The Daily Mail columnist Amanda Platell has written one of the most disgusting pieces I’ve ever read about Prince Harry. Usually, British commentators save this kind of contempt-riddled revisionist history for stories about Prince Harry’s wife. Platell has unsurprisingly latched on to her newspaper’s bizarre exclusive with Mary Tillman, the mother of the late Pat Tillman, following ESPN’s announcement that Prince Harry would receive the Pat Tillman Award for Service. Platell gives away the game – I wondered last week whether there would be an immediate and furious reaction from the British media and the Windsors to the award. There wasn’t really – that’s how upset they were. They’ve quietly stewed in their hatred for days and it’s spilling out now. Platell cites Mary Tillman’s words criticizing Harry and then Platell says outright that Harry deserves to be excoriated for the “treachery” of “abandoning” his family and country after serving in the British military.
…Pat’s mother Mary Tillman is unimpressed and asks why he has been chosen over more deserving candidates: ‘I am shocked as to why they would select such a controversial and divisive individual to receive the award when there are recipients far more fitting,’ she said. And she is not alone. Mary Tillman is speaking for countless others, since social media comments condemning the decision have flooded the internet not just from disgusted Americans and Britons, but from countries as far away as Australia, India and elsewhere in the world.
All are aghast not just that Harry is to receive such a distinguished honour, but also that he has the gall to accept it. One British veteran who served for 40 years posted on X that he was ‘incensed’.
To understand why there is such anger, it helps to compare Pat Tillman and Harry’s attitudes towards fame, fortune and duty. The star American football player, gave up a £3million NFL contract to fight for his country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He joined the army and made the ultimate sacrifice, dying in Afghanistan in 2004, aged just 27.
Harry may also have fought for his country, but he then abandoned it, along with his duty as a member of the Royal family, for a life of money-grubbing opportunity in California off the back of his title. He then turned his guns on the monarchy – in that Oprah Winfrey interview, in the Netflix series about he and Meghan, and in his memoir Spare. All so he could cash in. It’s pure treachery!
As many have pointed out, including some of the 30,000 (and counting) Americans who have signed a petition in protest against Harry’s award, Pat Tillman walked away from money and fame for honour and duty, while Prince Harry walked away from honour and duty for money and fame.
I guess it would surprise Amanda Platell to learn that Harry left the Army in 2015, a year before he even met Meghan. Reportedly, he was pressured to leave the Army because his lazy-ass brother needed someone to pick up his slack. Harry did not “abandon” the military at any point – he retired from active service after two tours and then his honorary military patronages were removed by QEII out of spite, because they were punishing him for the Oprah interview. Harry was neglected and abused, and watched as his family coordinated with the media to destroy his wife, just as they destroyed his mother. And along the way, Harry has devoted himself to helping and uplifting veterans and the military community. The British dumbf–ks using this moment to lie about Harry and his history deserve to rot in hell.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.