Preventing Harry from donning his Blues and Royals army uniform from his 10-year army career is being seen as a “putdown” by one military expert interviewed by The Telegraph and as a “petty” move by Telegraph associate editor Camilla Tominey.

“The public may view it as an unnecessary snub,” Tominey reported. She also wrote that making Harry wear a civilian suit is probably out of step with what Elizabeth II would have wanted because she was very proud Harry’s time in the army.

The queen’s pride when Harry graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 2006 was captured in a photograph, which showed her and Harry beaming at each other as she inspected the newly commissioned officers.

Queen Elizabeth smiles with Prince Harry during the Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst, southern England April 12, 2006. REUTERS/@dylanmpix pic.twitter.com/UqauKsu3s1

— Guy Faulconbridge (@GuyReuters) May 26, 2022

Harry will have to wear morning dress while the king, his brother Prince William, aunt, Princess Anne, and other close relatives get to don military uniforms with medals. But unlike any of these relatives, Harry actually saw active service during his two tours of Afghanistan from 2007 to 2008 and from 2012 and 2013.

Harry’s disgraced uncle, Prince Andrew, also will have to wear a civilian suit — even though he, like Harry, similarly saw active service, flying helicopters in the 1982 Falklands war.

Perhaps more galling for Harry and his supporters is the fact that an exception has been made for Andrew to wear his Royal Navy dress uniform for an event related to the funeral, a final vigil at Westminster Hall.

The decision about uniforms ultimately resides with Charles, Tominey reported. A military expert confirmed said “the decision will have gone to the Lieutenant Colonel Commanding Household Cavalry, who would have passed it on to the Colonel of the Blues and Royals, who is (Princess Anne), who would have deferred it to the Colonel in Chief designate, who is the King.

“This decision will have been taken at the highest level,” the expert said, meaning Charles himself. “There is no other way of looking at it but as a firm put down.”

Some behind-the-scenes machinations involving Andrew and keeping him in check also came into play with the uniform decision, Tominey reported. The palace is following a protocol for “non-working” royals but has given Andrew a brief reprieve to wear his uniform at the vigil because he is the late queen’s son.

Aides apparently feared that also giving this exception to Harry would then give “his uncle carte blanche to demand wearing military uniform at every future major state occasion,” Tominey reported.

Before she died, the queen asked both Harry and Andrew to give up their military appointments, though for different reasons. Harry had to give up his appointments when he stepped away from royal duties and moved to California with his wife, Meghan Markle, while Andrew lost his because he disgraced the family over his friendship with convicted sex offender and accused international sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Earlier this year, Andrew settled a lawsuit filed by Virginia Giuffre, one of Epstein’s underaged trafficking victims, who alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17 years old.

Fans of Harry and his wife certainly won’t take kindly to Harry being barred from wearing his uniform when Andrew gets to wear his on at least one occasion. On Monday, Andrew was heckled by a protester who called him “a sick old man” as he followed the queen’s coffin through Edinburgh. The heckler, 22, was quickly surrounded by police and arrested “in connection with a breach of the peace on the Royal Mile,” the Daily Mail reported. 

Somebody yells out, “Andrew, you’re a sick old man” to Prince Andrew, who is walking behind Queen Elizabeth’s coffin pic.twitter.com/M6DsyuPLXR

— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 12, 2022

Harry’s fans also know that his time in the army was especially meaningful to him, and it inspired him to co-found the Invictus Games, an international sporting event for wounded and disabled veterans and service members.

Tominey said keeping Harry out of uniform also might reflect Buckingham Palace’s ongoing concerns about the imminent publication of his autobiography. There are worries that Harry will use the memoir to air more grievances, including against his father and his stepmother, Camilla, the queen consort.

Or, Tominey said, the palace might be using the uniform decision “to put the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in their place after their repeated criticism of the firm.”

“But all it has succeeded in doing is give the couple more ammunition for their next salvo against an institution they claim resented their presence from the very beginning,” Tominey said.

It’s especially disappointing to have this decision come after Harry and Meghan’s walkabout with William and Kate outside Windsor Castle Saturday, Tominey said. The joint appearance by the four has given hopes that the feuding brothers have agreed to a truce, at least until the funeral is over, but the decision about the uniform could derail that progress, Tominey added.