{"id":76059,"date":"2025-05-05T09:03:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/76059\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T09:03:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:03:13","slug":"unlikely-royal-with-a-very-similar-timeline-to-prince-harry-including-the-loss-of-a-parent-finding-solace-in-the-army-then-being-forced-to-abandon-his-duties-writes-tessa-dunlop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/76059\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlikely royal with a very similar timeline to Prince Harry – including the loss of a parent, finding solace in the army then being forced to abandon his duties writes TESSA DUNLOP"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve been promised full-blown royal fanfare for this very special World War Two anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bunting is to line the corridors of Buckingham Palace<\/a>\u00a0and a tea party for the final few veterans still alive will be the focus of bank holiday Monday.<\/p>\n

With the\u00a0Royal Family<\/a> out in force to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day on May 5, including a service at Westminster Abbey and a balcony appearance with a fly past, bear in mind the family\u2019s own enduring private grief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The late Queen, who so gallantly ties us back to the Blitz and her own wartime service, is gone but her stalwart cousin, HRH the Duke of Kent, very much remains.<\/p>\n

Now in his 90th year, I met the Duke at home in Wren House – comfortable in a checked shirt, a handsome cane by his side – he spoke openly about the trauma that scorched his young life and defined his adulthood: the sudden death of his father, HRH Prince George the Duke of Kent, brother of King George VI<\/a>, and the last royal to die on active service when a Sunderland flying boat mysterious crashed in the Highlands of Scotland in August 1942.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Overnight, the current duke joined legions of British children left without a father.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018I do remember him,\u2019 he sighs, \u2018but I can\u2019t give you examples.\u2019\u00a0Prince Edward<\/a>, the new Duke of Kent, was just six years old.<\/p>\n

It is the duke\u2019s private secretary who quietly muses on the parallels between HRH\u2019s life and Prince Harry\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The late Duke of Kent with his wife and son, Prince Edward, the current Duke of Kent,\u00a0 in the garden of his country home Coppins in Iver, Buckinghamshire, in 1937<\/p>\n

\"Prince <\/p>\n

Prince Harry sitting on his late mother’s lap during their summer holiday in Palma, Spain<\/p>\n

\"Prince \"The <\/p>\n

The Duke of Kent and Prince Harry suffered the loss of a parent very young, and both were forced to abandon operational duties because of their royal status<\/p>\n

Both experienced the loss of a parent very young, both found structure and purpose in the Army and both were forced to abandon operational duties because of their royal status.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Duke of Kent was withdrawn from Northern Ireland after just three weeks on the ground, an experience he found \u2018embarrassing\u2019. Harry\u2019s devastation when his tour was cut short in Afghanistan is also well known.<\/p>\n

Unlike the absent prince, the duke\u2019s subsequent post-army life has been forged in service to his country – with 20 years in the Royal Scots Greys followed by steadfast dedication to royal duties, in particular the role of commemoration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His title and name pepper memorials that span the globe and cross the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He marvels at the nature of this work: \u2018I think it is a matter of remembering what sacrifice means. One of the things that always struck me going around those cemeteries is that many of them had special inscriptions put in by the families, a personal touch.\u2019<\/p>\n

Travel to the memorial cross, Eagle\u2019s Rock, on the lip of the North Sea, where the fated flying boat inexplicably crashed in 1942 and it is hard not to think of the young, vulnerable, fatherless prince.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The duke first made the pilgrimage there as a teenager with his mother Princess Marina of Greece, and has regularly visited the remote spot throughout his life. Small wonder he finds war graves \u2018absolutely heartbreaking to look at\u2019. He knows what they really mean.<\/p>\n

The day I visited Eagle\u2019s Rock, it happened to be Prince Harry\u2019s 40th birthday and I mused over yet more parallels between the two dukes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yes, Harry regrettably absconded from royal duties in 2020. We know all too well about the damage the Sussexes have wreaked on the royal brand, but that should not detract from the prince\u2019s vital work on the commemorative circuit.<\/p>\n

\"Prince <\/p>\n

Prince Harry with a special birthday message from the Royal Family on his 40th birthday<\/p>\n

\"Prince \"Prince <\/p>\n

When he was still a full-time working royal, like his cousin the Duke of Kent, Harry stood out – a man who understood pain, he was a beacon of solace for families who had lost loved ones\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Prince <\/p>\n

Prince Harry, salutes after laying cross of remembrance in memory of his friend Lance Corporal of Horse Jonathan Woodgate<\/p>\n

\"Queen <\/p>\n

Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Kent Service for The Order of St Michael and St George at St Paul’s Cathedral in 2008<\/p>\n

\"Prince \"Prince <\/p>\n

The Duke of Kent was withdrawn from Northern Ireland after just three weeks on the ground, an experience he found \u2018embarrassing\u2019. Harry\u2019s devastation when his tour was cut short in Afghanistan is also well known<\/p>\n

\"Author <\/p>\n

Author Tessa Dunlop travelled to the memorial cross, Eagle’s Rock, on the lip of the North Sea<\/p>\n

When he was still a full-time working royal, like his cousin the Duke of Kent, Harry stood out – a man who understood pain, he was a beacon of solace for those families who had lost loved ones in more recent conflicts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Writing a book about 100 British monuments to war, I have spoken to both wives and mothers whose husbands and sons were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. They speak warmly of Harry.<\/p>\n

Helen Lewis, whose son Lieutenant Aaron Lewis died in Afghanistan in 2008, recalls Harry\u2019s empathy and ability to connect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With her own pain still very raw three years after losing Aaron, it was at the opening of the Lynyrd Garden of Remembrance at Wootton Bassett that she first talked to Harry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said: \u2018We were told the Prince wanted to meet us in private.\u00a0When he walked in we stood up and he said, ‘Sit down, it is me that should be standing up\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘He asked us how we were coping, it was just like sitting and chatting to one of Aaron\u2019s friends.\u2019<\/p>\n

Harry connected with Mrs Lewis and at later engagements always looked out for her grandson Harrison, their cute exchanges providing much needed moments of levity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Every year they would salute each other. And then, the first time we met him with Meghan, he told Harrison something special had happened. He\u2019d had a baby, Archie Harrison,’ Mrs Lewis smiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nothing will bring Aaron back but she liked what she saw in the prince. \u2018You speak as you find,\u2019 she says. Helen has set up a foundation <\/a>in her late son’s name to help other families at such a difficult time.<\/p>\n

In those difficult early years, he was a vital human stitch in the commemorative calendar.<\/p>\n

Today, the Royal Family have to make do without Harry – the VE Day extravaganza a reminder of their continued symbolic importance in our country\u2019s rich military story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s servicemen and women, veterans and their families rely on a diminishing band of royals to provide vital leadership in the act of remembrance, both now and then.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For as the Duke of Kent well knows, freedom is not free.<\/p>\n