Are they any less worthy?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/artic le3874574.ece

Why should Prince Harry be presented with his Afghan medal by sister Anne?

There are hundreds of other troops who have served their full tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, and the Falklands. Why have they also not been presented with their campaign medals, by a member of the Royal Family or a leading politician even?

Are they any less worthy? Or is this yet another PR exercise?

[jno]

from his point of view he just got it from his aunt. I suppose other servicepersons could do the same. Who do they normally get them from?

[anotheoldgit]

Generally some insignificant senior officer.

[jno]

so he got it from an insignificant royal instead? I disagree that he deserves nothing - he did the job and would have done it for longer if an Australian women's magazine hadn't broken his cover and put him and those around him in extra danger - but the only special treatment he's had is to get it from an aunt.

Yes, I think it's PR, but for the army as well as the royals. If he hadn't got into the news with it, do you think we'd have heard of the awarding of medals to the troops at all?

[Ethel]

He and his comrades got his campaign medal from the colonel of the Blues and Royals, Nothing odd about that - she has presented campaign medals countless times to the troops.

The only difference is the media attention.

[Fay Mousse]

He and his comrades got presented the campaign medal by the Colonel of the Blues and Royals.

Nothing odd about that - Anne takes her role very seriously and has presented medals countless times.

The only difference has been the media attention.

[Le Chat]

It's natural to think that Harry (described as being 'on the front line') was not quite on the front line....that there were people watching out for him and he would have been plucked out of the way, if real trouble had presented itself. However, we don't know this for sure....and all those that served with him, were given medals, so we have to take it on face value!
Myself, i am not a royalist and think that Harry was just in a rather 'cosseted' front line position, but there you go!

[ruby27]

Do not all those who sign up swear an oath of allegiance to Queen and her heirs and successors?

Such an oath inevitably privileges royalty over others. Given that the Armed forces value royalty more than mere commoners, it seems right and proper that those royal family serving, and Harry is 3rd in line to an heir, are deemed as more worthy than others.

If we ditched the royal family and became a republic, then we wouldn't have to put up with this sort of nonsense.

[sp1214]

I think Londoners suffered more from the tube bombers than Harry sitting in a tent and firing rounds at a non existant enemy. What about medals for those in the call of duty at Aldgate?

[4GS]

here's a list of the people who I got my medals from
1) M.C H.M Queen
2) N.I, The storeman
3) Gulf war, The storeman
4) Bosnia U.N The head of Army Medical Services
5) Bosnia IFOR The storeman
6) Afghanistan, The storeman
7) Queens Jubilee Medal, The C.O
8) Long Service Good Conduct (yeah I got one believe it or not) The Commander 4 Armd Division


Apart from gallantry medals which are presented by a major member of the Windsors, all other medals are presented by however is around at the time unless the returning Unit has a medal parade, so it would appear that HRH Prince Harry's presentation was yet another publicity stunt

[sp1214]

4GS The MC (Military Cross) must rank very high in the list of awards given. What did you do to earn this very prestigious medal?