So Prince Harry has just finished at Sandhurst and has joined his new regiment. Some details are here.
How do his superior officers address him: Is it, “Lt. Windsor, come here”. Or perhaps, “Lt. Harry”, or maybe even “your majesty”? I am pretty sure it’s not, “hey shithead”.
What would his fellow junior lieutenants call him?
Thanks
He’s ranked 2nd Lieutenant (known as “Cornet”) and the surname “Wales” whilst in the service you can see it on his helmet if you scroll down halfway. The same will apply to William when he passes out of Sandhurst.
He would never be addressed as ‘Your Majesty’ as that honorific is reserved solely for the monarch.
An article in one of the Sydney papers said the same thing last week: he’s addressed as Cornet Wales.
Thanks. I didn’t know he was a “Wales” (I assumed he was ‘Windsor’ like Grandma).
BTW, any idea how his peers and “chums” would address him? How would a fellow Cornet call out to him? Is it, “hey, Wales”? or maybe “Harry”?
IIRC, when Wills graduated, his peers called him “H”, short for “Your Highness.”
V/I
Unless the British Army reversed itself, the 2nd Lietenant title replaced both the Ensign(Infantry) and Cornet(Cavalry) titles. Here is a rank table for the British Army.
It may be that the Cornet/Ensign titles are still used unofficially, but as far as I know, the current title is Second Lieutenant. In practice, you call both First and Second lieutenants “Lieutenant.” In writing, you specify the 2nd/1st.
In my imagination, the drill instructors address him like this:
“Drop and give me fifty, you royal maggot! On your feet, milady Highness, and do laps!”
But I doubt they do so in real life.
Sailboat
I believe that the Household Cavalry clung on to the ‘Cornet’ title whilst everyone else changed over to the 2nd Lieutenant form. This is less unusual in the British Army than it would be in other armies: for example, private soldiers can be called (depending on their regiment) Gunner, Sapper, Rifleman, Trooper or no doubt others I’ve forgotten.
Amongst other peculiarities of rank in the Household Cavalry, what would be referred to anywhere else in the Army as a Sergeant is instead a Corporal of Horse, which carries on up the ranks so that the Warrant Officers are appointed to the job of Corporal-Major.
Here’s an MOD site listing the correct forms of address for Prince Harry.
When Prince Andrew was in the Royal Navy he was formally “Lieutenant His Royal Higness The Prince Andrew” later “Lieutenant His Royal Higness The Duke of York”. Compare this to his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. When she was in the military she was simply “Subaltern Elizabeth Windsor”.
Here’s also a chart of colour illustrations of the insignia of rank of the British Army:
Terrific info and links! My thanks to everyone.
KG
Don’t you mean Prince Andrew? Prince Andrew was called that in the Royal Navy when he served. Prince William has yet to graduate from Sandhurst.
When Andrew flew in the Falklands War did he fly ‘combat’ missions (which I presume would be ASW sorties) or was he flying transport helicopters well away from the danger?
And in the same, what of Prince Phillip’s service in the Second World War?
Says here
His naval service was real enough - he was mentioned in dispatches at the battle of Matapan in 1941. Of course, although he was already in the running as a possible future husband for Princess Elizabeth, he was then just a minor, distant relative of the Royal Family, so exposing him to danger wasn’t any big deal.
(bolding mine)
Can’t say that he got preferential treatment for being royalty can you?
My money’s on “Ginger Bastard” 