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Prince Harry has no regrets about Megxit. He embarked on this new non-royal chapter in his life for the well-being of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and their son, Archie. However, the prince was devastated when he was forced to give up his military titles. Now, he’s fighting to win them back.

Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, sits in a snow cave made by British military personnel
Prince Harry | Rune Stoltz Bertinussen/ NTB SC/AFP via Getty Images

What did Prince Harry do in the military?

The prince served in the military for 10 years after graduating from his boarding school Eton College. Instead of going to university, Prince Harry chose a distinguished military career. It began in 2006 when he entered training at Sandhurst, which is a royal military academy.

Prince Harry did see combat. Over the course of his time in the military, he completed two tours of Afghanistan, and he also trained as a helicopter pilot. For the prince who always struggled in the royal spotlight, especially following the horrific way his mother, Princess Diana, died, the military provided him with a sense of normalcy. “It’s very easy to forget about who I am when I am in the Army,” he said.

Prince Harry left the Army in 2015 to take on more royal duties as his grandfather, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, prepared for retirement from royal life.

Prince Harry was stripped of some of his military titles after Megxit

When the prince and Meghan decided they could no longer remain in the British royal family as working senior royals, the prince vowed to continue advocating for the military. However, the royal family had other plans for the Sussexes. “Our hope was to continue serving the Queen, the commonwealth, and my military associations, but without public funding. Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible,” Prince Harry revealed in a January 2020 talk with Sentebale charity.

Instead, the prince was stripped of all of his honorary military positions. According to ET, this included Captain General of the Royal Marines, Honorary Air Force Commandant of the Royal Air Force Base Honington, and honorary Commodore-in-Chief of the Royal Navy’s Small Ships and Diving Operations.

He is also no longer able to wear his military uniform in public. According to Yahoo News!, “Retired service personnel can wear their medals – but not their uniform – at official engagements once they have left the military.”

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Prince Harry is fighting to win back his military titles

Though Prince Harry reportedly has no regrets about Megxit, he has been devastated about being stripped of his military titles. “It’s the one that made Harry emotional,” a source explained in Finding Freedom. “That’s been a tough pill to swallow, and one that has been the most painful for Meghan to witness him go through.”

However, it doesn’t look like the prince is ready to give up his fight. When the Sussexes review their one year exit with the royals in March 2021, the prince will fight to get back his titles.  “His military work is one of the most important things to him,” a friend told the Telegraph. “Of course, he wants to keep them.”

Moreover, despite living in California amid a pandemic, the duke has continued to champion the military and its causes with the Invictus Games Foundation and mental health services. “The duke’s commitment to the men and women who have put their lives on the line, to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, and to military families, is steadfast and unquestionable,” his lawyer, Jenny Afia, said in a statement.

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