Let Harry Be

The vitriol concerning this nothing burger award implies people spend too much online

Hello Dear Readers!

I hope the new year is treating everyone well.

Some of you might be reading the byline to this newsletter and saying “Huh?” but I promise I have a point. Lets hop straight to it: In defense of Prince Harry, the press needs to lay off when he attempts to go about his post-royal life.

On Thursday this week, a press release announced Prince Harry and three other people would be honored in the 21^st Annual Living Legends of Aviation Awards for the “significant contributions they’ve made to aviation/aerospace”.

Fred George- a Navy pilot with over 300 carrier landings, and now, a world-renowned aviation writer.

Marc Parent- appointed President and CEO of CAE in 2009, has led the company's growth beyond simulation products to include training and support services for commercial and business aviation.

Steve Hinton- an American aviator who held a world speed record from 1979 to 1989. He has flown as a pilot for film since 1977, working on 100 motion pictures and TV productions.

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex- A British Army veteran and pilot with ten years military service, flying training missions in the US, UK and Australia, as well as combat missions in Afghanistan saving the lives of allied forces and countless civilians, and creator of the Invictus Games for wounded service members and veterans around the world.

Quickly: Think of five facts about Prince Harry.

Did “He’s a pilot” make your list? I’m going to assume that for many who are not royal watchers, it didn’t, as these are the top two “breakout” Google search terms around his name when the press release went live:

Regardless, Prince Harry is one of four people being inducted into the Living Legends of Aviation ceremony hosted by John Travolta in Beverly Hills on January 19. Prince Harry is in fact someone acquainted with aviation. Though this point got lost amid chatter about Prince William breaking his necklace and Harry’s frost-nipped “todger,” a chunk of his tell-all memoir, Spare, is devoted to his British military training. His first tour of Afghanistan took place between 2007–2008 and lasted ten weeks and he served as a forward air controller. His second tour of Afghanistan took place between 2012-2013 and lasted ten weeks (originally supposed to be twenty) wherein he served as a “Gunner” for an Apache helicopter pilot.

The pilot sits in the rear section, and the co-pilot/gunner sits in the front section. As you might expect, a pilot maneuvers the helicopter and the gunner aims and fires the weapons. As you may all recall, Harry controversially claimed that he killed 25 Taliban fighters during his service. Both sections of the cockpit include flight and firing controls in case one pilot is rendered incapacitated and the other needs to take over full operation but Prince Harry’s designation has always been gunner. He undertook no missions where he was the pilot sitting in the back and Harry details in Spare of his time in the army were gunner-specific. There is no conceivable way he would’ve been able to both pilot and aim weapons.

So despite this experience in an aircraft, the announcement that Harry would be awarded for his “contributions to aviation” sparked outrage on social media and in the UK tabloids. Here’s how the news was framed in The Mirror, The Express and The Daily Mail:

A plethora of headlines taking Harry's new award to task

It’s no surprise that people are upset about Harry receiving this honor, because that’s the reaction to pretty much anything he does. And calling a 39-year-old best known for his “Freedom flight” to California and his feud with Britain’s royal family a “living legend” of the skies sounds pretty silly. But cherry-picking the names of the first astronauts from the list of previous honorees gives an inaccurate picture of what this award is really about.

The “Living Legends of Aviation Awards” are produced by the Kiddie Hawk Air Academy, a nonprofit whose mission is “introducing, educating, and sparking children’s interest in aviation”. The press release says the awards are meant to highlight people who have made various contributions to the field, including “pilots who have become celebrities and celebrities who have become pilots.” Previous honorees include William Shatner, Angelina Jolie, Kenny G, Morgan Freeman, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford and John Travolta. In 2019, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos was presented with the Jeff Bezos Freedom’s Wings Award (my eyes are rolling) for “advancing the principles of freedom in business and his personal endeavors”. Or put more simply: Charging tens of millions of dollars to other civilian billionaires so they get a front row seat to get launched into the atmosphere?

My point? This is not a Presidential Medal of Freedom Awards Ceremony (coincidentally something Buzz Aldrin also has). This is a silly award given to silly celebrities and silly rich people. Celebrities love being feted and made to feel important. Angelina Jolie has a pilot’s license but is she such a juggernaut in the flight field that she deservers an award for “extraordinary contributions to aviation”? Of course not. The only celebrity on this list who I think is deserving of this award is Tom Cruise. The original Top Gun was a cultural moment and Top Gun: Maverick took the story to higher heights and did right by the Navy with all its flight combat scenes. Cruise’s also an experienced pilot who flew in all his scenes with his P51 Mustang. When was the last time you saw Morgan Freeman in the cockpit??

But now I’m going way off topic. This event is for networking and for donors to schmooze with celebrities. The host of the show, Travolta, is a previous honoree and also repped by WME, Meghan Markle’s talent agency. This award show isn’t affiliated with any of the branches of the Armed forces. Nor are there any listed metrics for what classifies as “extraordinary contributions”. So no one should be upset about Prince Harry “stealing the honor” from a more “deserving” pilot. This is one of those times where the British Press is doing way too much to discredit Harry for the sake of clicks.

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Last week marked the four year anniversary of Sussexit. Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic (that is still ongoing) what was likely sold to Harry as a temporary stay in North America turned into full-blown immigration and laying down of roots in the United States. It’s clear there is no going back to the Firm and it’s obvious there’s no appetite for reconciliation from his family. So Harry and Meghan, in their own way, are trying to move on. Part of that moving on means trying to find ways to extricate themselves from being also-ran ex-royals. It didn’t help that they fired off a press release announcing Prince/Princess titles for their children, but that’s neither here nor there. PR101 in Hollywood means accepting awards because it’s good press.

• In 2021, the Sussexes were given an award from Population Matters for Harry announcing in an interview with Jane Goodall that he and Meghan were going to do their bit for the environment by limiting their family to two children.

• In February 2022 they were recipients of the NAACP Image Award – President’s Award for recognition of special achievement and distinguished public service.

• In December 2022 they were the recipients of the Ripple of Hope Award given by Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Organisation for their “heroic” stance against “structural racism” in the Royal Family their “work” in mental health and racial justice writ large through their Archewell Foundation. [For more on the about face of this specific award, please read the newsletter below. It’s free for everyone.]

• In 2023 the Duchess of Sussex was the recipient of the Women of Vision award from the Ms. Foundation for her ‘lifelong advocacy of women and girls’. Past Honorees include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

And now, to kick off 2024, Harry is getting an award. The British press and people looking to be negative against the Sussexes need to understand that this is what they do now. This is their lives now that they’re no longer in the family. People may mock, but in truth, what Harry and Meghan are doing is no different than what your garden variety celebrity is doing: Taking advantage of the sheer vacuity of the awards industry. By being given these “honors” it gives the organization’s promoters publicity that they wouldn’t have received had Harry and Meghan not been a part of it. If genuine aviators or human rights campaigners were being awarded, no one’d pay attention. Awards ceremonies have become a multi-million dollar business which require celebrities, not ordinary mortals, on the stage – with maybe just one or two genuinely deserving recipients to make it look reasonable. Tables are being sold for $25,000. Having a Prince, a Duke onstage brings eyeballs and potential funding. So the vitriol concerning this nothing-burger award implies that a bunch of people now spend too much online bashing Harry and his bride.

This is just my view and you don’t have to agree with me. I know I take them to task regularly, but this most recent excoriating in the press left me on the defense for them. The British press needs to let him be. If they want to collect empty awards for a living, let them. After the 2023 the Sussexes have had, I think they’d welcome a bit of fluff. Let them be. Getting angry at this is just plain silly.

Retired British Army Colonel Richard Kemp said the awards were about “celebrities massaging each other’s egos. I can think of many people who did pretty extraordinary things while serving in the British and American armed forces who would be much more deserving of an award like this. It is obviously because of who he is – not what he did. An Apache is crewed by two people – a pilot and a gunner. Harry was a gunner. He was number two in the aircraft.”

Admiral Lord West, former head of the Royal Navy, said: “He is not a living legend of aviation. To suggest he is, is pathetic. It makes the whole thing seem a bit of a nonsense if they’re willing to pick someone like Prince Harry. He is not a living legend. There are lots of people who deserve to be called this but not Prince Harry. I find it extraordinary he has been picked. He didn’t carry off any great exciting feat of amazing flying skill while flying for the Army.”

The former First Sea Lord said: “They’re just trying to get publicity. They know it will cause a stir.”

Harry’s time in the military is something that he holds dear to him. The tabloids reaching out to a Former heads of the Royal Navy, a former First Sea Lord or a retired British Army Colonel as to what they think about Prince Harry getting this award isn’t fair. These people don’t understand this is a PR award given to celebrities to get people to open their wallets. These men have over a century of experience in the military between them so of course they think this is silly. And to be honest, they’re not wrong. But they don’t work in Hollywood. Prince Harry does.

And herein lies the issue: When Harry and Meghan attempt to do anything that doesn’t have to do with his family, they get criticized. Which in turn makes them pivot to their default behavior of pushing projects and briefings against his family. When they were going to receive the Ripple of Hope Award and it was attached to their time as royals, I called them out on it because it was, once again, relying on family drama to get attention. If Harry wants to pick up this award, let him. It’s not like he has much else going on. What’s it to anyone if he does?

And because I’m fair, I also have to address some bad faith arguments going around in defense of Harry, lead by their unofficial biographer, Omid Scobie.

I’m sorry to say, but this is not the slam dunk argument he thinks it is. Even if this change in perspective of the media was true, it’s not because Harry isn’t “playing their game”. It’s because the PR arm of Buckingham Palace is no longer protecting Harry. Here are the brass tacks:

Firstly, Prince Harry received a B in Arts and D on Geography. There aren’t very many universities which would’ve accepted him, let alone Sandhurst Military Academy. They required 72 UCAS points for entry, Harry only received 64. He failed to achieve the minimum academic requirements to attend. Plainly speaking, Harry being a Prince is what afforded him that spot. I don’t bring this up to talk down to him or criticize him, I do this to point out that concessions were made to allow him to attend the prestigious Sandhurst, a time in his life he looks fondly back on.

Secondly, Prince Harry failed his Pilot’s Theory exam three times. The first was in February 2009. The army gave him extra tuition to ensure he passed on his second attempt and he didn’t. He finally qualified as an Army Apache Co-Pilot in February of 2012, three years after the fact, after trying and failing to pass the exam for a third time. (On the third try, he was nudged through, but was only ever able to “fly” with another pilot, ie, he took the number two “gunner” position.) In July of 2013, he was awarded the Honorary Title of Apache Helicopter Commander. Emphasis on honorary. That is why no photos exist of Harry flying an Apache helicopter in the back #1 seat.

While leads me to my third point: Scobie is operating from a “Harry played the game and was lauded as a pilot but now that he’s not the knives are out.” The stories about him failing his practical theory exams were public knowledge. As were negative stories about his time in the army. Scobie’s analysis pretends like all was honky dory with Harry’s coverage while he was in the family and “played the game”.

In spite of failing his theory exams, the Palace pumped out PR-friendly stories. When photos came out Harry playing strip poker with army mates in Vegas, the Palace swiftly organized his appearance at an airshow. The public was “wowed” by his skills.

Spectator Stuart Morris, 37, from Walsall, West Midlands, said: 'It was incredible. At first I thought the announcer was having a joke when he said Prince Harry would be performing.

'Soon word got round that yes, Harry was in the cockpit and everyone was stunned. I just thought to myself "wow, I’ll remember this day forever".

Prince Harry was in the cockpit. But he wasn’t the Pilot.

This video of Harry at an airshow, the announcer thinks that Harry is doing the death-defying stunts. The problem is, that in an Apache helicopter, the pilot sits in the rear of the aircraft, not the front. Harry never piloted a helicopter on any solo flight. Harry was sitting in front as his position is the gunner. But that’s the beauty of Palace PR for you: Watching this, you’d think the “Battle Prince” hadn’t failed his practicums multiple times and wasn’t cleared to pilot by himself.

Palace PR is a beautiful thing. How else can you explain away the Nazi suit? Or the video of him racially abusing his fellow middle Eastern army cadet? Or what about when he compared war to playing on his Xbox? And we can never forget playing strip poker in Vegas while still technically in military training? Buckingham Palace’s PR arm was there every single time to sweep it under the rug with great stories of Harry’s heroism and the “cheeky, naughty prince” narrative.

Since he left that protective bubble, he’s having to fend for himself. This isn’t the press doing a 180 because he married Meghan. There’s just no more Buckingham Palace Men in Gray to think up PR opportunities to help him. By accepting this award and touting his military service, it forces the British press, who never has to be asked twice to crap on him and seek out the truth. Which is: He was a gunner, not a pilot. The brilliant PR Prince Harry had for years, which made him the most popular royal of the family after Queen Elizabeth, was because the palace did everything they could to change his image from a party boy prince into a dashing, dutiful soldier. That is the uneasy truth Scobie won’t acknowledge.

I imagine that the change in perception is rather shocking for Harry in many ways. He fully believed his own palace narrative and left believing that he could do it all himself, with the help of Meghan. But without the steady hand of the palace, he opens himself up to criticism, even if it is unjust, like this case. When it came to Harry’s two 10 week deployment tours for military service, the Palace pulled out all the stops to make it a roaring success, as much as possible. Including but not limited to working within the confines of his poor testing acumen and whitewashing many of the sordid stories. Which is why I think making fun of him or slagging him for this award is unnecessary. The army is the one thing he has that is fully his in a way. Unlike Prince William, he was allowed to go to Afghanistan. Harry takes great pride in his 20 weeks there. Let him have this. It’s not hurting anyone. Criticizing every single thing that he does isn’t right. Not only does it make me pity him, but when actual criticism is needed people are reticent to listen to because all everyone can remember are the outlandish and unhinged takes against him.

On the sliding scale of all this, Harry qualifies as a “celebrity pilot”. Let him live and let him have this. And when the Sussexes try to move on, let’s let them. And this goes for us here at HRH Royal Tea also.

-Lady Sinclair