PRINCE HARRY IS looking for work — but don’t expect him to be sending out invitations to connect on LinkedIn.
No one is likely to keep the fourth in line for the British throne waiting for a job interview, or to grill him about his background.
Royal officials said today that the 30-year old prince will leave the armed forces in June. Kensington Palace said he will volunteer with a program that helps wounded service members “while actively considering other longer-term employment opportunities.”
Last duty
In the meantime, Harry’s final army duties will include a four-week assignment in April and May with the Australian Defence Force. The prince will spend time in Darwin, Perth and Sydney and attend centenary commemorations of the World War I Gallipoli campaign in Turkey.
Harry said leaving the army after a decade of service, which included two tours of duty in Afghanistan, has been “a really tough decision” but that he is excited about the future.
“The experiences I have had over the last 10 years will stay with me for the rest of my life,” Harry said in a statement. “For that I will always be hugely grateful.”
Afghanistan
Harry graduated from Sandhurst officers’ academy in 2006 and joined the Household Cavalry as an armored reconnaissance troop leader. He served in Afghanistan as a battlefield air controller for 10 weeks in 2007-08 until a media leak cut his tour short.
Keen to return to the front lines despite fears he would be a top Taliban target, Harry retrained as a helicopter pilot and served in Afghanistan in 2012-13 as an Apache co-pilot gunner.
Most recently he has served as a staff officer in the army’s London headquarters, playing a lead role in bringing the Invictus Games — an international sports competition for wounded troops — to Britain.
Harry and his brother, Prince William, have carried forward the tradition of senior royals taking on military roles.
William left the Royal Navy in 2013 after extensive training as a helicopter pilot, and became an air-ambulance pilot. Harry was the first British royal to see combat since his uncle, Prince Andrew, who flew Royal Navy helicopters during the 1982 Falklands War.
Harry has often seemed more comfortable as a soldier than in his royal duties, and he has been visibly energised by his work with charities for wounded veterans.
Everyone’s wearing the same uniform and doing the same kind of thing.
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