Prince Harry is facing “isolation” from the military community as his awkward award show looms, a royal commentator has claimed.
The Duke of Sussex will be presented with the Pat Tillman Award later this month, which celebrates individuals with a “strong connection to sports” who have similarly served their country.
Tillman was killed in Afghanistan, where Harry also served, in 2004.
But Tillman’s mother, Mary, believes that there are more deserving recipients of the ESPY Award than Harry, 39, who she described as “controversial and divisive”.
Prince Harry facing ‘isolation’ from military community as awkward award show looms
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Her opinion has been echoed by those who have signed a Change.org petition, which is urging ESPN to “rethink” its decision to give him the prince the award.
Gareth Russell, a royal commentator, spoke exclusively to GB News to explain the backlash that Prince Harry has received from the military community, which he claims stems from the comments the duke made in his memoir Spare.
Russell said: “There were very clear signs from the military in Britain that they were extremely unhappy with many of the comments made in Spare and on several chat shows.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that many in the military felt he had broken a code or broken protocol, and that means a great deal within the British military.
Prince Harry released Spare in January 2023PA“It’s worth remembering that many people have a great deal of affection and admiration for the work the Duke of Sussex has done with the Invictus Games.
“But someone’s record is not all good or all bad.
“Even those who have admiration for the Invictus Games have said that they felt the comments in Spare were isolating and inappropriate.”
In his memoir, the Duke of Sussex described killing 25 Taliban fighters in Afghanistan as “chess pieces taken off the board”.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex often attend Invictus Games events together
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Prince Harry was deployed in AfghanistanGetty
Ex-colonel Tim Collins responded by saying that was “not how you behave in the army”.
Prince Harry wrote: “It wasn’t a statistic that filled me with pride but nor did it make me ashamed. When I was plunged into the heat and confusion of battle, I didn’t think about those as 25 people.
“You can’t kill people if you see them as people. In truth, you can’t hurt people if you see them as people.
“They were chess pieces taken off the board, bad guys eliminated before they kill good guys. They trained me to ‘other’ them and they trained me well.”