Before marrying Meghan Markle, Prince Harry had embarked on a high-profile military career and even carried out two tours of duty in Afghanistan – but one of these had to be cut short after news of his deployment leaked

He may now live a life attending glitzy Hollywood events and rubbing shoulder with the stars – but it wasn’t always the case for Prince Harry.

In fact, before he met and married wife Meghan Markle and became a full-time working royal, the Duke of Sussex had a 10-year career in the British military, which saw him serve two tours of duty in Afghanistan. It was on this day 18 years ago in 2006 that Harry officially ‘passed out’ after completing officer training at the prestigious Sandhurst Military Academy – and it wasn’t long before he received his first posting to the war-torn country.

In 2007, he was deployed to the notorious Helmand province in Afghanistan amid a media blackout that was followed by all British media, including the Mirror. But just 10 weeks into the tour, the devastating decision was made to withdraw Harry for his own and his team’s protection after a story was published overseas about his deployment.

Prince Harry serving with the Army in Afghanistan in 2012 ( 
Image:
PA)

Speaking at the time, Helmand task force commander Brigadier Andrew Mackay said: “The decision to withdraw Harry from operations was not made lightly and was given careful consideration. At the time of the decision, he was deployed in the field, conducting operations against the Taliban and we, therefore, had to consider not just the consequences for him personally but those that he was serving alongside.” According to royal expert Duncan Larcombe, this left the Prince furious and added it proved to be one of the hardest points in Harry’s life. And he revealed that only one person – Chelsy Davy – and one place – Botswana – could calm him down.

Prince Harry with ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy in 2010 ( 
Image:
PA)

Duncan previously told Yahoo’s The Royal Box : “One of the other real lows in Harry’s life was when he was dragged out of Afghanistan because his secret deployment had hit the papers which meant he had to come home. He was absolutely furious. Where did he go? Straight to Botswana with Chelsy Davy. Straight there and spent a couple of weeks there. Almost like – it’s where he goes when there’s steam coming out of his ears to calm down.” In 2008, Harry began helicopter training and in 2012, he returned to Afghanistan for a four-month tour as a co-pilot and gunner in Apache helicopters. He safely completed the tour and returned to the UK in January 2013.

Last year, with the release of his memoir Spare, Harry shed light on his time in Afghanistan and revealed he killed 25 Taliban while on his second tour of duty there. He wrote that flying six missions during his time on the front line in 2012 to 2013 resulted in “the taking of human lives”, of which he was neither proud nor ashamed.

The revelation sparked protests and criticism from military figures including Admiral Lord West, former head of the Royal Navy, who called the duke “very stupid” for giving details of his kills. But Harry argued in an interview with US talk show host Stephen Colbert that he didn’t boast about the number and said he was driven to discuss his kills by the goal of reducing veteran suicides.

He told Colbert: “I made a choice to share it because having spent nearly two decades working with veterans all around the world, I think the most important thing is to be honest and to give space to others to be able to share their experiences without any shame. And my whole goal, my attempt with sharing that detail, is to reduce the number of suicides.”