New Book Tells of Prince Harry Defending Gay Soldier

In 2008, Prince Harry was Lieutenant Wales of the British armed forces, defending his country and his countrymen from attacks, both external and internal.

Before being deployed to Afghanistan and becoming the first member of the royal family to serve in a war zone since the 1980s, Lieutenant Wales was training in Canada. Though not in combat, he did manage to stop one fight from causing bloodshed within his troops.

Lance Corporal James Wharton, in his new book, Out In The Army: My Life as a Gay Soldier, writes about an instance when Prince Harry saved him and another gay soldier from an anti-gay attack.

The confrontation started after Wharton spent the night with another soldier and, as he says, “stupidly” bragging about it. Unfortunately, in doing so he had accidentally outed the other man.

“Everyone knew who I was talking about,” Wharton writes.

When the other soldier began getting harassed, Wharton tried to calm things down with the “six extremely angry infantry sergeants” who accused him of spreading false rumors about the soldier he had slept with.

In his new book, Lance Corporal James Wharton who served under Prince Harry in the British armed forces recalls the time “Lieutenant Wales” saved him from being “murdered” by six other soldiers in an anti-gay attack.

Wharton, the first gay soldier to cover Britain’s Armed Forces magazine, says the 2008 incident began after he had spent the night with the other soldier while training in Canada.

Later on, Wharton was informed that the soldier he had unintentionally outed was being harassed by other infantrymen, and went down to see what was going on.

As the situation grew more heated and dangerous, Wharton made the choice to find and tell Prince Harry. An excerpt from his book reveals how the situation played out:

‘Sir, I need to talk to you.’ ‘Why? What’s up? Are you OK?’

Harry instantly looked concerned. I told him: ‘I think I’m about to be murdered by the infantry.’

I climbed into the turret and talked Harry through exactly what had happened. He had a complete look of bewilderment on his face.

I didn’t hold back: I told him everything that had gone on. I couldn’t stop the tears from welling up in my eyes. He said: ‘Right. I’m going to sort this shit out once and for all.’

Harry climbed out of the tank and started having a go. I worried he was about to make the whole thing worse, but he wasn’t holding back. Prince Harry was sticking up for me and putting a stop to the trouble. I had been on track for a battering and had been rescued.

He came back ten minutes later and told me the problem had been ‘sorted’. He told me: ‘I knew one of his officers and we cleared everything up. I also told those other lads to back the fuck off, too.’

Prince Harry has had his fair share of media attention for scandalous situations, but this one act of heroism is finally getting its time in the spotlight. He took charge and handled the situation in a way that diffused the tension.

Remarkably, Wharton’s story takes an even more amazing turn: While trying to bury the hatchet with the infantrymen who hassled him, he ended up being invited to spend the night with one of them—to which Prince Harry responded by muttering, “Outrageous.”

Photo: John Stillwell/AP